Marxism and radical environmentalism = fanatical sectarianism

Skybird · 03-08-23, 06:42 AM

The Neue Zürcher Zeitung has this opinion piece:
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Blinded by climate fear - the belief in imminent collapse is anti-human

It is now abundantly clear that the environmental movement has religious overtones. Apocalyptic visions replace reason and welfare.

The invocation of a reversal from "evil" energy - nuclear power and fossil fuels - to "good" energy - photovoltaics and wind turbines - turns the energy transition into a spiritually charged endeavor, a kind of secular doctrine of salvation. This immunizes it against doubts and reasoned objections about its economic viability and social desirability.

Today, nuclear power plants are a political bone of contention with symbolic significance. This was not always the case: for a long time, both leftists and conservatives were in favor of nuclear energy. The Social Democratic Federal Councilor Willy Spühler was one of its most important pioneers in the 1960s.

Even the environmental protection organization Pro Natura called for the construction of nuclear power plants in 1965. Almost fifty years later, the same organization proclaimed: "Nuclear power is and remains dirty, dangerous, expensive and not CO2-neutral. That's why Pro Natura is calling for a nuclear phase-out." What had happened?

The '68 movement, which emanated from the universities, fundamentally changed the West. Its ideological foundation was Marxism. With imaginative actions, subversive rhetoric and physical violence, it attacked traditional communities such as the family, the nation and the church, and intimidated the bourgeoisie - the class enemy in Marxist terms.

Today, movements like Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion continue the '68 movement. The latter has succeeded in spreading leftist ideas in all social strata, including the bourgeois, and in all areas of life, especially in education, the media and culture, but also in science, administration, business and even the churches. A cultural revolution took place.

Also in 1968, scientists and industrialists founded the Club of Rome. Its study "The Limits to Growth" predicted catastrophic consequences for mankind and nature if industrialization continued. Although the forecasts were largely exaggerated and wrong, the pessimism they expressed gained the upper hand from then on. The confidence that until then had buoyed science and business gradually gave way to melancholy.

Marxism and melancholy laid the intellectual foundations for today's environmental movement. This had once emerged from conservative currents and was then permeated by them. In addition, there were links to pacifism, hedonism and, through the hippie movement, esotericism. The message was that Western civilization and technology were basically destructive forces. This belief also underlies current energy and climate policies.

It goes without saying that man must preserve the natural foundations of life. However, the deepest question is not of a material nature. Man is a spiritual and moral being. Man's dominion over nature does not mean destruction, but cultivation. The Bible's creation account says: "The Lord God took man and gave him his dwelling place in the Garden of Eden, to till it and to keep it."

Today, the biblical understanding of creation is contrasted with an image of man as a kind of cancer of nature. Human well-being is falling victim to current energy and climate policies. This does not bring an energy supply for the welfare of mankind, but aims at energy renunciation.

The replacement of highly concentrated and constant energy (fossil and uranium) by low concentrated and sporadic energy (sun and wind) leads very quickly to undersupply and shortage. Demands to abandon nuclear energy or to reduce CO2 emissions at any cost are therefore inhumane.

On the surface, today's energy and climate policies are an appropriate response to the precarious state of our planet, which is supposedly on the verge of collapse, which in turn can only be prevented by radical measures. However, this image is misleading. Human ingenuity is constantly creating new, previously unknown ways to respond to challenges.

Environmental economist Björn Lomborg, for example, reminds us that the number of deaths from weather disasters has fallen sharply in the last hundred years. Level-headed writers like Lomborg, or even Michael Shellenberger and Alex Epstein, are little known alongside the Al Gores and Greta Thunbergs of this world.

The restless human mind wants to understand not only what it can observe with its senses, but also what lies beyond material existence. When people no longer find the answers to their spiritual questions in religion, they seek them elsewhere. The environmental movement with its apocalyptic visions and salvation-historical prescriptions bears clear traits of a religious movement.
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The situation reminds me somehow of the merciless fervent intolerance between the denominations at the time of the Thirty Years' War. It is no longer about a comparison of arguments, it is only about putting down the other opinion, erasing it, and imposing one's own worldview and way of life as a panacea on the whole world. Purgatory as a waiting room for the kingdom of heaven. The sectarian fanaticism produces more and more absurd and dangerous forms of material coercion and harassment. The freedom and the ability to think rationally is lost more and more - and this is intentional. The people should not think, they should believe, namely in the one, the right, the only true ideology.

Sectarianism pure and undisguised.

03-08-23, 06:42 AM	#1
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 42,603 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	Marxism and radical environmentalism = fanatical sectarianism The Neue Zürcher Zeitung has this opinion piece: ------------------------------------ Blinded by climate fear - the belief in imminent collapse is anti-human It is now abundantly clear that the environmental movement has religious overtones. Apocalyptic visions replace reason and welfare. The invocation of a reversal from "evil" energy - nuclear power and fossil fuels - to "good" energy - photovoltaics and wind turbines - turns the energy transition into a spiritually charged endeavor, a kind of secular doctrine of salvation. This immunizes it against doubts and reasoned objections about its economic viability and social desirability. Today, nuclear power plants are a political bone of contention with symbolic significance. This was not always the case: for a long time, both leftists and conservatives were in favor of nuclear energy. The Social Democratic Federal Councilor Willy Spühler was one of its most important pioneers in the 1960s. Even the environmental protection organization Pro Natura called for the construction of nuclear power plants in 1965. Almost fifty years later, the same organization proclaimed: "Nuclear power is and remains dirty, dangerous, expensive and not CO2-neutral. That's why Pro Natura is calling for a nuclear phase-out." What had happened? The '68 movement, which emanated from the universities, fundamentally changed the West. Its ideological foundation was Marxism. With imaginative actions, subversive rhetoric and physical violence, it attacked traditional communities such as the family, the nation and the church, and intimidated the bourgeoisie - the class enemy in Marxist terms. Today, movements like Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion continue the '68 movement. The latter has succeeded in spreading leftist ideas in all social strata, including the bourgeois, and in all areas of life, especially in education, the media and culture, but also in science, administration, business and even the churches. A cultural revolution took place. Also in 1968, scientists and industrialists founded the Club of Rome. Its study "The Limits to Growth" predicted catastrophic consequences for mankind and nature if industrialization continued. Although the forecasts were largely exaggerated and wrong, the pessimism they expressed gained the upper hand from then on. The confidence that until then had buoyed science and business gradually gave way to melancholy. Marxism and melancholy laid the intellectual foundations for today's environmental movement. This had once emerged from conservative currents and was then permeated by them. In addition, there were links to pacifism, hedonism and, through the hippie movement, esotericism. The message was that Western civilization and technology were basically destructive forces. This belief also underlies current energy and climate policies. It goes without saying that man must preserve the natural foundations of life. However, the deepest question is not of a material nature. Man is a spiritual and moral being. Man's dominion over nature does not mean destruction, but cultivation. The Bible's creation account says: "The Lord God took man and gave him his dwelling place in the Garden of Eden, to till it and to keep it." Today, the biblical understanding of creation is contrasted with an image of man as a kind of cancer of nature. Human well-being is falling victim to current energy and climate policies. This does not bring an energy supply for the welfare of mankind, but aims at energy renunciation. The replacement of highly concentrated and constant energy (fossil and uranium) by low concentrated and sporadic energy (sun and wind) leads very quickly to undersupply and shortage. Demands to abandon nuclear energy or to reduce CO2 emissions at any cost are therefore inhumane. On the surface, today's energy and climate policies are an appropriate response to the precarious state of our planet, which is supposedly on the verge of collapse, which in turn can only be prevented by radical measures. However, this image is misleading. Human ingenuity is constantly creating new, previously unknown ways to respond to challenges. Environmental economist Björn Lomborg, for example, reminds us that the number of deaths from weather disasters has fallen sharply in the last hundred years. Level-headed writers like Lomborg, or even Michael Shellenberger and Alex Epstein, are little known alongside the Al Gores and Greta Thunbergs of this world. The restless human mind wants to understand not only what it can observe with its senses, but also what lies beyond material existence. When people no longer find the answers to their spiritual questions in religion, they seek them elsewhere. The environmental movement with its apocalyptic visions and salvation-historical prescriptions bears clear traits of a religious movement. ----------------------- The situation reminds me somehow of the merciless fervent intolerance between the denominations at the time of the Thirty Years' War. It is no longer about a comparison of arguments, it is only about putting down the other opinion, erasing it, and imposing one's own worldview and way of life as a panacea on the whole world. Purgatory as a waiting room for the kingdom of heaven. The sectarian fanaticism produces more and more absurd and dangerous forms of material coercion and harassment. The freedom and the ability to think rationally is lost more and more - and this is intentional. The people should not think, they should believe, namely in the one, the right, the only true ideology. Sectarianism pure and undisguised. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.