Remote Controls Cause Global Warming
Published by Jason M. Heim [jase] on 2007/4/19 (570 reads)
Don't sacrifice, just wait. Wait long enough, and science will solve all your woes with new, improved, substitute products. Do not panic. You will not be asked to give up anything.
No, they really don't, but that idea's been bugging me ever since I caught a rerun of Bill Maher's latest show from April 13. Even though Bill's opening skits and monologues are generally weak, the meat of the show is usually quite good. Maher has a very low tolerance for bullshit, and calls people on it without hesitation.
What's bugging me though is that in this episode he posed a question to Sheryl Crow and Laurie David via satellite that they all but ignored because the premise was, to be fair, ludicrous. The point, however, wasn't the premise, and it's something I wish they'd explored with more depth.
Bill asked something like this: If we could put a stop to global warming by simply having everyone give up remote controls, do you think people would do it, or would they eventually just say "oh, fuck it."
If I'd have been there, I'd have voted for "oh, fuck it." Call me cynical, but I think somewhere in the last few decades American culture has been trained to think that we don't solve problems thorugh sacrifice, instead we solve problems by buying more bullshit.
Of course, we can't solve global warming by giving up remote controls. That wasn't the point. The question is about what people are willing to give up as opposed to what people are willing to buy.
Sheryl and Laurie, for example, were proudly staking their environmentally-friendlier-than-thou claims by riding around in a biodiesel bus and promoting hybrid technology cars to college students. Bill didn't bother mentioning it again, but in the past he loved to flaunt his Prius as evidence that he's part of the solution, not the problem.
I disagree. While hybrid technology is certainly a worthwhile innovation, the solution to global warming is not going to come by having everyone buy new cars. For one, the cars we already have aren't just going to evaporate. They will either be junked, creating a massive surge in waste, or they will find new owners who just continue to feed the problem.
Hybrid cars aren't saving much. They're still status symbols, ways for people with money to feel better about themselves and flaunt their superiority.
It's a "Diet Cola" approach. Instead of giving up cola, here's a cola you can drink without packing on empty calories. Don't sacrifice, just wait. Wait long enough, and science will solve all your woes with new, improved, substitute products. Do not panic. You will not be asked to give up anything.
In prior shows, Bill pointed out that during World War II, everyone in the country was asked to make sacrifices to help the troops. With Iraq, we sell yellow-ribbon shaped magnets that don't leave a sticky residue on your bumper. Don't give up anything for the troops, buy more pointless @*%#.
Piety is on sale everywhere you go. Nearly anything you buy these days comes packaged with an ethical dilemma. Tuna that doesn't kill dolphins. Vegetables grown without pesticides. Meat and milk without antibiotics. Yogurt tubs that contribute to breast cancer research. Cereal boxes that promise better education. Go to Burger King instead of McDonald's since they don't use pigs-in-a-box.
The fundamental idea is good. The organic food market is big business now, evidence that people do care. People are spending extra to buy meat, milk, and produce that is less harmful to the environment and friendlier to animals.
Unfortunately there's no business in sacrifice, and it's getting lost in the shuffle. Which is better: four people who each buy new hybrid cars, or four people who deal with the hassle of carpooling?
So to fully answer Bill's question, I'd vote "oh fuck it". We're trained to think that, sooner or later, someone is going to invent an environmentally safe remote.
What's bugging me though is that in this episode he posed a question to Sheryl Crow and Laurie David via satellite that they all but ignored because the premise was, to be fair, ludicrous. The point, however, wasn't the premise, and it's something I wish they'd explored with more depth.
Bill asked something like this: If we could put a stop to global warming by simply having everyone give up remote controls, do you think people would do it, or would they eventually just say "oh, fuck it."
If I'd have been there, I'd have voted for "oh, fuck it." Call me cynical, but I think somewhere in the last few decades American culture has been trained to think that we don't solve problems thorugh sacrifice, instead we solve problems by buying more bullshit.
Of course, we can't solve global warming by giving up remote controls. That wasn't the point. The question is about what people are willing to give up as opposed to what people are willing to buy.
Sheryl and Laurie, for example, were proudly staking their environmentally-friendlier-than-thou claims by riding around in a biodiesel bus and promoting hybrid technology cars to college students. Bill didn't bother mentioning it again, but in the past he loved to flaunt his Prius as evidence that he's part of the solution, not the problem.
I disagree. While hybrid technology is certainly a worthwhile innovation, the solution to global warming is not going to come by having everyone buy new cars. For one, the cars we already have aren't just going to evaporate. They will either be junked, creating a massive surge in waste, or they will find new owners who just continue to feed the problem.
Hybrid cars aren't saving much. They're still status symbols, ways for people with money to feel better about themselves and flaunt their superiority.
It's a "Diet Cola" approach. Instead of giving up cola, here's a cola you can drink without packing on empty calories. Don't sacrifice, just wait. Wait long enough, and science will solve all your woes with new, improved, substitute products. Do not panic. You will not be asked to give up anything.
In prior shows, Bill pointed out that during World War II, everyone in the country was asked to make sacrifices to help the troops. With Iraq, we sell yellow-ribbon shaped magnets that don't leave a sticky residue on your bumper. Don't give up anything for the troops, buy more pointless @*%#.
Piety is on sale everywhere you go. Nearly anything you buy these days comes packaged with an ethical dilemma. Tuna that doesn't kill dolphins. Vegetables grown without pesticides. Meat and milk without antibiotics. Yogurt tubs that contribute to breast cancer research. Cereal boxes that promise better education. Go to Burger King instead of McDonald's since they don't use pigs-in-a-box.
The fundamental idea is good. The organic food market is big business now, evidence that people do care. People are spending extra to buy meat, milk, and produce that is less harmful to the environment and friendlier to animals.
Unfortunately there's no business in sacrifice, and it's getting lost in the shuffle. Which is better: four people who each buy new hybrid cars, or four people who deal with the hassle of carpooling?
So to fully answer Bill's question, I'd vote "oh fuck it". We're trained to think that, sooner or later, someone is going to invent an environmentally safe remote.
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Re: Remote Controls Cause Global Warming
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