It seemed to him that the essential element in these men at the top was their faith that their affairs were the very core of life. All other things being equal, self-assurance and opportunism won out over technical knowledge; it was obvious that the more expert work went on near the bottom — so, with appropriate efficiency, the technical experts were kept there.
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Beautiful and Damned (1922)
COP26 propaganda has been so extraordinarily relentless that an optimist might be inclined to take something positive from it. Perhaps the propaganda has been too obvious. Perhaps the self-assurance and opportunism are too obvious.
The blatant hypocrisy of it, the private jets, limousines, preening celebrities and blanket privilege have been grossly incompatible with an ethos of planet-saving self-denial. Saint Francis of Assisi was conspicuous by his absence. Many neutral outsiders must at least wonder if the whole thing is just a media circus. Many must know it is.
The blatant hypocrisy of it, the private jets, limousines, preening celebrities and blanket privilege have been grossly incompatible with an ethos of planet-saving self-denial. Saint Francis of Assisi was conspicuous by his absence. Many neutral outsiders must at least wonder if the whole thing is just a media circus. Many must know it is.
For all to see who choose to see, is the contrast between those who are supposed to bear the burden of winding back a consumer society and those who clearly have no intention of doing any such thing. Not ever. There are wild cards too, such as Joe Biden who cannot add anything positive to whatever he endorses. Wild cards such as China remaining aloof for reasons which are not hard to work out.
Who knows how deep these things run? How the frost of rising awareness seeps into the cracks of carelessly constructed fable. Because there has been something careless about COP26. The stamp of Boris Johnson perhaps. A lax eye for detail. The climate game could yet go sour.
5 comments:
How did Greta Thunberg travel to COP26? Asking for a friend.
By coracle. Towed by mermaids. When she disembarked she mounted a unicorn and rode the rest of the way.
She will be returning on a magic carpet.
Boris has certainly overplayed it. Bizarre, spooling rhetoric and strained analogies. Prince Charles, too. How often can you threaten people with an imminent disaster that never seems to materialise? Why, when Thatcher spoke about this in 1989, has Boris become such a recent convert? Why are so many people obviously adopting a party line when they know nothing about the issues? Why are people taking seriously the stereotypical opinions of celebrities and mentally-disordered foreign kids?
The wonderful thing is that they can't now back down and pretend it didn't happen.
Although I guess they can always start work on the next big threat. Asteroid, anyone?
An asteroid that will bring previously unknown viruses to Earth!!!
DJ and dearieme - I've always assumed she has rainbow coloured wings to waft her above the sordid reality of getting from A to B.
Sam and dearieme - the big political problem with asteroids is that at the moment they aren't our fault. Is there a way round that one?
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