HOUR OF DARKNESS

On saturday, March 29, between the hours of 8pm to 9pm everybody on the planet was supposed to turn off their lights as a symbolic gesture in our fight against climate change and the destruction of our environment. I didn't turn off my lights, and judging from my drive through the neighborhood at that hour, neither did any of my neighbors. Either everyone was too engrossed reading War And Peace and didn't want to stop, or most folks aren't really ardent believers in global warming. Attempting to plunge us into darkness for an hour truly was an ironic act of symbolism, because radical environmentalists would love nothing more than to usher us into an era of darkness. It is the mindset of the Luddites, the flat-earthers, anti-intellectuals and those who despise the human race and would choose any insect or dweller of the ocean floor over the wellbeing of your son or daughter.

They rationalize their actions by saying that even if we can't prove that global warming is real beyond the shadow of scientific doubt, we need to take drastic measure now, just in case it is true. That is the strategy of shamans, witch doctors and other assorted mental deviants. Let us examine this premise in more concrete terms. Let us suppose you receive a physical from a doctor who then tells you that he believes you have bone cancer and that you should have both legs amputated. You ask him if he's positive in his diagnosis. He says he's not positive but he's pretty sure, and anyway, why take the chance? Would you submit to such drastic action on the basis of your doctor being "pretty sure" ? Of course you wouldn't. You would get a second and maybe third opinion before agreeing to have your legs cut off.

So why do we allow radical environmentalists to scare us into drastic actions on the basis of their being 'pretty sure" about the unproven theory of climate change? Instead of cutting off our legs, they want to turn off our lights, stop our cars and end every activity that enhances our survival and brings pleasure to the lives of human beings the world over.

I would bet that fifty thousand years ago there were people who attempted to snuff out the fires in the caves of Europe. Had they been allowed to do so, no one would have experienced the uplifting experience of reading War And Peace.