Sta Hungry Stay Foolish

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

A blog by Leon Oudejans

The church of the poisoned minds

The UK is considering labelling the “global environmental movement” Extinction Rebellion as an organised crime group (eg, Guardian, Telegraph). American author and filmmaker Michael Crichton (1942-2008) predicted the rise of eco-terrorism in his (highly recommended) 2004 techno-thriller State of Fear.

Human beliefs separate us from any other species. Our beliefs can be grouped in belief systems. In 2015, I started developing what ultimately became my concept of the 7 Belief systems (2016 version, 2019 version). Essentially, a belief system is characterized by the willingness of sacrificing your own life for a greater Cause (eg, Marie Curie, the Crusades).

Most of us do not have extreme beliefs and are not willing to sacrifice our life for our beliefs. Extreme beliefs, however, also include people who are willing to sacrifice other people’s lives for their own beliefs. Some examples: Bataclan (Paris) attackChristchurch (NZ) mosque shootings, ETA (Spain)IRA (Ireland), and the KKK (USA).

There seems to be a growing sense of despair among climate activists that only the coronavirus is being treated as a global crisis and/or a matter of urgency. This may explain the recent incident which caused the UK government to consider branding Extinction Rebellion as an organised crime group. I assume that we should expect more of such disruptions.

The 2019 coronavirus disease has eroded phrases like “climate crisis” or “climate urgency“. It taught us that words like crisis and urgency are related to the space and time dimensions. Corona is right here and right now, and probably still is in 2021, if it will ever become irrelevant.

Climate activists cannot let this happen as they’re extreme believers. In their view, I’m still a climate denier although I believe that climate change is nature’s default rather than its exception. Apparently, they believe (sic!) that current events are extraordinary. Current events still fit in the (approaching) end of yet another interglacial period in Earth’s geology:

Wiki: “There have been at least five major ice ages in the Earth’s history []. Outside these ages, the Earth seems to have been ice free even in high latitudes; such periods are known as greenhouse periods.”

Both climate change and virus pandemics are facts of life. We must deal with these changes and/or threats. Example: Indonesia plans to move its current – and sinking – capital Jakarta from the island of Java towards East Kalimantan (eg, BBCWiki). More recently, Sweden’s approach to the coronavirus is finally winning hearts and minds (eg, FTHaaretz, IrishTimes, Telegraph).

Extreme beliefs, willing to sacrifice other people, belong to the church of the poisoned minds.

Church of the Poison Mind (1983) by Culture Club
artists, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2

Love will make you blind
In the church of the poison mind

Note: all markings (bolditalic, underlining) by LO unless stated otherwise.

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