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Politics

Does Wealth Make Us Bored Enough To Hurt Ourselves?

Robert Tracinski runs a newsletter I really enjoy called TIA Daily. You can try it for free, but ultimately it’s about $70/year. It’s well worth it–no other source provides the same quality of new coverage. A few days ago, Robert was offering a hypothesis on why the green movement appeared and seems popular. We are so amazingly wealthy that we’re bored and we have the luxury of indulging in self-destructive behavior. As an example, he sites this new carbon-neutral city in the UAE. It’s all funded by oil money! But make no mistake, this luxury is the same luxury experienced by a teenager smoking cigarettes.

I enjoy the minor thrill of the bargain involved in some forms of recyling. I buy lots of second hand books and CDs. The moment that it’s some kind of duty that induces shame when we don’t comply with the dogma is the moment one should really feel shame for indulging in such a stupid, self-destructive habit. Choose logic over doctrine, choose pleasure over unaccepted obligations, and choose life over death.