WALL-e

[Wigwam Jones]

Originally Posted by soundmotor

I'm guessing it is because at every turn it is either alluded to or directly stated that we (Americans) are destroying the planet from our wasteful, avaricious, over-consumptive, thoughtless, greedy, did I say wasteful yet?, non-efficient, have too many things, most of the world's resources utilizing, only a fraction of the world's total living, have it too good when others have nothing, coal-fired, fossil-fueled, ocean polluting, non-caring after me the deluging, putting it all on our children's backs ignoring, global warming, cheap labor exploiting, SUV driving, gas guzzling, non-mass transit using, too many plasma TV watching, ozone depleting, carbon dioxide dumping, non-carbon neutral imprinting, slash & burning, strip mining, landfilling, toxic VOC creating, incandescent bulb using, idling in the fast food line sitting, animal extincting, polar bar drowning, shooting guns in the air bullets dropping, kind of lifestyle we all are supposed have.

Quite a sentence.

What would be your suggestion for fixing the problem?

Let me just take a few of your objections to us awful Americans at random...

1) Own too much. OK, I own 'too much' according to you. How do you fix that? Do you take my things away under the auspices of government? Who decides how much is 'too much', by the way? You? I'm just curious how you (or anyone) decides how much is too much to own, and what you intend to do about it.

2) Have it too good when others have nothing. OK, a reasonable statement in terms of the US standard of living compared to many other nations (although supposedly we do not enjoy the world's highest standard of living - leave that aside for now). Again - what do you propose we do about it? Will you take my money away through heavy taxation, distribute it to others? Will you force me to live like a person who is a resident of Ghana, or Ethiopia, or Bangladesh in terms of living quarters, food availability, money, life expectancy, health care, and so on? Who will decide who lives 'too high on the hog' and what will they do to fix it?

And since we're goring oxen here, let me ask the question no one seems to want to ask.

Who cares?

I will not be around when the planet is ruined. I will not suffer the consequences. I have no children. What do I care? Why should I care? What possible difference will it make to me?

Self-centered? Yes. And why not? What does it benefit me to be otherwise?

Nothing I do is illegal, and no religion I have yet found considers my lifestyle immoral. I pay my taxes, live within the law, even contribute to charity and try to assist others as I can. But I live more or less precisely as I wish and can afford, and for this - I am a bad person? I must change how I choose to live because others do not have my standard of living, for whatever reason? I can afford an SUV, but I must not drive one because others cannot afford one - or because it does more harm to the planet than a Honda mini-car?

I find no particular reason to change anything about myself. I am looking forward to seeing the movie when it comes out on DVD.

Apres moi, le deluge.