[TheForge] Meat eating and PETA..OT

[Andy Vida]

Mike Linn wrote:
> 
> What gets me are the "environmentalists" who go out spiking trees
> to injure or maim the loggers, and then go home to their loft or
> condo made from 2x4's.

	These are all difficult issues to deal with.  I can see the
	situation from all sides.  I definitely see the environmental
	side of the issue.  We live in a finite world.  People are
	generally unwilling to keep it in their pants.  More people,
	all who want essentially the same things like houses made of
	wood and food from animals, clothing, kids of their own, etc.
	and so on, have caused some pretty serious strains on our world.
	I don't think anyone has "proven" that we're driving the planet
	into destruction, but many indicators seem to point in that
	direction.  How many billions can the earth support, especially
	in the face of the rapacious nature of human desire and greed?
	I certainly don't know.  But those environmentalist sorts feel
	certain enough to take action.  I can respect that in and of
	itself, but what of those against whom they act?  The jacks
	are out doing a job.  It may be a job that is destroying our
	world, but what if it isn't?

	I certainly can't say whether we're really wrecking this world,
	though I tend to lean in that direction.  But I can say that I
	feel strongly that we're suffering from the old "rats in a cage"
	effect, which is probably at least partly psychological.  If people
	think that resources are slim, then the resources effectively are
	and people are going to behave accordingly.  When I was a kid,
	Freehold NJ was still largely a sleepy little farm town.  I took
	guns and went shooting with my friends.  Today, it is like a 
	small city, full of a cities problems and the restrictions on 
	personal freedom are comparatively very large.

	People believe in different things.  This has been a source of
	some pretty serious problems for millenia.  group A thinks that
	the activities of group B are wrong.  The colonials saw the
	English crown as wrong and rebelled.  Were they freedom fighters
	or were they treasonous scum?  The answer depends on whom you
	ask.  I think the world of humans is in some serious trouble and
	I have no idea what might solve it.  Perhaps nothing.  Perhaps
	it should not be solved.  I don't know.