Minority Report

SCREW YOU HIPPIE     

Unfortunately we didn't really get to discuss that lovely article about hippies by Ayn Rand during class but I know we all have something to say about it. If you've forgotten the article can be summed up thusly (see picture). Essentially its Ayn Rand's bad dream about “hippies” and how far they want to take conservation. Most of the points that she makes are things we all would agree with (none of us want to get rid of most or all of our technology do we?) but that’s the thing nobody ever made any of those arguments. Any conservationist who would make that argument are almost universally mocked and very few people agree with them. They’re the crazy fringe extremists not the mainstream authority on the issue. Ayn is railing against a perceived threat against her way of life because, communists. Yes Ayn has declared a new Inquisition and now we must all find the heretics (conservationists) in our midst and get rid of them so we can maintain our way of life. The conservationists want us to live like cavemen and die at 35 to preserve the dumb earth…except nobody thinks that. Conservationists just want what we should all want for the human race to be able to sustain itself and its habitat so we need to find a balance. Fanaticism either way is not the way to go it only leads to conflict and division. This would only delay progress and won’t help anything.

One of the ways that we do this is to create an enemy out of a group of people who aren’t really enemies of our cause. For instance many environmentalists like to get angry with oil companies because they believe they profit directly from the destruction of the environment and constantly block new research into alternative fuel sources. They site people who begin to develop new fuel sources and then never hear about it again. Basically the news in this country love to talk about something for all of five minutes then never revisit it again. Most oil companies are working very hard at finding new fuel sources so they can profit and they love to invest in independent researchers and buy their idea so they can pump millions into it and develop it much more quickly than any one person can do on their own. But that’s not news that sells so we just get to hear about how terrible they are (any oil spill ever). Creating a scapegoat like this only makes it more difficult to get anything done and slows development to a crawl.

Andy Catlett

What to say about Andy Catlett? It’s mostly about how great the old ways were and how we shouldn’t leave them behind. Technology should definitely not go back to the way it was and some of our ideals do not carry over (read racism) but certain positive aspects of our society have, sort of, been lost. A large part of our social interaction is now over the internet or some other device which some say makes us antisocial. But they seem to forget how it used to be…

Technology isn’t really making us any more or any less antisocial than we used to be it’s simply changing the ways we socialize. Now instead of taking my controller and memory card over to a friend’s house we just get on the same game at our own houses. Who’s to say which form is better? They both have their advantages and disadvantages, it’s really up to everyone’s personal preference. Now let’s look at a more abstract idea the hurry that we see in society. Many people believe that we are more stressed nowadays than we ever have been in the past. Wendell Berry used the contrast between the horse drawn carriage vs the automobile as an example of how we are more in a hurry than we have been in the past. Many people would say the amount we work now makes us more stressed than before and a great example would be my family. My dad has worked many a long hour and deals with a lot of stress. Certain people (I like these ones) would say that 40-50 years ago he wouldn’t have had to do that and would have been less stressed and we should go back to that. Then I tell them that 40-50 years ago my grandfather worked up to 4 jobs simultaneously to provide for the same size family my dad has (wife and 2 kids). Technology hasn’t really changed a lot of WHAT we do it’s changed HOW we do it.

Speaking of retro stuff….

Thanks for reading