Is Less More: An Overview

Going green is something every rational person finds merit in. People may have different opinions on how to go about it, but there’s wide consensus on the wisdom behind fewer concrete jungles and less steel caging – less greenhouse gases and more parks, oxygen, and nature – stuff that make the eye gleam and the planet habitable.

Yet people get carried away. We get too absorbed in our cause, disregarding every point that doesn’t immediately and predominantly agree with our points of view. We confuse critical questions with naysaying, with braying and nagging, and turn our noses to any discussion that has the slightest hint of criticism regarding our objectives.

When that happens, Spin Doctor kicks in, spinning the crap out of any cause, person, or group that thinks it has reality by the majambas.

Call it a reality check with an attitude problem and a taste for not glossing things up – which is what potent, constructive criticism is all about: no glossing, no wasting time; just laying it on the line to get an honest discussion underway.

So here we are. Picking a bone with the ever-so-waylaid Green movement. Going green never looked so blue before, never came across greyer, never got called out for its narrow-mindedness so loudly by someone who supports it, and never, ever expected to be red-flagged so badly, all in the name of nature, no less.

See, Spin Doctor believes that the worst enemy to a cause is not the cause’s enemy, but the cause’s misguided champions who, in their effort to promote said cause, render it glib and indigestible. I’ve heard enough lately about the ‘polar vortex’ and the people who thought it was proof that global warming was a hoax (you stupid? jeez!) and realized that the people in charge of the movement against climate change are doing a LOUSY job of getting their message across.

So you get what we have here. Failure to communicate (thanks for the immortal comment Cool Hand Luke) and people who still roll their eyes when you mention climate change. Our way ahead is uphill, not just on account of the work to be done to restore environmental equilibrium, but also because there are people standing in the way of reform.

We’ve identified global warming skeptics as misinformed individuals at best, as knuckleheads, by and large. We like to think it’s all about them – how stupid or selfish they are. Now it’s time to address the other side of the coin: why are they not getting the message? Is it just them, or is there something wrong with the way our message is communicated?

Spin Doctor. I have targeted conservatives in the name of abused conservatism, liberals in the name of abused free thinking, Islamic and Christian nut jobs in the name of faith turned destructive, nationalist thugs in the name of countries gone rogue, and now, with great pleasure – and without further ado – I target the ‘social coop’ movement (see Is Less More?) the Green movement (see Part 2) and the ‘save the planet’ movement (see Part 3), whose actions, when taken to the extreme, hurt sustainability, nature, and humanity in general, defeating their own causes.