Funny, yes. Sad, yes. True, yes. But when I think about this on a broader scale, it's really a great example of "extreme-ism." Not extreme as in X games, but extreme as in radicalism. The people who subscribe to this sort of thing are not joking. They really believe this stuff. It is the same sort of extremism that allows one to believe that by killing a doctor who performs an abortion, you are saving life. "The Lunatic Fringe" used to refer to people like Ted Kaczinski (sp.). Now that phrase includes a much larger circle of people. "Respected" people. People who are in places of power to really further their agenda's. Look at PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Many of them swear that they would rather their own child dies than to use a medicine that was tested on a animal. Other groups to check out include: The Earth Liberation Front, Earth First, and The Wildlands Project.
A few words about The Wildlands Project (TWP). TWP's goal is to "rewild America." Go to their website at <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.twp.org>www.twp.org</A>. It will scare you. "Rewilding" means to remove all human inhabitants and evidence of human involvement. They want massive corridors of de-population running from Mexico to Canada. This to allow animals and vegetation to reproduce without any limits. Think of the potential for fires; nevermind the lost revenue and increased expenses as we must now drive around the rewilded corridor. This is not just the whim of a few radical eco-freaks. Guess who's on-board: Ted Turner. Unlimited funds. Access to politicians. This is serious s#!+. I don't recall any other big names/dollars, but they're there.
When I think of the "extremism" in my own life, I can only think of desert racing. I will spend more than every dime I have to further my goals. I will ignore other area's of my life just to be racing. I guess one big difference between me and the radicals mentioned above, is that my extremism is not aimed at restricting anyone else's liberty and pursuit of happiness. An unfortunate side effect of being "against" the eco-wacko's is that it seems we are on the side of the blatant destruction of the environment. This is not true. I don't know of any off-roader who would knowly, intentionally harm our environment. That's the rub: we're not anti-environment, yet we are shown to be opposing pro-enviromentalists.
On a more positive note, in
most cases, radicalism rarely triumph's. Look at Waco, the Teleban, Tim McVey. These are examples of philosophy gone radical. Although each has followers, none have/will go on to mass success. Radicalism can be intoxicating. Look at street gangs. Same thing. Members swear their alliance, and will die in defense of cause. Yet the gang offers a sense of pride and belonging to the member. Same as all these radical groups. It is not likely we will ever defeat eco-extremism. All we can do is our best to elect people to our local and federal governments that will not take the pay off's from these well funded radical groups. We can also continue to do things like the clean-ups that heighten the public's awareness of our desire to police ourselves and our playgrounds.
Sorry to rain on this otherwise quite funny thread. Please excuse the length of this post.
