Sunday 18 August 2013

Greens


"Dyson...feels as deeply about the natural world as anyone, seeks to learn what its troubles stem from, and has concrete proposals for mending matters while preserving liberty. None of that is true of the Green politicians and the ecofascists..."

(Poul Anderson, "Wellsprings of Dream" IN Anderson, All One Universe, New York, 1997, pp. 235-247, AT p. 240)

Ecofascists? Strong term - Anderson does show us some in Orion Shall Rise.

His description of Dyson fits the Green politicians that I know in Britain. An American woman working at Lancaster University became a Green City Councillor. Talking about religion, she said that Anglicans and British Quakers were more liberal than Episcopalians or American Quakers so maybe there are similar differences in politics?

Addendum:My son-in-law has constructed a pond in his back garden so we are going to drive into the country to collect damp logs for frogs and toads to live in near the pond.

5 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Hi, Paul!

I am a conservative in the John Adams/Edmund Burke sense and by no means a "liberal" (except possibly in the classical, Adam Smith meaning). So, far more often than not, I agree with Poul Anderson's socio political views (while you sometimes don't). And that includes me sharing Anderson's contempt for the more radical and irrational "Greens."

I am glad the "Greens" you know don't seem to be the kind Anderson despised. I mean irrational, high technology despising Luddites. My view is that it's better to REPLACE some forms of industry which comes at a high price with better, more advanced types. Such as replacing oil and coal with nuclear power and moving heavy industry off Earth.

Needless to say, as a Catholic, I disagree with high, low, or liberal Anglicans/Episcopalians (smiles). My view is that some liberal Anglicans tend to water down Christianity to vague mush. After all, some of them even deny the divinity of Our Lord and that He rose from the dead.

Btw, I've almost finished a new note I hope to soon send you for placing in your blog, if you wish.

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Sean,
Your new post will be welcome.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Hi, Paul!

Many thanks! My note just needs a bit more revising, I think.

As for "Greens," see as well Anderson's "Commentary" in SPACE FOLK for further remarks. His belief was that if the views of radical Greens were enforced, then billions of people would inevitably died in various nasty ways.

Sean

Jim Baerg said...

I have been following this podcast 'Decouple'
https://open.spotify.com/show/6PNr3ml8nEQotWWavE9kQz
or
https://www.youtube.com/c/DecouplePodcast/videos
"about the science & technology to decouple human wellbeing from its ecological impacts"
Re: Green Fascists
see particularly the episodes from early February 2022 about 'Romanticism'.

As for Sean's comment about 'some Liberal Anglicans': Speaking as a devout atheist ;) , if you don' believe in the divinity of Christ, why would you call yourself a Christian?

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Jim!

And I agree! It doesn't make sense for anyone to call himself a Christian if he doesn't believe in His divinity.

Ad astra! Sean