Sign of the Times: Misplaced Priorities
Labels: Sign of the Times. Misplaced Priorities. Human Exceptionalism.
Living in the San Francisco Bay area is a surrealistic experience, and the looniness of the more extreme denizens could take up most of the space here at SHS. Two local controversies have involved whether to put suicide barriers on the Golden Gate Bridge and another is the coddling of tree-sitting protesters who are trying to prevent a small grove of oaks from being cut down in order to build a UC Berkeley athletic center. The difference between the fervor of the tree protesters--which UC Berkeley in its time-tested pattern has utterly coddled--and the public attention to the GGB issue, caught one letter writer's attention in today's SF Chronicle:Editor--Did anyone else notice the striking irony between two headlines in the July 23 Chronicle ("Suicide barrier: Emotions high" and "Judge hands Cal a big win in athletic center fight")?
Isn't it sad there seems to be a higher number of people fighting to save the oak trees next to Memorial Stadium than there are people who are fighting to prevent future suicides on the Golden Gate Bridge? What has become of our society? Do we value the lives of trees more than the lives of our depressed brothers and sisters? If you're in favor of saving a tree, shouldn't you also be in favor of saving human lives? We can always replace a tree that we have cut down but a life lost on the Golden Gate Bridge can never be replaced.
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 7:52 AM
11 Comments
11 Comments:
Hi. I remember someone on your blog commenting on choice and how that 'choice alone' would someday become the only value in morality. It seems that some people have the opinion that if others want to commit suicide--let them. It's sad because nobody considers the number of factors that can lead a sucidal person to making the ultimate final "choice." Yes, human exceptionalism is being replaced by some humans; not all, and transferred to mother nature(environment) or animal rights. It's troubling in my mind how viciously anti-human some people are. I have this sense that a large percentage of peple are OK with strangers committing sucicide because, well...'Hey, overpopulaton is a bigger problem. If they wanna kill themselves, let them.' Of course, there are some people that will claim that they care about all the issues I raised equally, but let me say this...
Men lie.
Women lie.
Numbers don't.
When more people show up in favor of saving trees than saving lives, I know there's some cause for concern.
Sorry for the long post Wesley Smith.
Right. Sometimes I think that paeons to "choice" are just a short cut way of saying "I don't give a damn."
Read a sample chapter of a book called" No-one makes you shop at Walmart" talking about how choice and free markets can lead to less choice in the future.
I think people deciding to commit suicide, well, decide that for themselves. It is tragic that they decide to do so, but again, is a choice they make for themselves. Those serious in their suicidal intentions will find another way to kill themselves if they cannot throw themselves off a bridge.
As for the oaks - they cannot defend themselves against their imminent destruction.
That being said, I admit to not being informed about the issue of these particular oaks - and I hate the look of the little tree dwellings people have set up, it looks almost as trashy if they just cut the oaks down - but again, the big difference here is that the oaks cannot decide for themselves what will happen to them. That's why some folks feel compelled to defend them, instead of say, trying to prevent suicides.
Thanks for letting me comment.
Thanks Bee. You prove my points so often made here that when we begin to personalize nature, we start caring less about our fellow humans.
There are a lot of formerly suicidal people who would be dead today, but are glad to be alive because somebody cared enough to prevent them.
Sometimes "choice" is another word for not really caring.
And they are just TREES!
It seems to me that you are missing a big point- people cannot live without trees. Aside from some varieties feeding us, they help us breathe.
Considering that forests are being lost at an alarming rate, and many urban areas are practically devoid of them, is it any wonder some people might be properly concerned about the loss of trees and its effect on human life?
I mean, if you want to live in seas of gritty sidewalks, choking on truck exahust, and not care about how many children have asthma (like it is now in the South Bronx of NYC), ok, but I don't see anything "exceptional" about that.
Plese Ladybug. Nobody is talking about cutting down all the trees. Nobody is talking about cutting down ancient groves. They are going to build an athletic center for the good of the university. Those trees may be pretty, but they are not going to clean up exhaust or stop children from getting asthma. The cutting down of the trees will happen soon and have zero impact on human health.
They are just a small grove of trees. Pretty. Pleasant. But not worth impeding improving the university over. Heck, even BERKELEY sees that.
Sure, but the wide-sweeping conclusions you and others draw from this one example do appear to miss my point. Caring about trees (and animals) is not mutually exclusive to caring about humans.
Ladybug: OF COURSE that is true. Indeed, when I write or speak about humane exceptionalism I always point out that it is our duty to do so.
That does not seem clear from your blog posts at all.
Like in this example, you say those trees won't clean up exhaust, but of course they will. All trees clean the air. And maybe there are other trees in this area, but where does it end? Its always oh well let's build this new stadium or that new stadium, until one day we're going to wake up and it will all be gone.
So where is this discussion of using resources responsibly you speak of? All I see is you demonizing these students, among others (who care about animals), and making wild assumptions about them. This creats an artificial black-and-white scenario that doesn't really exist in reality, and I don't see how that solves anything at all.
ladybug: If you read my posts about human exceptionalism, you will see I discuss our duties to be humane to animals and to ecosystems.
But not to individual groves of trees that impede the building of an athletic center! Good grief.
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