The End of Our Crises

“Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil.” 

― Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain

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Dear Kate,

There is a solution to our ecological crises.  Yes, there really is.

Regulation.

Just impose what is right, no ifs, ands, or buts.  No deviation from our ideals tolerated, no questions entertained.  Just do it, or be fined, jailed, or, if to no avail, executed.  It will work.

Of course it doesn't work now.  By "now" I mean here at this particular spatial temporal juncture being myself a Canadian and you American.  Because everything else is still working.

However, regulation, administered by of course an authoritarian, will be our only choice when there is no more choice to be made.  Say, when there is a shortage of electricity, we will be left with no choice but to cut the power from time to time, to make sure we won't be left with no power at all.  It is happening already "somewhere else," I am sure you know.

It is happening here too, has been always.  What is the traffic light but some kind of ideal that is imposed on us?  Why don't you question the colors whenever you see them change?  I like red, why can't I go when I see red calling my name?  Regulation has always been there to keep us from killing ourselves, each other, everything.

This is a good time to think through the implications of our human nature: made in the image of God, glorious enough to know and pursue ideals, yet simultaneously fallen with the created order, sick unto death beyond our own resourcefulness.  The call for human solidarity during a global pandemic makes it clear that our togetherness is anything but solid.

There are anti-vaxxers who compared vaccine to the medical experiments of Nazi Germany.  They don't know the Nazis.  We will all know the Nazis, all over again, when nothing else works.  It's still too early to get melodramatic.

You can probably tell I have always been taking a very dim view of humanity, yet also idealizing it more than anything else, often when talking about the same person.  Those who think I was idolizing Ravi were blinded by the idols of their own.    A Man is a god, a monster, a monstrous god, a godly monster.  But these are mere words, not nearly enough to paint a picture of our wicked glory.

Consider what we have achieved with our hands, bare hands really, to fashion tools and schemes so that they shall be bare no more.  Consider how we can control temperature, impose our authoritarian will on it, and make our environment warm enough beyond what is needed, just because we want it, just because we will it.  When it gets hot enough we would go and open a window or two, just to get ourselves some "fresh air," while the heat is still running, through our nostrils, out the windows.  No deviation from our ideals tolerated, no questions entertained.  We are imposing regulation on the world, judging it fit for our survival and the rest of creation unfit to survive.  The energy consumption in Canada is expected to be nearly 3 times the global average, but no one in our friendly neighborhood is calling out the Nazi in each other.

My life as a father would be much easier if energy consumption is regulated, so that I don't have to dabble in the thankless exercise of love only to expose the hates in me.  The law isn't backing me up, so I am backed against the wall by my fellow rational, reasonable, highly educated human beings.  My kids have honest questions about my leadership on the matter, but no decent respect.  You can call this self-pity, but if there ever is a need for any, I think this is as good as any time.  Why not the Ten Commandments like the good old days?  Regulate us, please!  Put us under control!  Take our freedom away so that freedom is at least possible!  We can't be trusted to be adults.  Anything that ever attempts to trust a human being turns out dead.

What do you think, then?  Time to check ourselves to jail?

Yours, Alex