Comments Atomic Dog has made
You're not TRUE environmentalists.
moremi said: "Children playing video games all evening instead of interacting with their guests?"
Yes, I also find it unfathomable that children would prefer to do something fun rather than be bored in a room full of adults discussing their jobs or their plans for the future or politics. However, I also find it nothing short of offensive that you think people should visit their families on the holidays.
You know, my horrible, selfish extended family came to my parents house for Thanksgiving. From the east coast to the west coast. The last time they were all together under one roof, it was for a funeral. Still, that doesn't excuse them. Do you have any idea how much fuel they wasted, pollution they created in order to do something as ridiculous as be together for Thanksgiving dinner? It's ridiculous. All they needed to do was pick up the phone. But not me. I passed on a homemade meal, some time with my family who I haven't seen for months, and I spent Thanksgiving alone. And they weren't pleased. It would have been no problem for me to make it up there, but I said, "Shut up mom. Who cares about family when we have THE ENVIRONMENT to be concerned about? I'm an ENVIRONMENTALIST mom, and that means I don't EVER go anywhere unnecessarily - especially not for something as pointless and as wasteful as sharing a stupid meal." I told her not to expect me for Christmas either, and that my family wouldn't be getting gifts, they'd be getting a long diatribe about their unenvironmental faults and their addictions to consumerism. She cried. I told her that she has nobody to blame but George Bush for this and that if she wanted me to ever visit her again, to start voting Democrat.
=spaceshaper said: "It's the act of a self-satisfied prig and a vandal."
If you're not part of the solution space, you're part of the problem. These consumerist jerks need to be sent a message. And that message is, "We know better than you, and we're going MAKE you do things our way - OR ELSE."
You're no environmentalist. You talk a big game, but you don't take action. If people won't change, we have to change them. By any means necessary.
=Will said: "Wouldn't it mean a lot more if they had put their time and energy into a homemade gift?"
My ex-girlfriend had her birthday a couple weeks ago. She really, REALLY wanted this new pair of shoes she's been eyeing - but I didn't get it for her. No WAY was I going to spend the time and energy engaging in some mindless consumerism (at the expense of some poor sweatshop labor who probably made them, just so some rich conservative fatcat can turn 1000% profit on it) just to please the people I love and fulfill their dreams and wishes. Instead, I rooted through my recycle bin for some paper that didn't have writing on the back, and I wrote out a poem about saving the rainforests. She said she loved it, but I don't think she really meant it. I think that selfish, evil woman wanted the shoes. I don't think she appreciated my homemade birthday gift, which (bonus!) doubled as an attempt to spread awareness. She broke up with me soon after.
But the heck with her. Any woman that can't appreciate getting something homemade (AND recycled), instead of getting what she really wants, isn't worth being around anyway.
"My activism is an act of love-- for the planet and for those I am close to."
So is mine. I do what I do for the greater good. So that future generations won't have to live in a world ruined by people - including armchair wannabe environmentalists who might recycle a few cans, or buy themselves a hybrid, but won't step up and do what it takes to make a better world. A world in which people aren't ALLOWED to make mistakes that hurt the environment. A world where they're told what to do, and if they don't do it, we retaliate. The only thing worse than an earth-rapist, are lip-service environmentalists.
"I'm trying my best not to tell you how to live your life"
And that's why you'll fail in our noble goal. It's not enough to just lead by example. It's not even enough to tell people how to live their lives. We have to MAKE them live the way WE want them to live. And if they don't... well, then there's consequences. We need to pass the laws that get these people THROWN IN JAIL - but until that happens, we have to act on our own. A few helpful environmental suggestions scrawled into some oversized gas guzzling SUV with a screwdriver is a good way to start.On Are you brave enough to say no to a high-stress holiday? posted 2 years ago 51 Responses
Sounds to me like you're cheap.
Look, I can appreciate the environmentalist sentiment - but Christmas is a time to put aside all these hokey political attitudes and indignant, sanctimonious crusades and just enjoy the time with the people you care about. I'm a good environmentalist - I recycle my cans, I drive a hybrid (and key non-hybrid drivers cars), I use that horribly uncomfortable recycled toilet paper, but honestly... Christmas is a great time to throw all that nonsense out the window. To forget about all my self-righteous hatred towards the environmentally unfriendly and just relax with a little yuletide joy.
And while Billy and I might agree in principle, I wholeheartedly disagree with him in practicality. See the problem, Billy, is your version of Christmas is SELFISH. It's selfish and kind of a slap in the face to any and everyone you love. Why? Because you don't want to give them gifts that show your love and care for them. You don't want to have to spend a little money for the people you care about. You'd rather give them cheap, empty, hollow sentiments - guised as love and caring. You want to pontificate. You don't want to give them something from your heart, out of love. You want to give them our agenda. You're using Christmas, you're exploiting the season, you're taking advantage of the ONE time of year people are actually caring and nice to each other, for activism. They take the time to brave the malls, to find some perfect gift that they think will mean something to you, to wrap it, to make sure it gets to you - and what do you give them in return? A lesson in environmentalism guised as a gift.
I'm sorry Billy, but that pretty much sickens me.
I have some non-environmentalist friends in my life. And I don't have a life of my own, so I spend 11 months out of the year haranguing and berating them for their sinful non-environmental lives. But when Christmas comes along, I drop the act. I quit pretending like environmentalism is some noble goal, and I admit to myself the shallow materialism and selfish, selfish happiness that we all have inside us. When Christmas comes around, I give my friends the gift of non-environmentalism. Where, for a short term, they get to enjoy their lives without me kicking them in the shins, spitting in their face and telling them how to live their lives. Yea, I know better than they do. I'm an environmentalist. OBVIOUSLY I know better than they do. But, for one month out of the year, I grant them reprieve.
It's called Christmas Spirit. You should try it sometime.On Are you brave enough to say no to a high-stress holiday? posted 2 years ago 51 Responses