[MD] Distinguishing Levels (Individual level)

[Arlo J. Bensinger]

[Platt to Case]
That's just it, there is no "scientific consensus."

[Case]
But I am starting to think all that stuff Arlo say about you might be right. ...
Have you read this somewhere? Was this on the radio? Or is this an inversion of
my favorite Christian refrigerator magnet: Gore said it. I don't believe. That
settles it?

[Arlo]
Oh. Come. On. Case. Did you really not see this coming? Let me remind you of the
third simple paird axiom.

3a. Everything right-wing radio reports is unquestionable truth.
3b. Everything the "liberal media" reports is a lie.

Not to mention Gore is a "democrat", an enemy of the Party, and thus everything
he says is a lie. Bush, on the other hand, is a friend of the Party, and thus
everything he says is the truth.

What cracks me up to no end, is how he calls Gore a "fear monger". This is quite
rich in its hypocrisy, from someone who pretty much does nothing more than
parrot the latest "conservative" boogeyman that makes its way onto right-wing
radio day in and day out.

But, I'll be honest with you. I am much more concerned about modern pollution
levels as it relates to the air I breathe, the water I drink and the land I
fish/hike/hunt on. Landfills are detestable solutions to over garbination (like
that word). We drop our garbage into the oceans, into our valleys, into our old
mine shafts, polluting our water supplies to the point where we are USED to
buying bottled water! Los Angeles is under a constant smog. But even the small
town where I am from, and the moderate college town I now live in, are
suffering from reduced air quality, smells and pollution from overcrowding and
overdriving.

While I haven't seen Gore's movie, I don't personally find value in the
futurism. The problems, for me, don't revolve around a future global ice age.
They revolve around the quality of my life, air, water and land today.

Maybe my perspective is as it is because of Chapter One in the Columbia History
of the World, a great chapter that really places "man" in the context of
geo-historical time. Someday the earth will reglaciate, and someday it will
return to its natural state of tropic-like temperatures (like the millions of
years prior to the currect ice age). Whether or not we shave or add a few
hundred years to this is to me not what's worth fighting over. That our water
is polluted, our air is rancid in our cities, and our ground is littered with
trash IS worth fighting over.

And Platt proposes nuclear energy as the solution. How typical. Most of the
solutions are at our feet. Literally. Walk. Bike. And then carpool or ride
public transit. Demand less packaging on consumerables (Germany has a great
system we should employ). I'd personally opt for solar energy. But then again,
I'm just a commie. Real Americans love nuclear.

Just some thoughts...