What would we do without Internet ‘memes’ to reduce complex and nuanced issues to trite statements designed to confirm our biases?
A friend shared the one above today which was originally posted by a group calling itself Palm Oil Investigations .
In an attempt to counter the reflexive civilizational self-loathing, fashionable misanthropy and blind hypocrisy, I thought it was worth pointing out to them that there were one or two benefits that accrued during that ‘1 minute’ period referenced in the meme….like, higher wages, increased quality of life, longer life span, lower infant mortality, established middle class, manufacturing and technological innovation, labour saving devices, mass transit, medical advances and eradication of diseases, increased food production, more leisure time, access to travel, expansion of education and literacy, expansion of human rights and democracy, animal welfare, greater opportunity and choice for earning a living, hitherto inconceivable expansion of global communication and connectivity (telegraph,telephone, radio, television, internet), indoor plumbing, electric light, efficient and convenient home heating, refrigeration…
You know, basically everything that makes our lives so comfortable, easy and spoiled that we are now able to indulge in the luxury of having time to care about the world’s forests.
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