The "Solving the Unsolvable" Mirage
Some people and movements aren't particularly virtuous, they are just are seeking to win an “At Least You Tried” participation trophy.
This morning, I recalled something from my graduate school days as I thought about a work challenge.
It was something distilled from this Albert Einstein quote when he said:
“If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it.”
My version was this (I’ve since learned my take is somewhat unoriginal):
“The rigor with which any problem is defined is the most significant factor in finding any potential solution.”
Then my friend from Panama, Surse Pierpont, posted a chart on Facebook (attached) that combined with my watching Biden’s climate blather from yesterday, put me over the edge.
I am not going to mention a particular ideology or current political movement, but any inferences you draw from what follows, if you happen to see a particular group or person this missive fits, then feel freed to assume I did, in fact, have someone or some movement in mind when I wrote it.
Let me just state, and let’s assume for the sake of argument, that there are problems in in our world that are just too big, too ingrained, or too indefinable to be solved. I would classify most of them in the areas of social science, things like racism, bigotry, classism, misogyny, misandry, and general misanthropy all seem to me to fall under the rubric of problems that go all the way back to the day we learned to walk upright and decided we wanted to congregate into groups so that only the outer layer of cave dwellers got eaten by the giant bears and tigers, while the rest of us rested comfortably deeper in.
Real problems, especially those of such magnitudes, are hard to solve. They are often multivariate (just too many inputs and outputs to get a rope around), depend on human conditioning and attitudes (tribalism or simply children who were raised to hate or to dislike some person or group) or some environmental factor beyond our control (catastrophic storms, earthquakes, tidal waves, Kamala Harris’ speeches, etc.).
Rational people intuitively know this.
Some people set out to solve them anyway and often the byproducts of the efforts are productive and have positive impacts on society. Happy accidents if you will.
But there are people who gravitate toward solving the unsolvable because the effort is in vogue, trendy, and has the social benefits of looking noble, honorable, and virtuous.
And I mean “looks” not “is” because these efforts tend to produce nothing but bad impacts on society.
As to being noble, honorable, and virtuous, typically, they are quite the opposite.
And it is often “smart” people who take this route. No doubt that Ibram X. Kendi is credentialed. Hell, most of the MSNBC lineup are either lawyers or have been matriculated and graduated from prestigious colleges, universities and graduate schools – but if you are looking to these folks for solutions, you would be better served to sell all your worldly belongings and move to Alaska to start panning for gold.
You can always identify these efforts when they employ or produce the very things the striver sets out to end. For example, when efforts to end discrimination produce more discrimination, when efforts to end bigotry are pursued through being a bigot and when chasing inclusivity means excluding anyone who disagrees with you, these are people who don’t really care that they aren’t solving anything because they are seeking to win an “At Least You Tried” participation trophy.
These efforts largely fail because the unserious just don’t have the energy to do the rigorous task of taking an unvarnished look at a problem, and by looking, defining it. They just do not want to put in the work and can’t deal with any contrary facts or data they encounter on the way to take their place on the participation trophy podium and the subsequent party at Pizza Hut.
Gun control efforts are one such issue, race relations another - but Global warming/cooling/change/disruption is super easy pickin’ for an example because, as Mugatu (gratuitous Zoolander reference alert) would say, it is “so hot right now.”
Let’s just say that the Green Nude Eel crowd is righteously driven to end all the global plusses and minuses, something Dich Cheney or the Russians and their weather modification equipment never could do. If you believe with all your heart of hearts that carbon emissions are the cause, I can see where you would want to end all oxygen conversion of hydrocarbons, including gas grills, lawnmowers and cars – if you are going after methane, you will need to shut down all natural gas exploration, filter the farts of every cow and drain every swamp (because rotting vegetation creates methane).
So, assume you have a president so committed to this that he chokes out the fossil fuel industry in his nation, bans barbeques, outlaws new home construction that includes natural gas, subjugates his nation’s economy to some global body to enforce all of those rules and THEN, sends taxpayer dollars abroad to underdeveloped nations (like China) to fund their own carbon reduction efforts.
Now suppose this only happens in your country and China continues to explore for oil, build coal fired power plants and make more gas and diesel for their own market.
Because no country in the world has more open oil refining capacity and no country is burning more coal than China.
If you were a real climate warrior, wouldn’t that bother you? Wouldn’t you want to target the largest rising polluter on the planet for extinction? Wouldn’t you be marching in the streets to get them on the bandwagon?
Sure, if you were serious, you would.
But these eco-warriors aren’t serious. They aren’t talking about China, much less donning their Pussy Hats and climate martyr outfits and marching.
It is because the object has never been carbon reduction or ending climate change – it has always been about being SEEN and LAUDED for acting as if it is about carbon reduction and climate change.
It is a gigantic vanity scam to help those of low self-worth and self-esteem feel important.
It’s a religion for those who don’t have any faith. It is unnatural for humans not to believe in a higher cause or good. But they’ve talked themselves out of God and into Gaia.
It’s about CONTROL.