Sanctity

I am not easily shocked. I might be easily offended, but to truly shock me you have to really get creative. This article and headline shocked me to the point of nearly cancelling my AOL subscription.

Political figures, religious figures, Paris Hilton -- even my mother -- are all fair game for jokes and light-hearted essays. A fluff piece on global warming suggesting that there are "pluses" to the northern hemisphere if the planet heats up a few degrees, AND if there is a down side, it really won't matter because it will all happen long after we're dead? Shocking.

Now, let me preface all of this by saying that I have not done any in-depth study of the issue. My knowledge is based on the general news, discussion, and political rhetoric. My suspicion is that global warming is a serious problem, but that for political reasons the situation has been made a little more dramatic than necessary.

After all, to be successful politically you need a bad guy to rail against. The current administration has chosen the Muslim straw man. That, however, cannot last forever. With technology shrinking the planet, the otherness of Afghanistan will be virtually gone in my lifetime. Early Christianity had it right: create a bad guy who is omnipresent, yet invisible so that when there is a political enemy, you can paint him with the bad-guy brush. Satan, Christians, Al-Quaida...and now "Global Warming."

Don't misunderstand: I think that most of the deep problems of this country and the world can all be traced back to corporate greed, including the institutionalization of African slavery in European and American cultures, and beyond. The root of all evil isn't money, or even the love of money. The root of all evil is the willingness to sacrifice absolutely anything for the collection of money. Up until now, the highest price to pay for financial wealth has been human dignity.

Now, it appears that our planet, and by extension even our very existence are up for sale. And even if we're not at the point of total annihilation just yet, this is the quintessential slippery slope and not a topic I'm willing to see splashed about with articles about the trials and travails of Paris Hilton.

But, even setting Armaggedon aside, there's something more insidious in this article. Yes, human life may be sustainable in the Northern Hemisphere for a period of time if we lose the polar ice caps. But what about everyone south of Spain, Russia, and the U.S.? Think about that for a second. Who lives in the Northern Hemisphere, primarily, and what peoples live around the equator? What about them?