Reference :- " Leftist " documentary maker Michael Moore has released a controversial new film.

Reference :-  The Sky News anchors are quivering with excitement over  Michael Moore's new documentary, " Planet of the Humans ".  They see it as confirmation that the fossil fuel industry is actually doing us a great service .


There has been a lot of talk here , in Kooralya , about the controversial documentary that Michael Moore has given the world , gratis , on You Tube .   People who describe themselves as "leftist " are displeased , claiming that he unfairly misrepresented  the downside of renewable energy proliferation .   Those on the "right " gleefully see confirmation of their view that fossil fuels are mankind's greatest asset .

 Out here in Kooralya , we don't accept the usual  " left vs right " political modelling .   My son , Ken junior , reckons it's a remnant from the old cold war , which itself was riddled with misinformation and propaganda .   He reckons that model is as obsolete as an 8 track tape player , about as clunky,  and similarly useless for playing anything newly released  .
Even Monte ( the motorcyclist ) refuses to identify as either left or right politically .  He talks about something he calls " the common good " , which he claims is free of ideology and rooted in calm pragmatism .   He reckons the concept is all there in his cherished book " Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance " by Robert M Pirsig .    His favourite quote from the book is  " If you get  careless with scientific information , nature will make a complete fool of you . "

And Gabbo ( the aborigine ) reckons  the common good concept does not only apply to mankind  , but also includes every living creature , and all the trees and mountains and rivers and so on . 

Well they are idealistic young chaps , and I applaud them for that idealism .

 Personally , I have a more sombre philosophy .  I call it    " Everything we do has a downside , and we are always slow to discover it "   .   We raise life expectancies , but that fills nursing homes with suffering old folk.   We have our amalgam fillings drilled out because they might be harmful , only to discover that the white plastic fillings are even more toxic.   We get divorced because marriage involves too many compromises , only to find that life post- divorce involves even  more  compromises .   We take the lead out of petrol, and then discover that unleaded petrol is more polluting and carcinogenic . And so it goes . 

 Michael Moore has merely pointed out the obvious , which is that renewable energy production has plenty of downsides .   Both the environmentalists he has upset , and the fossil fuel advocates he has pleased are guilty of the same arrogance . They believe that mankind can hugely manipulate nature without adverse consequences ,  as long it is done the right way .   They merely argue about what constitutes " the right way " to get the energy that we greedily demand . 

 And , as Monte would point out ,  nature is making complete fools of us .

Your comrade , Ken