Wall Street Journal Projects Its Inhumane Theology Upon the World
by David Sassoon - Jul 2nd, 2008
There is a category of psychological illusion called "projection" which serves the purpose of reducing personal anxiety. It's a defense mechanism in which one attributes one’s own unacceptable or unwanted thoughts and emotions to others.
Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal provided a textbook case of the phenomenon in an editorial called Global Warming as Mass Neurosis. It is yet another installment of exemplary denialist rhetoric in need of some Freudian analysis.
The author, Bret Stephens, accuses those concerned about global warming of practicing a sick-souled theology. He doesn't realize he's blaming others for his own illness: his dogmatic embrace and belief in the perfect functioning of free markets.
It's not clear whether Stephens believes in God or not, but he does seem to believe mightily in his Invisible Hand at least. It is an idolatrous theology that worships a divine appendage, in the face of an abundance of rational evidence that demonstrates its imperfect functioning.
Stephen's faith leads him astray -- to deny climate science practiced by climate scientists in peer-reviewed settings and to embrace the pseudo-science practiced by political operatives in the world of manipulated public opinion.
Much of the science has since been discredited. Now it's time for political scientists, theologians and psychiatrists to weigh in.
It leads him to suspect an anti-capitalist conspiracy, verging on the edge of McCarthyist paranoia.
Socialism may have failed as an economic theory, but global warming alarmism, with its dire warnings about the consequences of industry and consumerism, is equally a rebuke to capitalism.
And it leads him, as psychological disturbances of this sort often do, to odd sexual notions.
A light carbon footprint has become the 21st-century equivalent of sexual abstinence.
Au contraire, Mr. Stephens. Make love, not oil war.
Global warming is the mother of all market failures that challenges your pure faith in the perfection of free markets. And so you lash out, not recognizing the signs and symptoms of your own distress.
Instead of attacking those who are trying to deal with the reality of global warming and accusing them of succumbing to mass neurosis, try looking at the state of your own mental health, and of those around you in the same ward who share in your dogma and denial.
You are highly qualified, from personal experience, to comment upon that directly, rather than projecting your own ills upon others.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
Relief
For most of us, each day stress and anxiety has become an unavoidable part of present life.I heard about anxietyattackstreatment.I come to know that it is a powerful system that can cure panic attacks and general anxiety fast. You’ll learn the exact technique that can give you immediate anxiety relief without using any medication.It’s a simple method that you can follow step by step to see results fast. While many programs only show you how to cope with a panic attack when it has already begun, but it helps to stop panic attacks altogether. Another benefit of this program over others on the market is that it doesn’t give you generic advice or outdated techniques.Over 27,000 people have already used it successfully.If you are suffering from anxiety then I want to suggest you must try their programs.
Thanks
Sheron
Global Warming
What! Yet more climate theology? Get real, guys.
Blaming his own neurosis on Global Warming?
Good article and commentary. I don't know where Stephens gets this "anti-capitalist" notion, and his grasp of science is weak and completely lacking in any citation or reference.
Thanks to the work of Mr. Sassoon, I wrote my own essay on Bret WSJ piece at GlobalWarmingisReal:
www.globalwarmingisreal.com/blog/2008/07/02/the-wall-street-journal-proj...
Keep up the good work!
Pity - he is a fool and a bad capitalist
Clearly he wants governments to stay out of climate issues and not interfere with his WSJ brand of rapacious, unbridled capitalism.
Any enlightened capitalist would welcome the preservation of a healthy market. And actions by global governments to preserve these capitalist markets - by keeping people alive and healthy - seems the smartest thing to do. Whether it is environment or wars, a stable world is the best market for any capitalist.
The market cannot do so, it takes government intervention in global warming to avoid the breakdown of the state into lawless chaos; something any state deserves if it fails to protect its citizens. All the more so for citizens of the planet.
After all, a great management consultant - well known to WSJ capitalists, said:
It is not necessary to change;
survival is not mandatory.
- W. Edwards Deming
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming
Post new comment