Gorism
The news of this week made mention of Al Gore as our soon-to-be, first carbon billionaire. Accounts included both his earlier and contemporary angry denials that he was greedy, or had used his vast network of government contacts to influence public loans, contracts, and regulations, in parlaying a 2001 net worth of $2 million apparently into a green empire of several hundred million.
In Gore’s telling, he was worried only about the planet, put meager investments into promising green companies, and then, given divine intervention, found himself worth perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars.
Still, I’m not so interested in how Gore made his fortune, or even the ethics involved of barnstorming the planet in a first wave of scare tactics, then following up with a second wave of financial reaping from what his fear mongering had sown—but rather instead the divide between the world he advocates and the life he lives. After all, with cap-and-trade, our energy is going to go a tad higher—the rich oblivious to the cost, the poor to be recipients of government subsidized help.
To distill Gorism is to live in a 1,000 sq. ft. solar house, bike to work, and take the train on long distances; but to promote Gorism, one lives in a mansion, jets on private planes, and is chauffeured from airport to conference center—a rather heavy carbon footprint indeed. I mention that because this week he has insisted that he only invested in what he believes in and is thus not a hypocrite—sort of like a 1990s Fannie or Freddie director saying he is only taking mega-bonuses because he believes in public support for housing.
The rest is here.
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2 comments:
Unless one has seen Buñuel's movie, the title makes no sense. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is about self-indulgent, high society snobs that sit down to dinner but never eat, "their attempts repeatedly thwarted by a vaudevillian mixture of events both actual and imagined. Perhaps his greatest film, Buñuel's absurdist view of the upper class is a timeless satire about consumerism and class privilege" (quoted from Netflix).
Gosh has it been almost 40 years?
The movie was big in Europe and Latin America.
The plutocrats live in a world of their own, unbothered by the struggles and real-world problems of the "little people".
Kactuz
It's been ages since I've seen it, probably time to watch it again. It's probably time to watch it again.
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