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Oh, it feels hypocritical, does it?

11 Sep 2019 | OP ED Watch

Extinction Rebellion protestors in Manchester, England are caught… what? Eating a hamburger? Flying a boat crew across the Atlantic? Taking Elton John’s private jet? Recording a song with Greta Thunberg before flying off on a world tour? No. Running a diesel generator because solar costs too much. “It’s something we really do regret having to use and we feel like hypocrites” said one. But the problem isn’t the hypocrisy, it’s the stupidity.

Or possibly the paranoia. This particular watermelon says “We were desperate to get a solar panel specially made for the demonstrations but it would have cost us £8,000.” Oh really. And why is that? Well, see, “We’re part of a system that has made it incredibly difficult to use solar panels for these sorts of events and we feel like we’ve been forced to have to use the diesel generator.” Right. The system. The man. Running dogs of international capitalism. You know. Them.

Leaving that aspect aside, what’s revealing isn’t that these people, busy shutting down “the system” or at least the part that uses busy Manchester commercial streets, are doing the stuff they don’t want you doing like some vegan guru sneaking off to McDonald’s because the flesh is weak (or tasty). It is, again, that they can’t avoid doing it because the things they say work better in theory don’t work better in practice when you, or they, actually need electricity to come out of the plug.

Which makes it especially ironic that one of their big banners said “CLIMATE ACTION NOW BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE”. Funny, that. When you actually need power before it’s too late, to run your car, keep medications cool, or just annoy shoppers, you reach for petroleum products. And then your face as well as your economics turn red.

One comment on “Oh, it feels hypocritical, does it?”

  1. "But the problem isn’t ONLY the hypocrisy, it’s the stupidity." (There, fixed that for you. )
    I think they should do the clean-up after Dorian entirely with renewables, since using fossil fuels to clear trees, more people around, bring in supplies, fix homes, power generators for hospitals, etc., will only cause another hurricane to develop - Dorian II. The recovery from one climate emergency will cause another... Isn't that the 97% consensus these days?

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