CYNICS AND SCEPTICS ARE TWINNING
Like everyone else I know in the tribe of working journalists, I think being sceptical is a useful, if not indispensable tool of the trade, and tend to dispute being a cynic. But I’m beginning to think both journalists and news consumers have reason and need to embrace the two philosophies.
A sceptic is defined as someone who will not easily be convinced.
That’s a useful characteristic when your job entails trying to be, as Mark Twain once said of God and the Associated Press: “forces that can carry light to all corners of the globe.”
A cynic believes the worst in people, and is “distrustful of human sincerity or integrity”.
That’s a philosophy anyone who has reported on suffering and travesties, both natural and human-made, can understand, but not adopt in full.
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are cases in point.
The vision and indeed genius that made them the two richest men in a world with an over-abundance of people with more money than anyone needs or is conscionable, have brought useful innovations.
That their rivalry and greed have become disturbing factors in the U.S. presidential election is grounds for cynicism.
Bezos claims that in his tenure as owner of the Washington Post, no one will find “one instance in those 11 years where I have prevailed upon anyone at The Post in favor of my own interests. It hasn’t happened.”
It’s not supposed to happen, Mr Bezos.
Putting forth non-interference in the editorial process of a newspaper you own as a self-accolade is akin to claiming praiseworthiness because you never committed a felony, abused your spouse or neglected your kids.
A sceptic might (grudgingly) afford Bezos’ claim that “no quid pro quo of any kind is at work here” in his veto of the Post’s endorsement of Kamala Harris.
A cynic looking for the sub rosa in both Bezos’ editorial interference and Musk’s leaping about with TV game show contestant enthusiasm for Donald Trump doesn’t have to do more than scratch the surface.
For example: Bezos’ space company Blue Origin is engaged in a fierce battle with Musk’s Space X for lucrative future government and Defence Department contracts potentially worth trillions of dollars.
Along with Google, Microsoft and Oracle, Amazon will also be vying for as much as eight billion dollars worth of military server modernisation over the next two years.
You don’t have to be a sceptic or a cynic, just a person of normal intelligence, to see money and politics as conjoined twins.
THE REAL “DEEP STATE”
The conspiracy faithful take cynicism to the edge of paranoid fantasy, but going somewhat beyond the level of scepticism is more than justified when it comes to the claims and aims of the fossil fuel industry.
In 2022 the UK Advertising Standards Authority banned Shell oil adverts that incorrectly gave the impression low-carbon energy products made up a significant proportion of the company’s energy products.
In March this year, Shell diluted its carbon emissions targets, and confirmed it planned to cut hundreds of jobs in its low-carbon solutions division,
Add that to the finding by the green think tank New Weather Institute that “in an attempt to divert attention from their role in fuelling the climate crisis and harming human health”, fossil fuel companies have invested nearly five billion dollars in sports sponsorships, and cynicism seems to be in order.
A LESSON FROM ANOTHER OIL INDUSTRY
Ironically, oil actually triggered what might be called one of the greatest “green” events ever.
Whales were being hunted towards extinction when the discovery of petroleum in 1859 meant their oil was no loner needed for lamps.The introduction of vegetable oil, gas and eventually electric lights also A knock-on effect was the Antarctic Treaty, which ensured that “one place on earth has never seen war, the environment is fully protected and scientific research has priority. It is arguably the most successful agreement of its kind.”
No more.
China has built a new research station without submitting the necessary environmental evaluations.
Russian fishing vessels spoofed their location to hide illegal fishing activities in protected Antarctic waters.
The Iranian military claims Tehran has “property rights” at the South Pole,
It’s a fair assumption none of them have preservation of the continent’s unique beauty and the future of its inhabitants in mind.
Put the ambitions of those three nations, their roles and positions in global rivalries and tensions, and the avarice that is driving greenhouse gases, over-fishing and the race to scour minerals from the deep sea bed, damage be damned, and the relationship between polar ice cap melting on ocean temperatures, and cynicism may be the only reasonable reaction.
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One thought on “CYNICS AND SCEPTICS ARE TWINNING”
A good friend, Cormac Cullinan is an environmental lawyer who has been working/advocating for the rights of antarctica for a long while now.…
https://www.garn.org/antarctica-rights/
https://wild.org/wild12/resolutions/advancing-the-rights-of-antarctica/
Got to be grateful for those who DO.