this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2023

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‘Praying For Armageddon’ Review: A Chilling Look At The Pastors, Politicians and Power Brokers Agitating for Apocalypse, Now (variety.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can’t really compare the widespread intentional devastation we cause to habitats through deforestation, expansion, and pollution (as one example) to a whale eating krill. For one, it’s the natural cycle of life, and their ecosystem is balanced around it. For another, we have the intelligence to recognize and understand what we’re doing, and the fact that we’re continuing to do it anyway is, in my opinion, a wholly unforgivable act.

Much to decompress in that statement.

Human devastation is intentional.
It cannot be compared to a whale eating krill, because that is "natural" and human behaviour is not "natural".
Human behaviour towards our ecosystem is "unforgivable".

To 1. I think it is more of a collossal case of denial and lazyness than what I would term "intentional", but the result is the same.

To 2. Do you really think that whales would refrain from eating all the krill (and subsequently starve to extinction) if they had the chance? So why is our behaviour worse? We are a demonstration of the working of the "natural cycle of life". We are in the process of using up, wiping out or poluting all the ressources that we (and incidentally most higher lifeforms on our planet) need to survive. Due to that we might die out. As would the whales if they ate all the krill (which many other species in the ocean need to survive).

To 3. You are applying human moral standards that no one but us cares about. There is no evidence of a higher authority that could judge us.

Don't get me wrong, what we are doing right now is beyond stupid. We know what our impact does to the ecosystem and we should do everything we can to change that. But we seem to be unable to do that. That we are discussing this on a medium that produces millions of tonnes of CO2 each year, most of it just to distract us from our life and help us fight boredom, is a perfect sarcastic point to this.

Yet, humans will not be the end of life on this planet. Right now we don't even have the means to wipe out all life on it, even if we tried. We might just manage to kill of all the higher animals, but that has happened multiple times before in the history of this planet.

This does not make it OK in any way.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

To 1. I think it is more of a collossal case of denial and lazyness than what I would term “intentional”, but the result is the same.

I will concede that calling it 'intentional' may be heavy-handed. It's being done with knowledge of the long-term effects, though. We're making the informed decision to continue... perhaps due to laziness, as you note.

To 2. Do you really think that whales would refrain from eating all the krill (and subsequently starve to extinction) if they had the chance? So why is our behaviour worse? We are a demonstration of the working of the “natural cycle of life”. We are in the process of using up, wiping out or poluting all the ressources that we (and incidentally most higher lifeforms on our planet) need to survive. Due to that we might die out. As would the whales if they ate all the krill (which many other species in the ocean need to survive).

No, I'm sure they would eat all the krill and starve to extinction... that's how nature works. The krill population is kept in check by the whales, and the whale population is kept in check by the size of the krill population. If there were too many whales, they'd eat too many krill and wouldn't be able to sustain themselves, and their population would decline, allowing the krill population to resurge. Or they wouldn't, and both species would go extinct.

We are in the process of using up, wiping out or poluting all the ressources that we (and incidentally most higher lifeforms on our planet) need to survive. Due to that we might die out.

I agree with you, it's just that, unlike the whale / krill analogy, we're poised to take out a lot of other species with us when we go. All my view is stating is that it would be a net positive if we died out before that happens.

To 3. You are applying human moral standards that no one but us cares about. There is no evidence of a higher authority that could judge us.

My statement that this was 'unforgivable' was in reference to our supposed role as custodians of the planet (as the most intelligent lifeform here). I believe we have a duty to take care of it and that, with respect to that duty, our failing to do so is unforgivable. (I suppose in this respect I am judging us.)

Yet, humans will not be the end of life on this planet. Right now we don’t even have the means to wipe out all life on it, even if we tried. We might just manage to kill of all the higher animals, but that has happened multiple times before in the history of this planet.

I agree with you, and I'm glad for that. I also agree with you that that doesn't make any of it okay.