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The Magna Carta Caused EXXON
Two elderly activists attempted to shatter the glass case housing the Magna Carta because the world has refused to stop using petroleum. The logic of this gesture has apparently escaped almost everyone but me.
The Magna Carta embodies the notion that there are natural rights that no central power may infringe, not even one enthroned by God. Minor nobles, clergy, guilds, et al have rights that the king may not arbitrarily supersede. The notion of limited government is simply a corollary of the idea that there are natural rights held by individuals and other social entities that must be respected.
There can be no innovation, no oil exploration and refinement, no new forms of wealth creation that break down older social strata, and no emergence of democratic institutions without the possibility of rightful personal autonomy and property rights protected by law.
Most of the world took a different path. Chinese emperors were served by Confucian policy-makers who invariably attempted to preserve class lines and a rigid social order. Islamic empires flirted with natural science but eventually settled on a recipe for stagnation.
The still-unfolding technological transformation of the human race has burned a lot of fossil fuels which never would have been necessary if we all had remained in stagnant modes of living with lower life spans, higher infant mortality, and permanent social stratification ruled by centralized unchecked power and rigid philosophical cages.
If King John had hung tough and refused to sign, atmospheric CO2 might be 150 ppm less than it is now. Would that have been a better outcome?
Published in General
I saw this on YouTube and it was my first WTF of the day.
Not only have we looked into the abyss, but jumped off into it. The question then is, what happens when we hit the bottom?
The West has some terribly pathetic members. We need to bring back that Cold War level of patriotism and anti-Communism.
John D Rockefeller saved the whales.
Polymers were used in the manufacture of the glasses those two brave ecowarriors are wearing. Polymers made from petrochemicals. They must throw them away at once.
I expect some of their clothes were also made from petrochemicals. But nobody wants to see them naked.
On the left is today’s ocean traffic around the world. On the right is today’s air traffic over the US. All of it runs on petroleum.
These people represent a kind of miracle of cultural isolation: Extolling luxury beliefs so disconnected from the functions of the whole world as to be a form of First World decadence. Worse, it is not that they do not care about the consequences of what they are demanding, they are not even thinking about the consequences of what they are demanding.
Heh. Took a look at the photo accompanying the OP and spotted something. Checked the Telegraph to verify. Sure enough. The “protestor ” on the right in the photo is 82 year old “Reverend” Dr. Sue Parfitt, an Anglican priest from Bristol.
It’s a very long story, but for some reason Bristol seems to have turned into a hotbed of lunacy in the last decade or so.
The other person is 85-year old Mrs. Judy Bruce, a retired biology teacher from Swansea (which is in Wales, so there you go). I wonder if she knows what a “woman” is.
Or….what, exactly?
I really wish Auntie Pat was still with us. Pretty sure she’d be hopping mad, and that her comments on the matter would be side-splitting.
I think the building managers should just shut the room up and reopen it a week later.
Harsh. Not saying I disagree but it would be harsh.
So, you meant “Harsh, but fair.” Right?
When they get tired of standing there they can rip their hands off the glass. Might takes some hide, but I am sure they are ready to make some sacrifices for the cause.
They got themselves into that predicament. It’s up to them to get themselves out.
And then add another charge for defacing the exhibit with their flesh.
Virtually everything they use depends in one way or another on petrochemicals. Food. Clothing. Shelter. Medical care and prescription drugs. Everything. Challenge them to do without all those things.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson referred to the steam engine–one of Britain’s greatest contributions to the Industrial Revolution–as a “doomsday machine.” My thoughts here.
But the hostility to modern technology goes way beyond any hostility to fossil fuels–as indicated by the storming of a Tesla plant in Germany by 800 ‘Greens’. And now the attack on the Magna Carta.
The hostility to energy technologies is quite different from the attitudes of the traditional Left. Both the Soviet Communists and the American New Dealers were very proud of their hydroelectric dams. And see the comments from the Fabian Socialist Sidney Webb about what he called the machine age.
Institutionalize them.
Old leftists are the WORST. Imagine living a long life without having learned anything at all. It’s worse than a mental illness. It’s a complete waste of life.
One of those knuckleheads glued one of his mitts to the pavement. Rather than spend a lot of time trying to separate him from the asphalt, they just dug a divot out of the surface and the protester took a souvenir with him when he went to booking.
In France, a French policeman just grabbed the protestors arm with the hand glued to the pavement and pulled it off the pavement by main force. Did it to about four-five different protestors in the clip I saw. You could see the protestors shriek as the hand came off the pavement.
Brilliant, outstanding, wonderful post.
I use this a lot with leftists.
Oh, you hate Jews? So that means you’d rather have Iran in charge of the Middle East? Gosh, I’m not sure about that…
The steam engine and Magna Carta are both miracles and people should be grateful every day for them. Instead, they reject and decry these miracles. I think it is because they have replaced a Judaeo-Christian ethic, which emphasizes gratitude, with a godless and selfish Marxist ethic. These people all need a re-education camp.
Funny that is what they are recommending for us who understand how technology has shaped our lives, and spits in the eye of an otherwise Hobbesian existence.
Yes, we all must do our part… until it comes to something that affects me personally.
As a matter of fact, there are American leftists who regard suspicion of Iran and Pakistan as proof of “islamophobic” bigotry. Really. I’ve meet them face to face.
Were they alive/aware in the late 70s/early 80s?
82 and 85
So much for “With age comes wisdom”.
Are they even aware of the ingredients in glue?
Indeed, they should have only been allowed to use flour and water.
Yes.
No. The wheat grown to make the flour was likely fertilized with petroleum-based fertilizers and then transported to the store by gas-powered vehicles.
As I say, I want these geriatrics — starting with Jane Fonda, who wants to imprison oil executives — moved to a desert island where zero petroleum produced or transported products are available. No meds, no electronics, little clothing (even the “organic” stuff is likely manufactured and transported by petrol), and no food except the bugs they catch and eat on the island. You disapprove of how you’re living? We can fix that.
These jokers are playing Jenga with the world economy.