History of Sorts

Although I have great respect for the former President of the USA, I do feel he has lost touch with reality.

I was very annoyed after Barack Obama’s speech at the Cop 26 in Glasgow. As a man with influence, he has to measure his words because they can be taken out of context and lead to dire consequences. Also, he should not assume things; there is a saying—“When you assume, you make an ass out of u and me.”

In a world where people no longer listen to or read full stories, using words that evoke emotions is dangerous. Nowadays, people are only interested in headlines and sound bites.

I will not post the whole speech, but I will have a link to the transcript at the bottom of the blog. Here are the things he said that annoyed me and that I believe can be seen as inciting hatred.

“So to all the young people out there, as well as those of you who consider yourselves young at heart, I want you to stay angry. I want you to stay frustrated but channel that anger, harness that frustration, and keep pushing harder and harder for more and more because that’s what’s required to meet this challenge. Gird yourself for a marathon, not a sprint, for solving a problem this big, this complex, and this important has never happened all at once. Since we’re in the Emerald Isles here, let me quote the bard, William Shakespeare, “What wound,” he writes, “did ever heal but by degrees.”

Prior to that, he said, “Folks in my generation have not done enough to deal with a potentially cataclysmic problem that you now stand in here.”

I know, but I sincerely hope I am wrong. Some will see this as a call to channel anger toward what Obama calls ‘folks from his generation.’ I happen to be a member of that generation.

Obama did not consider the fact there is a militant element to these climate activists. There is a high potential chance that they see this as a call and a blessing to take violent action against those who Obama claims to be responsible, or at least has created that narrative.

Then there are many ‘folks of his generation’ who have done more for the environment than the current eco warriors have done or will ever do. They are the people who don’t have to be chauffeured everywhere; they take the bus, ride a bicycle, or walk. They didn’t fly everywhere either; they had to save for months and months to perhaps go on a flight once every few years. We did not use plastic bottles but glass and would return them for recycling.

Every time I pass by a site where this ‘ new generation of eco-warriors’ protests about the climate crisis, I am astounded by the rubbish they leave behind. Folks of Obama’s generation were taught to pick up after themselves. We did not have or want all the newest gadgets or tried to replace them every few months.

We did not leave a TV on all day or a light on for longer than needed. Even now, we only turn on the heating when it is vital. The list is endless, but I hope you understand what I mean.

So when Obama speaks about folks of his generation, who is he talking about? The same Obama who flew to Glasgow, where he could have given an online speech. Mr. Obama also seems to forget that he was the most powerful man on earth for eight years, and aside from signing a few agreements, he did very little about climate change.

When you tell one group to be angry and put the blame on another group, you open up a Pandora’s Box; aside from that, it is a form of fascism. I am not a fan of Trump, far from it; I hate everything the man stands for, but if he would have said those exact words, there would be a global outrage.

One last thing, I recently saw a documentary about Cobalt mining in the Congo. It was genuinely awful, deformed babies being born, young men dying, deforestation, and depleting minerals, all so we could drive electric cars to save the planet. I have never seen any of these eco-warriors in Congo.

This is your chance, Ms. Thunberg, Mr. Obama, and Mr. Gore, to have a balanced approach and go to the Congo and other places where cobalt mining is happening just so that we can ‘save’ the planet. Go there rather than go to luxurious resorts where there are climate conferences.

Source

Barack Obama COP26 Climate Speech Transcript