Critics Reveal Shocking News That People Don’t Always Live Up To Their Ideals, Set Off Massive Yawning Epidemic

Okay, so lately, some collection of wankers has tried to attack Al Gore for his energy consumption. (See this news story: http://wcbstv.com/national/topstories_story_059120819.html.) Gore defends himself by saying he offsets his energy use by supporting non-carbon-emitting projects, achieving carbon-neutrality.

Yawn.

There’s a lot of hype right now around an approach to thinking called The Secret and The Law of Attraction. To summarize those ideas: positive thinking and creating the mental environment that welcomes and enhances good fortune, etc.

I’d like to suggest an even stronger Law of Attraction: attracting idiots. The instant you say you stand for something, you will magnetize and a bunch of nit-picking ninnies will flock to your side to point out how you are a hypocrite, therefore, every single thing you suggest is foolish.

This reflex is similar to believing that should a mass murderer ever utter words like “We should all be kind to each other,” then that sentiment is immediately invalidated and should be ignored. At least, that’s how some critics would have it. Hopefully those of us capable of thought can avoid such an irresistible philosophical vortex.

Rather than pointing out some kind of hypocrisy and therefore invalidating the message, I think inconsistency serves to illustrate the problem even more. As an example: Al Gore preaches that we should reduce our carbon emissions, but he still consumes a lot of energy. He tries to fix it by going carbon neutral. It’s not perfect, but it shows that consumption is ingrained in our society and it’s difficult to avoid. At least it’s a step towards his stated ideals.

Using myself as an example: I nearly (just nearly?) have OCD over trying to reduce my consumption and the waste I generate, and yet I still found that there were very little options for environmentally-friendly book production methods. In fact, writing Where Did This Come From? I was mindful of that critique: you know, you’re creating a consumer object (a novel) while at the same time, bitching that people don’t know about their consumer objects.

That’s the whole point: I don’t know. I CAN’T know. Even though I’m thinking about it, even though I try, even though I put the questions out, I simply can’t trace it all back to its origin. That’s a problem as long as we don’t have laws, or laws that aren’t enforced, concerning environmental use and human rights.

Even if we can state what is the right thing to do, we might not be able to do it, based on the society in which we live or the options or technology available at the time. We have to start somewhere, and ideals are by definition, always out of reach, but by moving toward them, we make the world a better place.

Nothing gets done if you sit back and wait to make a move until everything is perfect and consistent.

It’s doubtful that the knee-jerks criticizing Al Gore would support any environmental movement even if the ground-work was already laid for consistent and easy action where everyone could go carbon-zero immediately. That’s what makes those critiques worthless, and that’s what makes those who brave their lame comments pioneers.

I’m not satisfied with rampant energy consumption and then purchasing one’s way to carbon-neutrality. That defeats the purpose. We need to reduce consumption and increase the quality of what we do consume. Those are both things we can do now, Al Gore included.

Related: I am looking into carbon-offsetting my novel, and donating a portion of each sale to carbon-emission reduction projects. More on that as details are finalized.

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Larry Nocella is the award-winning author of the novel Where Did This Come From? available at Amazon and Xlibris and other fine online book stores. Also, for a limited time, Where Did This Come From? is available as an eBook for only ONE DOLLAR. Visit Larry Nocella's website at http://www.larrynocella.com/.