[extropy-chat] Rachel Carson

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Damien Sullivan <phoenix at ugcs.caltech.edu> wrote:

> I've seen this before, from a conservative enviro-skeptic sort.  I
> challenged
> her. She said DDT was a miracle drug which mosquitoes didn't develop
> resistance to, unlike the modern replacements.  Five minutes with
> Google found
> papers (CDC, I think) talking about the development of DDT resistance
> in the relevant mosquitos.  Can you do better?  
> 
> They still use DDT in limited applications, but try to avoid mass
> spraying.
> 
> And I fail to see how Rachel Carson writing accurately about what DDT
> was doing to birds translates into her being responsible for millions
> of deaths.
> Should she have suppressed the truth she found?  Is it her fault
> people chose to value the existence of the bald eagle?

Those who advocate for the bald eagle and the pelican do not state the
facts, do not "inform" the public of all the facts. Most people, given
the facts, tend to, when given an informed choice between a dead eagle
and a dead person, say "tastes like chicken for dinner!"

The fact is that environmental groups have, like their allergy to
nuclear power, gone overboard in their opposition to all uses of DDT
even where it could save millions of lives. Such advocates are not just
pro-environment, they are anti-human.

This all, however, has little to do with RFIDs. RFIDs are not a
pernicious but natural deadly disease, they are a construction of man
which will lead to tyranny and genocide of HUMANS, not animals. This
may sound hyperbolic or histrionic to you at this point in time. There
has never been a time when giving the government more information about
its citizens has saved more human lives than could be saved by letting
the citizens exercise their freedoms and their privacy. Giving the
government (or corporations) more information about people has always
led to less freedom, because information is power. Giving authorities
control of information about people is also anti-human.

Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
Founder, Constitution Park Foundation:
http://constitutionpark.blogspot.com
Personal/political blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com


		
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