I read recently that the long-running children's programme, Blue Peter, is to change its name to Green Peter, since the emphasis of the show is now going to be on various practical ways for children to care for the environment. I approve of this, but it also makes me angry. My reasons are simple. It is another example of adults passing the buck to children. We've fucked up, they might as well be saying, but we're not going to do anything about it. No, we're far too old and fat and complacent for that. What we're going to do instead is teach you to do something about it, so you can clear up after our mess.
I am reminded of the selfishness that induces some parents to take their children to school in what are basically armoured vehicles. "We're just thinking of the children," they say with insidious self-righteousness. No, this is not true. They are thinking of their own child as a possession, but certainly not of his or her future, or they would not pollute that child's environment. Furthermore, this is one of many examples of what could be called the egotism of the family, or selfish family values. The child inside the vehicle might be safer from traffic outside, but that's largely because the vehicle itself is far more likely to mash to a pulp any children outside. There are no words to express how despicable this attitude actually is.
Well, I suppose that was a rant long overdue, partly, I think, provoked by my reading of this article by David Attenborough in The Independent. David Attenborouh is even more of an institution in the UK than Blue Peter. For overseas readers, David Attenborough is a long-time presenter of natural history programmes on British television, and has become an emblem of calm authority. I can't think of who the equivalent might be in another country – perhaps there is none. If I were Catholic, I would say it's as if the Pope himself was throwing his weight behind the environmental, and specifically, the global warming (or anti-global warming) cause. However, that still doesn't convey quite the status that David Attenborough holds over here. I do think that now he has spoken out, even a great many fat, complacent parents will sit up and take attention, and perhaps stop passing the buck to their children.
I dream of a future world in which everyone spits upon the erstwhile values of the human race – the values of business and profit making, the values of The Man, which have made this world so ugly and tedious, and which, more than that, are actually destroying the world. Let us trample upon that boor, that scheming philistine The Man, let us trample that respectable cad, that belching chauvinist into the dirt, and hope that he makes good fertiliser, because he's good for nothing else.
Amen.
Thank you.