Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Apocalypse Now
When progressive politicians run climate change scare campaigns, they are catering to voters’ egos much more than trying to save the Earth, writes James Morrow.
The terrible thing about the end of the world is, well, the end of the world.
The great thing about it is that at least you know you’re special.
Which may be the best way to understand the apocalyptic climate change rhetoric which emanates from the progressive left like so many greenhouse gases. Or to put it another way, it’s about the psychology as much as the science.
After all if you have, like most members of every generation since the Boomers, been taught that you’re the most special creature to ever walk the Earth, then believing nothing will ever surpass you must be terribly comforting.
And to think you might be able to actually avert the apocalypse? Well, surely no future generation could top that.
Which brings us to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the fresh-faced 29 year old darling of the American left who has become a global celebrity thanks to her made-for-Millennials socialism and a youthful oratorical style that’s more Gilmore Girls than Gettysburg Address.
Speaking at a forum in honour of Martin Luther King in the US last week Ocasio-Cortez changed the subject from civil rights to climate wrongs, telling her audience, “Millennials and people, you know, Gen Z and all these folks that will come after us are looking up and we’re like: ‘The world is gonna end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change’”.
“And, like, this is the war — this is our World War II.”
Amazingly, her audience didn’t howl her off the stage for her abuse of history and theology but rather hooted and cheered her call to arms.
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Again, the psychology is skilful: Given the choice between global conflict and the certain end of the world, most people would choose the former. At least if it’s a war you can fight back.
Which is precisely the calculation Australian Greens leader Richard Di Natale made last week when he decided to go all Churchill and call the nation to arms to cut our globally tiny contribution to CO2 emissions.
“Can you imagine the sacrifices that people made during wartime?”, he thundered on Sky News.
“And we’re not prepared to make a sacrifice that means for two hours during the day we can’t use a dishwasher? Please! Spare me!”
Points for honesty: at least he admitted (as if recent power failures — sorry, “load shedding” — in Victoria didn’t tell the tale) that increasing dependence on renewables will mean that in one of the richest countries in the world, we won’t always be able to turn the lights on.
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Not that everyone is fully on board the scare campaign bandwagon.
“We do not want to be remembered as the generation that had all the facts but failed to act,” newly-announced Warringah candidate Zali Steggall said on Sunday, declaring her intention to blow Tony Abbott out of his seat over climate change.
But while there may be sacrifices to be made, Steggall assures us they won’t involve anyone’s investment properties.
Instead, she promised would-be voters in the electorate (median weekly household income: $2384) that she wouldn’t vote to change the rules on superannuation, negative gearing, or franking credits.
Which sounds like a clever strategy to split the difference in a reasonably well-off part of town between those who feel an inchoate need to “do something” but don’t want it to hurt too much.
But it may just wind up being too cynical by half, particularly for the true believers for whom there can be no moderation in the pursuit of change — or saving the world.
James Morrow is opinion editor of the Daily Telegraph and co-host of Sky News’ Outsiders, Sundays 9-11am.
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