I talked to a co-worker than lives in Germany a few days ago. If she was any indication, Germany is lost to the the GW Cult. She said it was necessary to live in apartments rather than houses, gas cars need to be gone, end general meat consumption, green energy for everyone. I can’t understand how otherwise intelligent people can’t see they are being lied to about climate change. None of the IPCC predictions have come true for decades but they still think it is true.
The Germans fell for Hitler too.
I’ve seen this, too. Otherwise brilliant business colleagues abroad absolutely lose their marbles once they step away from Excel and wade into “climate change” etc..
Perhaps the BEST explanation for this bewildering schizophrenia is found in a gun rights book. The Samurai, the Mountie and the Cowboy: Should America Adopt the Gun Controls of Other Democracies? by David Kopel explores the national and cultural differences that underpin gun rights globally. That cultural research explains so much OTHER behavior, including European global warming kool aid drinking.
Kopel produces a “ breathtaking sweep…(and) prodigious scholarship…in his detailed discusson of civil liberties, police powers, law and national character with respect to guns in Japan, Great Britain, Canada, Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, Jamaica and the United States”. , Kopel “brilliantly delineates the ways in which each nation's unique history has determined how it deals with guns.”
The title itself is extremely powerful as a concise explanation for all of this thinking. In short, America is a nation of individualists who have as their cultural “hero” the cowboy, who takes personal and familial responsibility first and doesn’t look his/her “betters” to protect or think for him/her. In contrast, the Japanese admire the Samurai, a noble that defends the little people. The Mountie is a government protector.
Reading that book, one comes away with a richer understanding of not just the folly of gun control, but why seemingly smart folks in Europe are so easily swayed to surrender their internal combustion engine and eat ze bugz. In short, their cultural and historic bedrock elevates compliance and subordination and collective harmony. They don’t have childhood games or stories or books or grandparents that elevate individuality. As kids they never learned pithy quotes like “the three biggest lies are I’ll love you in the morning, the check is in the mail, and trust the government.”
Now, they may make fun of the monarchy, but they don’t ditch it. In contrast, John Lydon, aka Rotten, is a massive Trump guy. Some people CAN learn, but most folks avoid red-pilling and stick to the monarchy as their North Star.
The whole ESG thing is the latest case study. Sure, some high-profile American entities are embracing it fully. But their leaders are Loyalists at heart; on the ground, where the cowboys and cowgirls do the work, there is zero consensus that this is Good for Business. In contrast, European leaders AND employees trip all over themselves to Go Green and self-immolate. I’ve heard US reps tell me that their European management doesn’t understand why HQ is all-in but the Yanks are slow-walking this nonsense. That kind of talk warms me bones.
I’m pretty bullish that America won’t dump their gas guzzlers for EVs. Again, 15-20% of the nation were commies, erm, Loyalists from the get-go. It hasn’t changed much in 300 years. Let them flap their gums but as long as Deplorables take their kids to the range, drive SUVs, eat steak, and mock Europe at the dinner table, the future looks ok.