Daily Podcast: What Would Rasputin Drive?
Is it OK for a motorist to simply buy environmental absolution? The concept is certainly in keeping with traditional Western philosophy: you sin, you pay. Even a lousy student of history knows that powerful organizations have been creating, reinforcing and exploiting that equation for their own selfish ends for the last ten thousand years or so. (The Catholic Church's history of selling "penance reduction" for cash springs to mind.) And if you take the idea of paying for your sins to its logical conclusion, you end up in that kinky "I was a crack 'ho before I was born again" [applause] place, where you start believing that you gotta really sin before you can really repent. Don't you feel guilty driving that Lincoln Navigator? Hell no. I'm saving a rain forest! Call me a Rhode Islander, but I distrust anyone who brokers that kind of crazy ass deal, never mind the deal itself. Literally. Never mind it. The truth of it is, any car owner who thinks that they can buy "forgiveness" for polluting the planet (if they believe that they are) is simply trying to avoid the totality of their personal responsibility.
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Indeed I did. Well, I need to go sharpen my axe..... xoxoxox Rodya
Some friend of my parents long ago (like in the 50s or 60s) named their car Raskolnikov.
Robert, Don't forget that while enjoying that fantastic stereo system in the RL you are ensconced in arguably one of the safest cars on the road today: http://www.forbes.com/2007/05/11/car-safe-vehicle-forbeslife-cx_dl_0514safecars.html
David Holzman Some friend of my parents long ago (like in the 50s or 60s) named their car Raskolnikov. Oh, man... that's just a crime! I sure hope they got some kind of punishment for it.