This morning (as I write this) I
heard a commercial on a popular local radio music station reference the bright
side of the worldwide COVID-19 lock-down. The ad was lengthy and extolled the
virtues of human inactivity. It noted that, for the first time in memory, it is
currently possible to see to the bottom of the canals of Venice. (Not if you
can’t leave your home, it isn’t.) It touted “bluer skies,” cleaner air” and an
increase in animal habitat, all because “humans are staying home.” I am not
against clearer water, bluer skies, cleaner air, or expanded animal habitat,
but I was nonetheless shocked to hear an ad touting the “brighter side” of the
coronavirus given the fact that hundreds of thousands of people have recently
perished because of it.
I
have also seen a few articles such as the one in scmp.com magazine which began:
“Think Covid-19 is
animal in origin? Think again. It’s anthropogenic: caused by human activity.
The pandemic is a human overpopulation problem. You
don’t have to live in Mong Kok to know there are too many of us.” The author
claims humans unchecked expansion into new habitats is “bringing us into
increasing contact with wild-animal pathogens against which we have no
biological defenses.” (No, it’s because some of us in a certain Asian country
are bringing wild animals home to our wet markets and bio labs.) He continues:
“As Agent Smith puts it in The Matrix: ‘You
humans […] move to an area and […] multiply until every natural resource is
consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There
is another organism […] that follows the same pattern […] a virus.’”
There you have it. We are
the virus.
The author demands we “stop
proliferating,” and says this is “something social distancing should make
easier than ever.” He avers that global warming would be eased “by the presence
of fewer people,” and wonders “Why are we not hearing the Catholic Church’s
admission that the prohibition on artificial contraception was a dumb idea?”
Speaking of the Catholic Church,
Pope Francis spoke from his library on Earth Day, making an impassioned plea
for protection of the environment. The Pope, who has often spoken of the
dangers of climate change, said of the coronavirus: "We see these natural
tragedies, which are the Earth's response to our maltreatment. I think that if
I ask the Lord now what he thinks about this, I don't think he would say it is
a very good thing. It is we who have ruined the work of God. We
have sinned against the Earth.”
What happened to “We are the work of God?”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, among
others, used Earth Day 2020 to call for governments to pursue "green
recovery" in response to the coronavirus crisis. That has certainly
happened, as governments around the world have reveled in their ability to
modify and control their subject’s movements and behavior. According to a
news.trust.org piece, ministers from Germany, France and other EU nations have
already “signaled their support for subsequent interventions to align with
climate goals.” Get used to “sheltering in place” Continentals.
Sadly, things aren’t any better
in the U.S. Not too long ago, the vast majority of Americans believed in the
Biblical characterization of mankind, as illustrated by the Book of Genesis: “So
God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male
and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and
increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea
and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the
ground.’” Now, many of the coastal, big-city elite believe we (meaning
everyone but the coastal, big-city elite) are nothing but a blight, with
no right to infringe on nature. We are the virus.
We have become ever less devout
and ever more “progressive.” As we demean ourselves, we demean our Creator.
We have lost the truth, the
light…and our way.
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