Have you noticed that our news cycle emphasizes what will shock us? It seems to be all about selling airtime … getting our eyeballs … and certainly not about educating us and making us better-informed citizens, is it? Nope, it seems to be about pandering to our worst traits. Let’s focus on the injustices that rile people up, rather than the more subtle injustices that may truly be more important and draw us together.
As I was taking my walk this morning in the early air, afamous phrase kept coming into my head. I titled this blog from the first line … you probably all remember it. This phrase is from Marmion, an epic poem by Sir Walter Scott about the Battle of Flodden Field (1513). It was published in 1808. The poem tells how Lord Marmion, a favorite of Henry VIII of England, lusts for Clara de Clare, a rich woman. He and his mistress, Constance De Beverley, forge a letter implicating Clara’s fiancé, Sir Ralph De Wilton, in treason.
So, you may ask, Joel, does this have to do with the energy business? Read the following link and you will get my point. http://m.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28870988
If you did yourself the service to read the BBC article, it would make you stop to consider the current emphasis on global warming, the costs that are being incurred, and the potential silliness of it all.
Have you noticed how our increased ability to get footage of every environmental or weather-related catastrophe has put the weather and purported “climate change” at the top of every newscast? Like the NASCAR races people watch for the collisions, the media plays the floods in Malaysia, the hurricanes in the tropics, the tornados in the Midwest and the fires in California as if these are new phenomenon never before experienced. Perhaps what has changed is our increased ability to find and record them as opposed to an increase in their occurrence.
We also forget that our instruments today are more precise than in the past. Temperatures today can be measured so much more accurately and reliably than in the past. Can we really believe we can compare temperatures over time then 
with the small numbers in the article? Well, when you lust after a result, your judgment can be dulled. I likened this to a “glandular” point of view. Lust is not good.
We seem to lust after many things these days: eternal youth, prestige, position, etc. Lust is very dangerous because it twists the mind, putting things out of balance. Lust is essentially ardent enthusiasm gone wrong. If I called someone a zealot, would you think that was a good thing, even if he or she were a zealot for a just cause? Is zeal a good thing when it presents false or misleading information? Does the end really justify the means?
Personally, I don’t think so. We are accountable to a higher authority than just getting our way. If our democracy is going to work, we need to inform the public, discuss our options, and plan our future. Superficially appealing notions are inadequate. We are facing tough questions.
Lust is a very dangerous thing. It can destroy almost any relationship … as it seemingly fulfils others with excitement and temporary pleasure. We are dealing with lust my friends … not in the physical sense, but in the form of intellectual fantasy and delusion. In a sense, it has moved to a form of idolatry, replacing anything representing truth, justice, and the American way.
I think it is time to call it what it really is: environmental extremism. I think you get my point.