Environmentalism Extremists
I’ve often thought that the devotion of many secular humanists to environmentalism is simply another expression of religiosity, just with the focus being Gaia instead of God. The recent hostage drama in Maryland, USA, in which environmental activist James Lee took hostages at Discovery Channel’s headquarters, and was later shot by police, shows the lengths that environmental fanatics will go to get their message across.
A list of his demands is found here.
Reading through these demands, one can’t help be see the similarities between Lee’s extremist ideology and the kind of rubbish, sorry professional philosophical discourse, trotted out by people like Australian-born pop philosopher, Peter Singer. Lee’s anti-human sentiments mirrors recent comments by Singer that the best thing for the earth would be if the human race became extinct. There is also a strong Darwinist flavour to Lee’s statement, which contributes to his reductionist and devalued view of the human race. Lee and Singer’s ideologies both flow out of Darwinism as natural consequences.
Using the logic of the New Atheists, should we now aim to rid ourselves of environmental activists, and ignore their message of environmentalism, because of the actions of this environmental extremist?