I have long noted how the use of the words “emergency” and “crisis” have been abused in order to panic the public into accepting proposed policies which, were they to examine them with calm deliberation, they would likely reject or at least modify.
The draconian limitations on normal activity during the recent unpleasantness were driven by the constant reiteration of those terms, even after we knew better. For example, there was no reason to keep the schools closed for such an extended period of time; the damage to students, from which they have yet to recover, was incalculable.
That the Earth is growing warmer seems to be true; it has done so for hundreds of millions of years; it has also, at intervals, cooled for several hundreds of millions of years.
The notion, however, that this constitutes an “existential crisis” which requires that civilization be upended is another example of sowing panic to obtain a result desired by true believers, a result they might — indeed would — have trouble implementing had the public engaged in mature reflection before approving those policies.
It is wise to remember the old saying, “Act in haste, repent at leisure.”
