They stay quiet because this is the terrain of conspiracy theory or the terrain of national security.

The two are treated interchangeably these days as terrain on which the humble citizen is not supposed to tread.

We are supposed to pretend that the government would not be so cruel or maniacal or incompetent

as to let masses of people die as we write out a global plague

in which the government was cruel and maniacal and incompetent enough to let masses of people die.

We are supposed to accept, somehow, a preordained scorched earth future, and think it is normal

that there is no urgency within the U.S. government to mitigate it, and accept somehow that

other governments, in particular Russia, see the melting of the Arctic as an economic opportunity.

We are supposed to ignore that the only condition in which the actions of elites make sense

is one where they need to call the herd before climate catastrophe rearranges the global order.

We are supposed to treat the worst people in the world as good faith actors, in defiance of

logic or compassion or history, and deny the obvious grim conclusions.

For oligarchs and plutocrats and dictators,

a depopulated earth is easier to control.

For accelerationalists and religious fanatics,

the end of the world is desirable in its own right.

These are mainstream objectives, held by people in positions of enormous power.

If the reaction to COVID is a test for how the powerful deal with climate change,

let the plague spread, deny people resources, and hold no one accountable for the damage.

We are in tremendous trouble. Everyone is assured that a savior is coming. An agent of the Lord or the law, I cannot attest to the former, and I am pretty sure the latter broke down long ago,

but I understand the rationalizations. It is a horrible feeling to be a pawn in someone else's

plot masquerading as prophecy. Wouldn't somebody do something if it's really that bad? Yes, they would.

...