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 US 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 deep populated 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.

...