Captain Compassion wrote:
> An Irrelevant Europe - Best for the World?
>
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2008/06/23/an-irrelevant-europe-best-for-t=
he-world/
>
> In a recent op-ed Robert Kagan laments that (Western) Europe is
> sliding into irrelevance. But that might be the best thing for the
> rest of the world.
>
> Don=EF=BF=BDt get me wrong, the world owes plenty to Europe.
It=EF=BF=BDs=
given the
> world great art, architecture, literature, and music. It=EF=BF=BDs also
g=
iven
> the world the ideas of universal education, the scientific method,
> research institutions, property rights, rule of law, democracy,
> religious freedom, and freedom of thought and expression, among other
> things. These ideas and institutions coalesced to power the engine of
> progress that drives the economic and technological development that
> have improved human well-being =EF=BF=BD not only in Europe but
elsewhere=
=EF=BF=BD to
> levels far beyond what our ancestors could have imagined.
> Consequently, today we live longer, healthier, more educated, freer,
> and wealthier than ever before. But for the past century, Europe seems
> determined to undo all the good it=EF=BF=BDs ever done.
>
> Europe gave the world the ideologies of Fascism and Marxism, which
> were responsible =EF=BF=BD or provided rationalizations =EF=BF=BD for
100=
=EF=BF=BD150 million
> deaths worldwide, including many outside Europe, most notably in
> China, Cambodia and North Korea. Then in a few short decades, despite
> having risen Phoenix-like from the ashes of destruction of World War
> II, instead of brimming with optimism, Europe has taken a decidedly
> pessimistic turn.
>
> It no longer believes in progress. Its birth rate has dropped below
> replacement rates, yet, despite its protestations of equality,
> fraternity, secularism, and respect for human rights, it=EF=BF=BDs
unwill=
ing
> or unable to welcome or integrate immigrants of different colors or
> religious backgrounds into its societies. And one by one it=EF=BF=BDs
> abandoning the great ideas that brought it, and the rest of the world,
> progress, and advanced human well-being.
>
> Its political leader****p, although democratically elected, has
> abandoned democracy in its pursuit of a united Europe. The more the
> idea of the EU fails in democratic tests =EF=BF=BD most recently in
Irela=
nd =EF=BF=BD
> the more devious its politicians=EF=BF=BD machinations to bypass popular
> approval.
>
> It has abandoned scientific inquiry, relying instead on mantras such
> as the =EF=BF=BDscience is settled.=EF=BF=BD Having abandoned science,
it=
now relies
> on superstition, manifested in the notion of a
> global-warming-triggered apocalypse of Biblical pro****tions if average
> temperatures exceeds 2 degrees Centigrade above pre-industrial levels
> =EF=BF=BD an apocalypse complete with death, disease, pestilence,
drought=
s,
> famines and floods. Not only is there no evidence for this, this
> superstition persists despite the current reality that more Europeans
> die in winter than in summer, Europe=EF=BF=BDs long history of misery
and=
want
> during cold periods and plenty during warm eras, and that even as
> media coverage of extreme weather events becomes more compelling and
> ubiquitous, globally the deaths and death rates from such events are
> in long term decline. If Europe had spent a fraction of the resources
> in adapting to climate change as it did on complying with the futile,
> but politically-correct Kyoto Protocol, it might have reduced by
> thousands the death toll of its 2003 heat wave.
>
> Europe is now on the verge of abandoning the quest for technological
> progress, preferring instead to be ruled by the so-called
> precautionary principle which, as applied by Europe, actually
> increases human misery and death. It does this by discouraging, if not
> vetoing, new and safer technologies that could displace older and less
> safe technologies on the grounds that =EF=BF=BDsafer=EF=BF=BD is not
good=
enough =EF=BF=BD it
> has to be absolutely safe.
>
> The precautionary principle was used to justify relinqui****ng its use
> of DDT, which was easy, because Europe had already conquered malaria.
> It is also used against genetically modified crops. The misapplication
> of the precautionary principle, coupled with its abandonment of
> scientific inquiry evident in the torching and destruction of
> experimental trials on genetically modified crops and its reliance on
> superstition, has resulted in a de facto ban on such crops in most of
> Europe. But giving up such crops isn=EF=BF=BDt hard either. Western
Europ=
e is
> well fed =EF=BF=BD in fact today it worries more about obesity than
hunge=
r =EF=BF=BD
> and its farmers=EF=BF=BD excessive productivity is actually a drag on
its
> taxpayers. Some Europeans would also give up nuclear and coal, but
> that would actually be giving something up, so protestations to the
> contrary, that will come about only after renewable energies mature
> and are better able to pay for themselves without subsidies.
>
> But worst of all, Europe is once again ex****ting dangerous,
> misanthropic ideas, which unfortunately are echoed even in the US
> where many are in thrall of European ideas, no matter how
> ill-conceived. These ideas are couched in doublespeak, such as the
> European version of the precautionary principle, which could kill as
> many people as the failed ideologies of Fascism and Marxism.
>
> Europe talks endlessly of helping developing countries and offering
> token amounts of aid but then refuses to reform its agricultural
> policies which would do a lot more for helping the latter help
> themselves. At the same time it bemoans the new prosperity of
> long-suffering Asia that has lifted over a billion out of a poverty
> that Europe has not known since even before the French Revolution
> because it=EF=BF=BDs enabled by and rides on greater energy use. And for
=
that,
> some Europeans threaten punishment through carbon tariffs.
>
> But energy use and economic development are inextricably linked not
> only in China and India but in Europe and elsewhere. Even as energy
> use fueled economic development, it freed human beings from
> back-breaking physical labor, allowed women to escape the drudgery of
> household work, equalized economic op****tunities for women, reduced
> the need for child labor, liberated animals from being our beasts of
> burden, and enabled brains to displace brawn, laying the foundation
> for a less energy-intensive economy.
>
> Europe campaigned actively, but fortunately unsuccessfully, to ban
> DDT. Despite this, African nations, deferring to European
=EF=BF=BDexpert=
ise=EF=BF=BD
> on matters technological while fearing a European boycott of their
> agricultural ex****ts if even trace amounts of DDT are found on them,
> have been slow to adopt DDT to combat malaria =EF=BF=BD fears that
Europe=
did
> nothing to dispel and may, in fact, have actively encouraged. For the
> same reasons, Africans have been reluctant to turn to genetically
> modified crops to reduce hunger and malnutrition. And once again,
> Europe is standing silently by if not actively discouraging the use of
> genetically modified crops.
>
> For context, consider that over 6 million people die each year from
> malaria, hunger and malnutrition, a toll that annually rivals that of
> the entire Holocaust. Yet Europe has done little to help or reassure
> Africa in this regard, thereby abandoning one of the Holocaust=EF=BF=BDs
=
most
> im****tant lessons, namely, inaction can be no less culpable than
> active participation.
>
> Europe may be able to walk away from further economic and
> technological development, but the rest of the world can=EF=BF=BDt
afford=
to,
> not if it values human and environmental well-being.
>
> An irrelevant Europe could save innumerable lives in the developing
> world. And that might be best for this world.
What a load of ****. Europe is becoming more and more relevant by the
day.
Sri BOdhi Prana
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