Twitter tirades

Barely three days into the summer “vacation” and I am already beyond exhausted. It did not help that I spent a bit of the kids’ nap time with one of those pointless Twitter tirades, trying to argue things that no one wants to hear.

Just as ecomodernists do not like to hear that their belief in future technological progress is at least partially a way of ducking responsibility for their present-day consumption choices (be it to fly business class or drive convertibles), traditional environmentalists are not particularly keen on hearing that they are in fact on the top of the postindustrial knowledge hierarchy, and that by “preaching antimodernity while living as moderns” as Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus once put it, they merely seek to affirm their higher social status. Pushed hard against the wall, I still have to meet a proponent of degrowth or off-grid living who would actually refrain from advanced medicine or even retirement income.

Yet, consumption is difficult for all of us. And cultural capitalism is getting deep under our skin, be it Scotch & Soda stripes, Mikkeller IPAs or Kuturbageriet’s cinnamon buns. No matter how refined, our tastes are still highly manufactured.