excitations
humans are easily excitable creatures. seemingly intelligent rational people can suddenly and unexpectedly reveal extreme and somewhat silly positions. often even to the point of being stupefyingly self destructive. the range of topics that can provoke such reactions is bewildering. abortion, religion, politics, taxes, global warming. timing also seems to be a factor. 50 years ago communism brought out the saber rattlers. 200 years ago it was witchcraft. anywho. one step in from the extremists are the opportunists. we're all gonna die unless you buy my carbon credits. they're gonna take away your oil and make you scratch dirt like a stinking hippy unless you vote for tax cuts for the rich. i suppose this sort of thing must be a beneficial trait. otherwise such susceptibility would have been selected away long ago. maybe things went something like this: we should cook this pig before we eat it. bah! eat it raw. just like everything else. the population separates into two groups. one dies. the other lives. and the human race continues. the issue of man's long term effect on the environment is a bit different. cause there's the possibility that doing nothing will kill us all. and there's the possibility that doing too much will be just as bad. what's a middle of the roader to do?