The Crowhill Journal

I’ve said for a very long time that there’s sensible recycling — like batteries, computer parts, paint, used oil, etc. — and then there’s what everybody actually does, which is to recycle paper, plastic, glass, and such, which is mostly a waste of time.

But recycling is largely immune to rational criticism or consideration. It’s an object of faith. It’s a way to show that you care. It’s virtue signalling.

Never mind that most plastic can’t be recycled, despite the little labels they put on there.

And now, despite brother Raccoon’s testimony above, even NPR says it’s a waste of time. It was all a conspiracy by the plastics companies to make people feel better about creating so much plastic waste.

“Oh, I’m not creating waste. It’s being recycled.”

No. It’s being shipped to China where they throw it in the ocean.

Why Have We All Been Recycling Plastic for Years?

For most of my life I have sensed an undercurrent of resentment by certain people — specifically, that they weren’t alive to protest with MLK, or oppose the Vietnam War, or do any of those cool 60s things. Consequently, ISTM, some people are always looking for the next civil rights issue to get upset about. They want to protest too, doggone it!

This leads to an attitude of never being satisfied. There’s always another evil thing to be uprooted. There’s a constant search for villains and victims.

To some extent … to a small extent … this is a good thing. We always want to be improving. But it seems to have gone way beyond that. It’s a paranoid sickness, analogous to the heresy hunters you find in some strict religious circles. Nothing is ever pure enough.

Who’s the next victim?

I’m afraid it might be pedophiles (or perhaps ephebophiles). Those poor, misunderstood people who have been abused and discriminated against for so long.

There were some good satiric posts from The Babylon Bee about this. E.g., Hollywood Elites Rush To Normalize Pedophilia Before They’re All Outed By Ghislaine Maxwell

But now we’ve also got the Cuties controversy over at Netflix.

What do you think? Will there be / is there an attempt to normalize pedophilia?

The boys drink and review Lagunitas’ Sumpin’ Easy, then discuss CRT.

Critical Theory is a Marxist idea that says all interactions are based on power and class distinction. Critical Race Theory follows the same idea, but makes everything based on race.

There’s some truth in critical theory. Every system, every form of knowledge and every form of power will inevitably be used to oppress people, because people are rotten. But that doesn’t mean every system is always and only used to oppress people, or that we can do without them.

The kernel of truth in critical race theory is that power and oppression were clearly based on race — at least in part — for much of American history.

Critical race theory would have us believe that all problems in the modern world can be traced back to racism. But … isn’t race a social construct? And on the other hand, identity politics says that race says everything about you.

P&C dig into the details of CRT and comment.

You can download the show by right-clicking on this link.

P&C drink and review Pigweed’s cryo-hopped IPA, then discuss the Satanic Panic.

In the mid 80s and early 90s, workers at several daycare centers in Canada and the U.S. were accused of ritual satanic abuse of children. P&C review the cocktail of social trends that led to this madness, where hundreds of people were falsely accused of horrible crimes on the basis of “recovered” memories.

Investigators asked children leading questions, basically encouraging them to come up with outlandish stories. The mantra in the public was “believe the children.”

Many lives were destroyed as a result of this hysteria.

We’re told it’s the constant refrain from the older generation. Everybody grows up and thinks the younger generation is different — lazier, stupider, etc. — and then some wise guy comes along and says, “there are Egyptian papyri with the same complaint. Get over it!”

There are clearly differences between generations. Just watch an old movie and listen to the weird ways they explain things.

Life is different over time in strange ways, and especially in the modern world. The world my granddaughter is growing up in is very different from the world my grandfather grew up in.

But here’s a scary thought. What if some of the differences are chemically induced — from the water, or the air, or pesticides, or … from Tylenol!

“Acetaminophen seems to make people feel less negative emotion when they consider risky activities – they just don’t feel as scared,” says neuroscientist Baldwin Way from The Ohio State University.

“With nearly 25 percent of the population in the US taking acetaminophen each week, reduced risk perceptions and increased risk-taking could have important effects on society.”

Mark Shea used to caricature societal changes as coming in two phases: (1) what could possibly go wrong? (2) who knew?