My daughter tells me that her Baby Boomer generation got into drugs and sex because they didn’t expect to live long enough to become adults. It was the height of the Cold War. Students drilled on what to do in case of a nuclear attack. Another tasteless joke: In case of nuclear attack, climb under your desk, tuck your head between your knees, and kiss your ass goodbye. I did not particularly fear nuclear war. In spite of “Dr. Strangelove” scenarios, I still believed that world leaders had some common sense. Now I worry that my grandchildren will have to live in a vastly different world, one for which there are no guidebooks.
Climate change You can argue forever about causes. But you cannot argue with the known facts. The earth has been getting warmer, year by year. Storms grow more extreme. In the oceans, acidity increases; garbage swirls in huge pools. Tornadoes rampage across the Midwest. Floods ravage Louisiana, South Carolina, Texas, France, England. Fires turn southern California and northern Canada into charcoal.
At the same time, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have been escalating faster over the last 200 years than at any time in the earth’s previous existence. Meanwhile fracking for oil enables long-buried methane -- a greenhouse gas about 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide -- to escape through sinkholes and water wells. The number of species that have gone extinct recently is greater than at any time since an asteroid smashed into Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula some 70 million years ago. Glaciers are melting from the bottom as well as the surface.
Living in an experiment
 here are exceptions to these trends, of course. But basing a rebuttal on selected exceptions to the general rule is like basing opposition to social change on isolated verses from the Bible. Anyone can quote Bible verses to justify slavery, genocide, and incest -- that doesn’t make them right. The earth careers into an unclear future. The only certainty is that life will be dramatically different on an overheated planet. Even if we survive, other species that we rely on for food, for recreation, for sheer beauty, will not. We live in a laboratory experiment run amok. And what are we doing? Blaming each other. Protecting our own privileges. Letting the corporations, governments, and countries that have driven us to the edge of this cliff get away with deception and denial. Like Pontius Pilate, washing our hands of responsibility. Yes, I’m angry. More than that, I’m a terrified passenger, screaming, “Stop the world! I want to get off!” But I can’t. Neither can you. ******************************************************** Copyright © 2016 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups encouraged; links from other blogs welcomed; all other rights reserved. To send comments, to subscribe, or to unsubscribe, write jimt@quixotic.ca ********************************************************
YOUR TURN
I started last week’s column (about persisting examples of sexist language in courtrooms) with a passing reference to Donald Trump. Tom Watson responded, “Donald Trump asks, ‘What have you got to lose?’ If it took 40 years to catch up, it will take only a minute for things to go back the other way -- not only on language but a host of other things too -- if The Donald takes over the helm. That's what folks have to lose!”
Chris Duxbury, from Australia, objected to one example I used: “As usual Jim, I was agreeing with most of what you said. However, when you listed the negative names that people call certain groups, they made sense to me, until you included ‘Muslim’. Calling someone a Muslim, if they are one, to me is not derogatory in any way, just as I am not insulted when I am called a Christian. “What I do find annoying is when someone from a particular group does something awful and then there is an outcry that everyone from that group are like this.” Chris added, “Australia's equivalent to the court room in America, is that reporters tend to report on what a female politician is wearing or her hair style or new colour, while male politicians are not critiqued or commented about in this way.”
Dale Perkins catches inconsistencies: “About the words we use to communicate -- perhaps you've uncovered the reality that ‘Words are not enough’ (to quote the title of that Canadian fund-raising song of the late ‘80s written to raise funds for starving Ethiopians). Every word we use is time-fixed, and dependent on the cultural sensibilities of 
the people using it/them at the time. Their meaning changes constantly, and what was used to convey a particular meaning then becomes totally inappropriate or counter-intention now. “The real issue is -- are we really prepared to attempt communicating, ever, knowing that our choice of words are time-laden? True of preachers as well as lawyers. Are we prepared to risk being misunderstood or considered uncouth -- even sexist? Perhaps we've passed the moment when we might comment on anybody or anything we observe about them, because we never fully know anybody (even ourselves, as psychiatrists might assert). So why say anything? Are we seeing the end of appropriate language and vocabulary? Risk-averse words might become really boring -- the end of humor to be sure. Do we ever dare to open our mouths and say anything?”
James Russell reflected on his own experience: “Thanks, as always, for your timely and spot-on comments. “Once upon a time when I was first becoming aware of my own ingrained sexism, I recall seeing a grammatical note along the lines ‘the masculine pronoun is assumed to include the feminine’. I tried reading a few paragraphs consciously saying ‘she’ and ‘her’ when I read ‘he’ and ‘his’. Turned out that the changes were not as automatic and didn't trip off the tongue (or the mind) as readily as the grammarian seemed to think.” In reply, I noted that if the masculine truly includes the feminine, the Roman Catholic Church would have no reason to exclude female priests. Or even a female pope.
Isabel Gibson found another example of linguistic sexism: “The recent Olympics were an opportunity to look at differences in the language that journalists used about men (usually ‘strong’ or ‘dedicated’) versus women (often ‘emotional’). And to flag some of the numerous comments about women's appearance. My favourite was the remark to Eugenie Bouchard (ace tennis player), when a male interviewer asked her to spin around so ‘we can see your outfit.’ “Sigh. A long and winding road.”
Hanny Kooyman took a historical approach: “It apparently takes a long time to have a balanced society, and perhaps we will never. Nobleman versus 'servers', white versus coloured… and female is at the very end of that row. Today we have new 'noblemen' who love to keep woman in 'her' position. To be able to survive many women still have to play the game. I see a world that is more sexist than ever. I think my own mother received more respect in her days than many women in today's society.”
Martin Jackson followed up on a past column, about medical checkups: “You wrote of your need to have that ‘annual medical check up’ and have the doctor ‘poke and prod’. “There is no evidence that such a medical intervention is time well spent. In fact if all patients had such a checkup at such an interval, GPs would be spending so much time in this endeavour that they would be unable look after the other needs of their patients. What is more, such checkups would result in many unnecessary blood tests(‘just in case’), blood tests, and investigations, all of which also add to the cost of health care. “That is not to say there is not a place for judicial ‘periodic health exam’ which is more episodic rather than regular, and is more focussed on the specific issues of that patient, gender, age, predisposing disorders etc. This is addressed by the Canadian Task Force on the Periodic Health Exam. “As you are a trusted source and informer in the community, I feel it is important that your words have an evidence based background.”
And Bruce Kajerski wanted to correct a reference in another previous column: “I enjoyed reading your column on lone-wolf terrorism on Sunday. But I would like to point out an error. Justin Bourque was not killed by police. He is serving a life sentence with minimum 75 years before parole eligibility.”
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TECHNICAL STUFF
This column comes to you using the electronic facilities of Woodlakebooks.com.        If you want to comment on something, send a message directly to me, at jimt@quixotic.ca. Or just hit the “Reply” button.        To subscribe or unsubscribe, send me an e-mail message at the address above. Or subscribe electronically by sending a blank e-mail (no message) to sharpedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca. Similarly, you can un-subscribe at sharpedgesunsubscribe@lists.quixotic.ca.        You can access several years of archived columns at http://edges.Canadahomepage.net.        I write a second column each Wednesday, called Soft Edges, which deals somewhat more gently with issues of life and faith. To sign up for Soft Edges, write to me directly, at the address above, or send a blank e-mail to softedgessubscribe@lists.quixotic.ca

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