The Palinization of Polar Bears and America

Written by: Eric Weis on Sep 3, 2008 10:30 PM EDT

Linked to groups: The Passaic County Green Party, NJ for Democracy, Passaic County DFA, DFA County Committee Project, BlueWaveNJ, Pequannock DFA

Linked to campaigns: Obama for America

I guess I have to start blogging sometime.  Sarah Palin will address the nation soon.  It is 9:30PM EDT Sept 3rd on the eve of her appearance before the Republican DysConvention in Saint Paul. Perhaps this little blog will have some effect at deflating the impending dirigible coming our way. 

Why is America abuzz over Sarah? How does a woman with her qualifications rise to be one of 50 state Governors of the United States?  The answer is simple.  The media is the message, said Marshall McLuhan, and he was right.

Sarah Palin is the epitome of the talking head.  Trained in communication-journalism, she is ambitious and she is attractive.  These qualities are now engrained in the American culture; the handsome and pretty make it big in the networks, but Walter Cronkhite or Edward R. Murrow would not stand a chance these days.

Sarah undoubtedly knows how to handle a teleprompter, and deal with the cameras and lights.  As such, she advances even though the quality of her vision, of her thinking, and of her experience do not amount to a hill of tundra (known in Arctic parlance as a hummock). Scratch the permafrost that is Sarah Palin's exterior, and you will find a muddy mess below.

Just take one example, of a topic that she should have down "cold".  The Polar Bear.  Sarah has found it possible to reject the recommendations of the Bush administration (based on good science and years of pressure) to place the Polar Bear on the endangered species list.  Amazingly, she thinks otherwise.  Studies in the Beaufort Sea (only a small part of the Arctic) show an increase in PB populations.  So, to appease the hunting lobby (of which she is a card-carrying, gun-toting member), Sarah goes to an extreme which lies beyond even our sitting President.

Is this thinking?  Does this show an understanding of the transnational nature of the Arctic and global warming?  Whether one agrees that warming is caused by humans or not, the evidence of PB population declines is incontrovertible. But Sarah is able to ignore this, and do the grandstanding act which elevates her reputation in the eyes of the Alaskan hunters (and there are many).  But don't accept her reasoning on subsistence hunting.  Nobody, not the Inuit or other native Americans, has ever subsisted on the PB.  They do and did indeed hunt Nanuk, as a cultural test of maturation.  And indigenous cultures can and should be maintained.  But hunting clearly drove the PB population down in the 1960s and 1970s.  For more detail, go to the following internet site:

http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/bear-facts/polar-bears-and-conservation/

Hunting should be banned.  Exceptions can be made by treaty with the Inuit (in Nunavik, parts of which were formerly known as the Northwest Terroritories and the Yukon Territory, the Canadian government is able to toe the line on the endangered species issue).  Sarah Palin, leading Alaska, seems able if not willing to ignore the rest of the world and science to boot.

So why this rant on Sarah Palin and the Polar Bear? Because it shows her lack of understanding of a relatively easy issue, one that she ought to have down cold.  Now test Sarah Palin on international trade, on diplomatic relations with the emerging Third World, on the balance of trade, on nuclear nonproliferation, on healthcare and entitlements or on her potential position as PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE (yes, that is one of the roles played by a US Vice President) and I will summarize by saying...

FOLKS, WE'LL HAVE TROUBLE IN RIVER CITY.

America needs to invest in education, in cultural reformation and in reconciliation so that the talking heads no longer are our heroes.  America's heroes need to be engineers, teachers, doctors, scientists, nurses, assembly line workers and yes, even our politicians in public service.  When we elect a talking head, we do so at our peril.

- "Arctic Eric"

NOAA/JAWS Arctic Program 1971

Bowdoin College "Polar Bear" 1973

Tags:
Location: Wayne, NJ 07470