November 14, 2007
Clarkson Vs. Monbiot
Samizdata picked this up as a "Quote of the Day," but the post must be read in full.
Climate Resistance asks "Why Monbiot is So miserable?" George Monbiot is a writer for the Guardian who makes Paul Krugman look balanced, and Dennis Kucinich moderate. I, like many, assumed Perry DeHavilland coined the phrase "Moonbat" in his honor -- Perry denies this.
The post discusses the relentless negativity of the European Left chattering classes, and compares it to the spirit and spunk of Top Gear:
George's problem is that the culture he wants us to be part of is entirely negative. In contrast to this cultural pessimism, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May celebrate human achievements - however shallowly, and appear to risk their lives for their passions, while Monbiot considers us to be a destructive plague on the planet. Clarkson is a hero, and Monbiot is a chicken. Clarkson bumbles his own way into making history by doing dangerous things like driving to the North Pole, while Monbiot twitches behind his curtains, tutting about what other people are getting up to. Clarkson, for all his faults, is full of spirit, letting bad things bounce off of him. Monbiot dwells on the fantasy dystopia he's read about. The irony here is that while the things that Top Gear represents are somewhat coarse, it is Monbiot's dark dark narrative which creates apathy. The only reason he can think of for organising our collective efforts is that if we don't, we will all drown. What George needs to realise is that people don't drive cars because they watch Top Gear, they watch top Gear because they love cars and the positive things that cars represent. Environmentalism offers us nothing positive.If things were better, Top Gear would be just another program. But they aren't, and it's not. If we want to know why Clarkson is the last bastion of resistance to dull orthodoxies such as environmentalism and political correctness, don't watch Top Gear, read Monbiot - but don't take his word for it. It is relentlessly bleak, shrill and hollow. The cultural norms that environmentalism wants to establish have been established within the political and cultural elite, yet he continues to whine that the masses will not march to his command. Monbiot will tell you that people don't want it because they are influenced by the cultural dominance of Top Gear, but the truth is that people have a much better understanding of their own interests, and a better nose for bullshit than he gives them credit for. They are not blindly following the doctrine of Clarksonism, and shame on Monbiot that he thinks they are. People are resistant to Monbiotism precisely because they are not blindly obedient.
Top Gear is probably the funniest TV program in the world. Though I think it was better before they discovered it was funny and started trying, it is one show I will not miss.
Clarkson is a British conservative. He has no love for anything American unless it has four wheels and was made before Nixon was President, but he has a zest for life that the left has completely abandoned.