Saturday, May 1, 2010

Absurdity, Defined.

Concord fires first shot in water battle

CONCORD — For years, Jean Hill has been reading about the environmental consequences of the countless plastic bottles filling landfills and polluting local waters. She has watched as other towns around the country have cut purchases of bottled water, which she views as a wasteful, environmentally damaging alternative to tap water.

This week, after lobbying neighbors and local officials for months, the 82-year-old activist persuaded them to take more drastic action than perhaps any other municipality in the country: At Town Meeting on Thursday, Concord residents voted to ban all sales of bottled water.

Wow. Can you say futile gesture? So Concord bans the sale of bottled water. Do they think that folks are going to stop drinking bottled water? Do they hope that this will spread to other cities and towns across Massachusetts and then across the country, resulting in a Poland Spring-free utopia where the unicorns promised by Øbama can frolic in 500 mL plastic bottle-free fields of amber grain?

Look, I'm not a huge fan of bottled water. More often than not, the water coming out of your tap is not much worse and, in a good number of localities, better than what you spend perfectly good money for at the grocery store. It has its place, though - when we have Cub Scout outings, we'll pick up a case of the small bottles to hand out to make sure the boys keep hydrated. It's a valuable lesson for them, as we make sure they clean everything up (Leave No Trace)

Buried in the article, on page two, is this little gem:
For Hill and other environmental advocates, bottled water is unlike other products, because there’s a ready and free alternative at the tap.
First off, a hearty "DUH". Secondly, if this isn't the most emblematic icon of the leftist creed out there, I don't know what else is. We don't like [thing X]. There's a perfectly good alternative to [thing X] that costs less and is better for the environment. Do we:

A) Work to educate people why they should use less of [thing X] and more of [free thing Y]?

or

B) Ban [thing X]?

Leftists choose option B at an alarming rate. Even though they themselves will admit that there is a perfectly valid alternative that people could use - meaning that a little public information might be all they need - their first thought is to ban the things they don't like. Rather than take the harder path of educating people to make better choices, they go straight to the "we don't like it so we'll use the power of government [men with guns] to make it go away".

If that doesn't scare the hell out of you, it most certainly should.

That is all.

13 comments:

bluesun said...

damn hippies.

(I'm getting so much milage out of this video, it's not even funny. Except it is. It really is.)

Ben C said...

Not sure about Concord you are; but where I live, I have to pay for my utilities on a monthly basis. This includes city water/sewer, or electricity to run the well. These costs are not large, but they are greater than zero.

If this activist has a source for plentiful, clean, free drinking water, sign me up.

Ben C said...

typos FTW...

Imjustmusing said...

So I guess we will now have the plastic bottle police?

And next, let's outlaw all those Dunkin Donuts foam cups, after all I am sure the people in Concord only drink Starbucks anyway.

Mike said...

Bottled water is extremely wasteful in most circumstances, not only in the pointless waste it leaves behind but also the energy and oil it takes to make the bottle and transport it around. I've been in many places where it's a necessity for your health, but suburban USA is not one of those places. I don't know if a ban is the appropriate solution, but the we would be better served if we used a lot less of it.

Anonymous said...

But...but...

I need those bottles!

If bottled water is banned, I'll have to pay for a much more expensive (and more likely to leak) solid plastic water bottle! When I get bottled water, I drink it up and then use the bottle to store tap water! :(

Old NFO said...

Excellent point!!! damn hippies is right!

Dave said...

Personally I try to limit how much of the bottled I buy.

Have bought several reusable Rubbermaid bottles (20 and 32 oz).

I've worked guest relations for a couple Sci-Fi and Animation conventions. The guests will never drink from anything they haven't opened themselves or seen poured in front of them. Prebottle water is an absolute favorite, especially with individual serving packs of crystal-lite or kool-aid for flavor options.

Thankfully the plastics used in single use bottle water bottles are some of the most easily recycled plastics.

ASM826 said...

Buy the Cub Scouts canteens or Nalgene bottles and save the money you would have spent on bottles of water. At the end of the year, take the Scouts on a special outing with that money and explain how the money was saved.

Anonymous said...

Having seen the old bag on the TV news, the first thing that entered my mind was that she was trying to relive her youth in fascist Italy or Nazi Germany where she got to tell her lessers what to do.

But I digress... Maybe bottled water is wasteful, no one is forcing her to buy it. In fact, does the bottle deposit apply to water in Mass? Back when that law was enacted, the elites exempted their own beverages, perrier, wine and such. If I heed her advice and knock on her door requesting access to her kitchen tap or just walk into her back yard and help myself to the garden hose, I expect she'll be calling the local constabulary post haste.

Her and her ilk's answer to the obesity problem is what now, to drink tonic? After all it's good enough for those other type of people in the ghetto.

Not to quote Jonah Goldberg, but these liberal fascists just piss me off.

Anonymous said...

Could the timing of this story POSSIBLY be any better? Wow, a law against bottled water...... I wonder what people would drink then if something like.... oh I dunno, let's just toss something out there for discussion.......say a 10ft wide water main supplying water to 2 million people broke and it might not be repaired for days or even weeks? Nah, that could never happen.

Anonymous said...

^ Haha, I thought of that as soon as I read this article this morning. Better not get rid of those bottles of water! :D

Roy said...

I can't speak for the city of Concord MA, but the reason most folks buy and drink bottled water is for the convenience, and because a lot of municipal water supplies, though safe to drink, taste like ass - with a hint of chlorine.

The problem with leftists everywhere, is that they won't mind their own damn business. Gawd, how I hate hippies - especially those of the old-phart variety.