‘Journey to the heart of hypocrisy’

This letter echoes your commentary titled “Sermon from the height of hypocrisy” (T.N.M., Oct. 10-16/03).

I spent Christmas in Toronto, among people with fashionably left-liberal political views. They make full use of every comfort and convenience that the capitalist system has to offer, and take these things for granted. They say capitalism doesn’t work.

They live urban lives with practically no contact with nature in its raw state. They claim to be environmentally friendly, ecologically concerned and globally aware.

They live in 3,000-sq.-ft. houses with polished hardwood floors, recently built. They say we can’t go on destroying the forests.

They take it for granted that food from all over the world is brought to them in petroleum-fuelled, metal ships and trucks. They decorate their wives with gold and diamonds. They say we can’t go on raping the earth.

They run two cars. They say we can’t go on polluting the environment.

They expect to walk about inside their houses in shirt sleeves and bare feet in mid-winter. If it gets too hot, they open the doors and windows. Turn the heat down? Never! They are against global warming.

They support the Kyoto Protocol, as long as it’s the other guy that loses his job.

Somebody who has spent 25 years living and working all over North and South America ventures a fact or opinion based on his experience. They contradict him because of something they read in the newspaper last week.

You don’t have to look south of the border for smug, naive, arrogant hypocrisy. The home-grown product is world-class.

Tom Morrison

Delta, B.C.