Why do people listen to this man? All Hedges talks about is how screwed
we are and how hopeless the situation is, and on and on and on. I look at
the comment threads of his TruthDig columns and I see that his readers
share the same borderline nihilism as he does, with everyone succumbing
to a defeatist lethargy.

If you look at the columns of Paul Gilding or Mark Hertsgaard—who both
look at the climate crisis through a more pragmatic, less misanthropic lens
—their commenters are energized to make radical changes and potentially
better the world. But with Hedges, it’s a ground zero of depression. And it’s
a depression that his readers are seemingly addicted to.

I’m not saying that Hedges is a bad writer or that his points are invalid, but
if you are really trying to ellicit a dramatic change as Hedges claims to be
doing, there is no way you could sabotage that more than by regularly
doling out the same unfettered pessimism. Obviously, Hedges never heard
of Pavlov or his discovery of positive reinforcement.

I think the future is still yet to be conclusively written, and that it is up to
the present generation to write it. I, for one, will try to do my part to save as
much of the world as can be saved. But I know I won’t able to do it by
pissing and moaning like Hedges and his brethren. Rather, I’ll try to appeal
to mankind’s better self. As much as Hedges may deny it, it still exists.

Nah, i’ll wait. i’m not depressed enough. take your time chris.