zealot (zĕlˈət) A person who is fanatical and uncompromising in pursuit of their religious, political, or other ideals.
The origin of the word comes from the Greek name of a Jewish sect that existed in the time of Jesus. Their goal was to resist the Roman empire and create a world dominated by Jewish theology. Those zealots were surrounded first in Jerusalem and then Masada, and destroyed by the Romans in about 70 AD. [1] We see a lot of zealots these days, but it seems most of them are engaged not by a deep understanding of the issue, but by the enthusiasm of youth and their educational indoctrination.
Perhaps it is because we have so many social, economic, and environmental issues we can’t agree on that we create all these zealots who demand action but have little insight into the unexpected consequences of their solution sets and who take no responsibility when those consequences manifest themselves. Or maybe, it is we have developed such a class of elites they believe world control is within reach and they’ve set the masses into conflict to further that goal?
What I find most interesting is we’ve reached a state of economic prosperity within our country where socially committed individuals have so much time and wealth they can devote themselves to what they believe to be these higher callings and not focus on the tasks essential for survival. Along the way, their entitlements and views of self-importance are cast about as clubs while they abuse the legal and political systems.
Their issues and the positions seem often at odds as each group jockeys for dominance. Take for example the recent massive fires in California. The legislature and the Governor have written laws that prevent logging or other active forest management on much of the land under their control. They’ve chosen instead to claim those lands must remain “natural.” That would be a great idea if they were, in fact, wilderness areas, but they’ve also allowed development in those natural areas. When wildfires break out and destroy homes, communities, and lives they are shocked. Of course, it really isn’t a result of their direct political/economic self-interest, they can blame climate change -- because computer projections suggest a likelihood of stronger storms, longer droughts and a myriad of worsening environmental crisis, so it’s really the fault of those other guys, the climate change deniers. Those who would question the accuracy of the computer projections and the group think (i.e. the science is settled) of those who are warning of imminent death and destruction if the US doesn’t take immediate action.
Animal rights is another area where with the best of intentions, uninformed individuals can band together to save the planet, or at least some of the planet as long as they are animals and not humans. They can arrogantly dismiss the eons of humanity to now explain why tofu is preferred to the beef while lobbying for a ban on meat. The simple question then becomes what to do with all the beef that is busy creating methane and contributing to global warming? But that really isn’t their concern, there is obviously another group to handle that.
Last year we saw major protests over oil pipelines, where the native American tribes that would be affected by those pipelines were buoyed up environmental zealots from across the county, including a number of notable Hollywood personas. In their zeal to stop the pipeline and reduce the flow of oil, they assembled in South Dakota to make their position known. The funny thing about this environmental protest was the amount of human waste they left behind when they finally decided the weather was getting too cold to camp out and be visible to the press. Of course, cleaning up after themselves as they fight to save the earth is really someone else’s job, isn’t it?
I could go on ad infinitum but in all cases, just as with the original zealots, their aim is to reshape the world into their vision of perfection, and if in the process they get to be richer or gain power through the manipulation of the masses, well that is just a wonderful side benefit. Isn’t it?
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