Stephen Colbert's great grandfather "didn't travel 4,000 miles across the ocean to see this country overrun by immigrants. He did it because he killed a man back in Ireland."
This just rehashed a thought I've been turning over in my mind the last few days, and it gives me a jumping off point to write a diary.
Colbert was able to crack a joke about his ancestor's misdeeds without getting splashed by a drop of stigma. I've been wondering, how much separation absolves someone from crimes their family committed? Or seen the other way, how much time can pass before people stop remembering your actions on a personal level and start remembering them on a historical level?
Because as I look far into the future I'm fairly certain a day will come when global warming just can't be denied. Oceans rise naturally, but how far into a 200 foot ocean rise will the deniers stop their nonsense that global warming can't exist because nothing can actually be proven. Species go extinct every day, but how many of the Earth's species have to die in one year for everyone to agree it's a trend that isn't working in our favor? 10%? 20%?? 50%???
I guess it's really hardly worth a blog entry to gauge when I'll be able to authoritatively say "I told you so," but this isn't about being vindicated. This is me wondering aloud is there's a modern day equivalent of the New World, where all past misdeeds will automatically be forgiven.
You see, from my point of view, the Overton Window of global warming / climate change is going to shift toward reality someday. The facts on the ground will make it undeniable. I'm hoping on that day, in exchange for the price we've paid, that the Republican brand, and conservative ideology in general will finally and permanently be discredited and abandoned.
Could there ever be an end to partisan politics? It would be a small consolation in light of a 100 foot sea rise, but would the demise of the Republican party even be guaranteed in such a situation? From this stage and time, it looks like the GOP is betting all their chips on global-warming-is-not-real. I wonder how it will play out when that is no longer a tenable position.
In 50 years, will someone be able to glibly declare that their grandparent was one of the global warming deniers? Or will such a declaration be cause for his peers to set him outdoors with only SPF 25?