Environmentalism pisses me off because for a fraction of what we are spending on the public hysteria we could be providing micro nutrients that would lead to huge decreases in overall suffering.
Why should spending on ‘environmentalism’ alone have to face this burden of justification? Do you feel the same indignation toward spending on, say, NASA?
This story sounds like an extended dirty joke to me—the bit about the farmer looking like a pregnant woman with the snake in his belly, for instance. And antisocial behavior is just plain funny. Folk-myth tricksters aren’t solemn, hard-working, and plain spoken; they’re obscene, lazy liars. If this is the Hausa idea of what makes a funny story, then cooperation is probably a social value of theirs.
The principal’s “I don’t care who started it” can be a poorly-phrased “both of you started it.” In every case, each kid will put full blame on the other—how often do you expect to hear “he started most of it, but I’m responsible for some of the trouble as well?” Often, both kids will even believe what they’re saying. But in almost every case (perhaps excluding the playground bully), both contributed to escalating the conflict. Anyone who has shepherded groups of children can confirm this, and it holds just as true for adults, tribes, and nations.