Maybe I’m wrong, but the argument that purchasing any beef at all, no matter from whence it came or how it was raised, is driving deforestation on another continent is difficult for me to take seriously, even when smart people keep repeating it. https://t.co/LW5ErA4zYC

— Ariel Greenwood (@greenwoodae) January 23, 2022

Eh, those people aren’t actually smart, they’re “smart,” which is a wholly different thing.

Actual smarts is weighing trade-offs and determining what would help under what circumstances, while deeply comprehending the dynamics of the system and its feedback mechanisms, and making decisions from there. “Smart,” though, is parroting what bien pensant pseudoliberal neo-ascetics claim would help, which is in reality merely a renascence of religious monasticism just sans the hermitage.

All of this is exploited by corporations to skirt and forestall regulation — framing decisive action as being dependent wholly on individual choice — thus reinforcing (and in some cases, creating) these religious tendencies among the “saving the planet” crowd. Meanwhile, nothing substantive is changed, people are shamed needlessly, and libs can feel smug and happy they got the joy of taking away something from someone.