Thread by @rogerahicks

I think #DavidAttenborough, on behalf of his whole generation, owes #GretaThunberg & her generation an abject apology for having failed to instigate a #SustainabilityRevolution, the existential need for which has been apparent to many of us since the early 1970s.

I apologise for my own boomer generation, but it would be better coming from more influential individuals like #BillClinton, #BillGates & #TonyBlair. Only, they don't recognise the failure, or their co-responsibility for it, since that would tarnish their self-image.

These men & thousands like them, & a smaller number of women, who profited greatly from our unsustainable global economy, will almost certainly die in denial of their failings, as many, like #MargretThatcher & #HelmutSchmidt have already done.

#GretaThunberg's generation would be justified in despising the movers & shakers of previous generations, who failed to instigate a #SustainabilityRevolution, but present-day movers & shakers are also failing. And by the time Greta's generation are in power it will be too late.

I suspect that Greta's generation, had they been in the past or were now in power, would be no different. So, rather than just getting angry at those who failed society in the past or are failing it now, let us instead try to understand WHY they failed & continue to fail us.

When we fail our children, grandchildren & future generations, we also fail ourselves. But very few, including the hugely "successful" individuals I have named, will ever admit it to themselves, but will die in ignorance of how their own descendants will one day curse them.

Can you imagine #BillClinton, #BillGates or #TonyBlair recognising & admitting to the mother of all failures (not to have done all they possibly could to instigate a #SustainabilityRevolution), that negates all their successes?

I can even sympathise with them.

But rather than waste my time on that, I would rather communicate my insights into understanding why they failed us - & themselves, if they did but know it.

If they knew what future generations will think of them, they would, I am sure, be horrified, & repent immediately.

Only, we can't afford to hang around waiting for that to happen. It may never happen, & they will die in the bliss of their own ignorance.

In the meantime, there is a very important lesson to be learned from the failure of one generation after another to face up to reality.

The lesson is this: the academics we look to as authorities on understanding society & its ills are failing to do so, because a previous generation, in overreaction to Nazi Social Darwinism, made a taboo of applying evolutionary biology to understanding human nature & society.

Because the Nazis had manipulated & exploited German tribalism for their own evil purposes, academics demonised human tribalism itself, which was madness, like demonising male sexuality, because of its role in rape.

https://twitter.com/rogerahicks/status/1315648258358812674?s=20