It's all about me, baby

I recently saw a book about global warming that took a different approach from most of the others out there. It wasn't about how dire the environmental situation is; it didn't take the opposite tack -- that climate change fear has been overblown; and it didn't offer any suggestions for collective action or policy that would improve things. None of that. Instead, it was about how to ensure your own personal survival in an era of climate change and extreme weather. Kind of an update of those bomb shelter books of the 1950s and 1960s. Who cares if the world is going to hell, as long as you (and your family, of course) are safe.

Later, I turned on the radio to an ad for a Ford truck. The pitch? That the ride in the cab is so quiet, you won't believe how powerful the truck really is. But if you need a reminder, just open the window, so you can hear the engine roar. No consideration, of course, of whether or not anyone around you wants to hear your engine roar. As long as it's nice and quiet in your cab, it's all good.