[Taxacom] Objective/Subjective Molehills

[Kenneth Kinman]

Dear All,     
      Well, they say that Nero fiddled while Rome burned.  Now we see
taxonomists making mountains out of molehills over a semantic splitting
of hairs.  The exact meaning of "synonym" might be an interesting
exercise to throw around at the local pub, but the intensity of debate
that this has produced on Taxacom is a little disappointing when there
are much more important things that many seem reluctant to touch with a
ten foot pole----biodiversity, excess human population (which is
overwhelming non-human biodiversity), and the wealthiest of humans who
(with a minority of exceptions) want to exploit their fellow humans and
any other life form that might further their wasteful self-indulgence.
Does anyone teach the lessons of Malthus anymore?           
      Policy-makers in some of our largest  corporations seem to the
ultimate source of the world's present problems.  It trickles down to
middle-level managers that can then be scape-goated when things go
terribly wrong (the Wall Street disaster; the BP disaster, etc.). The
blame should ultimately trickle up to the top guys, but like in the
"Godfather", those top guys tend to be clever enough avoid having it
traced back to them (they have "buffers").  President Nixon (in the
1970s) was the last "big fish" to get caught and fall victim to his own
grandiosity.  The most devious big fish have since learned that lesson,
and they are increasingly hard to catch.  If we can't send the worst of
them to jail, maybe we can at least try to scare them enough to pay
their fair share of taxes.  What we need are more Warren Buffets who
don't waste their riches on conspicuous consumption and who actually
raise children who make their own way in the world that don't squandere
their wealth and heritage on drugs and more consumption.  
       Anyway, if you spend too much time on trivial semantics, you miss
the bigger picture.  Preserving the world's biodiversity is much more
important than certain ICZN glossary minutia that most people could care
less about.  It really amazes me that molehills get so much attention
and mountains get less.  No wonder Hollywood get so much attention in
the media  over matters that don't really matter and important matters
are ignored until it is too late.  Too many people (including members of
Congress) are slaves to the corporate PR machine.  Money talks and most
of the world is poorer for it.
         -----------Ken Kinman