Comic relief in Climate conversations (or more generally all left vs. right conversations)?

 We attended the Hyderabad Literary Fest which had a track on Climate Conversations and one of the best sessions was the one titled with this blog's title (not the part in parantheses). It was funny and thought provoking. 

The standup comic Raghava Mandava who specializes in bringing humor to the highly charged conversations of Climate Change talked about how he was a"nature lover" and not an "environmentalist". Because "environmentalist" has become associated with radical lefties whose cries of outrage (according to him) have only served to alienate the people who they want to convince. Or how imperfect sustainability solutions drive people away. Case in point, the turtle-killing plastic straw and its lame recent substitute, the paper straw which seems to dissolve in the drink you are sipping before you are half way done. I can relate to this personally. One of his lines was something like how a normal person who has nothing against turtles tries to drink using the paper straw and is driven to outrage ('**** the turtles'). 

The larger point is how climate change warriors perhaps should rethink how they communicate, how not come across as scolds etc. I do think the right suffers from a bit of persecution complex (e.g. the whole anti-woke thing); after all they are supposed to be the tough guys, are their feelings so delicate that they are hurt by bleeding heart liberals? Or do they have a point, has the radical left gone too far?

Another sentiment I heard in the session was how a single experience with nature can be more effective than 100 exhorting messages and lectures on how we should be reducing the carbon footprint. 

While the above was in the context of just one topic that is close to the heart of those on the left, the same arguments can be made for all hot-button cultural/political issues. After all, "the condescencion of  liberal elites" is a standard refrain you hear that mobilizes and even energizes the opposite side. 

Considing how the left got its collective backsides kicked in November (it was Inauguration week and the left is indeed licking its wounds, including yours truly), I am going to say, perhaps it is the latter. So time for some collective soul searching and how the messaging can be improved. Because while I continue to believe the left's heart is often in the right place, how they frame the conversation and the messaging is clearly due for some serious improvement.

R. Balaji