The angry eco rebel

I was at a Pub today quietly drinking my beer and chatting to a friend about plastic and how it makes its way into our water systems and into birds, marine life etc.

This attracted the attention of a chap who was sitting 3 bar chairs away in the corner. He decided to argue that I was not taking action and no matter which steps I had done, it was not right, because it was not an activist action or a political action. He argue without using these words, that I was a waster who liked to discuss, but didn't do anything to solve the issues I was preaching against.

He tried to make out as if what I was doing was of no use (reduce, reuse, recycle) and that the only real type of action is political action which is apparently more legitimate (according to him).

I discussed with him a while, but in reality I was put in a corner, I was pushed into the defensive, he was a far better speaker/orator than I (it turns out he is the head of the youth league ofa major political party), I had no room to mount an attack against his accusations which was entierly directed against me (un-prepaired as I was) and not the subject of my conversation, I decided that he had taken the high ground even though it is built up on false ground.

The fact is that he couldn't attack my facts because they were 100% correct, so he attacked me. He placed words into my mouth and falsly categorised me amongst a group of radical activists, at the same time he made out as if I was crazy, lazy, not at all serious, a hippie etc...

I expect this is a common method of attack, he tried his best to create doubt, where there was no doubt. It was easier for him to create doubts about my personality by classifying me amongst radicals, than challenging the facts, because once you have the facts, then you have to do something about them.

To tell you the truth, being informed is where the power is. You can't stay informed too long before being active and all activity starts at home. I had hinted at this, but according to him only party political efforts and activism works,,,I seriously doubt he shares that opinion with anyone using this forum.

He even made the connection that I was against democracy and all business, I certainly doubt that there is anyone on this planet who is that. I expect that was the fear in FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt). I am not a raging communist or even a green activist...I am something else, something that works and a small part of it has been classified as the modern hobbiest movement (refashioning), the green consumer movement, anti consumerism, the socialising or socialist movement etc... but I am still none of those pieces of the jigsaw, yet I am and more.... How dare someone create an aged-sterotype and then say that it is equal to me and then attack my identity through that. I am not a movement, I am after all an individual and for me it is the small life and earth changing personal changes that count. What power has a politician against millions of enlightened individuals, none....I am proud of being an individual who is making a real difference and not just pushing the problem to someone else, it is the tiny steps that matter, but if enough people do a few tiny things a step will become a march and a whisper will grow to become a chorus.

I left the bar knowing full well that this discussion could not be won. All this discussion did was make me angry for the time it took for me to write this email, it created some frustration and it left me with even more distrust for this guys political party.