When I think of how Heart of Darkness applies to us today, I can't help but think of the polution in the world. In Heart of Darkness, most of the world was blind to the brutalities of imperialism much the same way the world today denies the harmful effects of polution and global warming. While many people advocate for clean energy and put all their resources into cleaning up the environment, they cannot succeed alone. The entire world needs to help in order to fix this problem.
Perhaps parts of the world are in denial. In Florida, members of the Department of Environmental Protection are not allowed to speak of climate change or global warming, even though Florida is sure to see some of the largest effects of it. Maybe polution and climate change do not perfectly fit the model for a heart of darkness because most of the world knows about the consequences of their action, but they are not able to control themselves and plan for the future of the world.
While I agree that pollution is a little different than the Congo, I think that it is something that goes unnoticed and is often misunderstood. And even when big things happen, like the oil spills, people still don't take environmental problems seriously for more than a few months at least. I also agree that people deny it. Such as the people who try to argue that global warming is not a real thing, sort of like the way that the Europeans in Heart of Darkness deny that the people in the Congo are humans too.
ReplyDeleteWow, I thought the same thing! It's crazy that people at the Department of Environmental Protection aren't allowed to talk about climate change. It seems to me that if one is looking to protect the environment, they would need to understand all the threats.
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