“Exploit the Earth or Die” Merchandise



exploit t


Exploit the Earth or die. It’s not a threat. It’s a fact. Either man takes the Earth’s raw materials—such as trees, petroleum, aluminum, and atoms—and transforms them into the requirements of his life, or he dies. To live, man must produce the goods on which his life depends; he must produce homes, automobiles, computers, electricity, and the like; he must seize nature and use it to his advantage. There is no escaping this fact. Even the allegedly “noble” savage must pick or perish. Indeed, even if a person produces nothing, insofar as he remains alive he indirectly exploits the Earth by parasitically surviving off the exploitative efforts of others.

The fact annoys some people. But it shouldn’t: Hence our “Exploit the Earth or Die” campaign.

Place a link on your blog or website; wear an EED T-shirt; drink from an EED mug. The good guys will smile. The bad guys will snarl. And the battle for civilization and against “environmentalism” will be brought to the fundamental alternative whereupon the matter ultimately must be decided: life or death.

Link. Direct link to t-shirts. Via GeekPress.

*Update: I deleted a comment that was mere profanity. Please don’t reduce the conversation to mere insults and profanity. I’m interested in hearing why this t-shirt is so inflammatory, and I’d like to hear something other than “Randians are fools” (or worse).

**I’ve closed the comments. Thanks for your thoughts everyone.


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Posted on September 1, 2007 at 3:03 pm by jstruan
Category: 1 Other Neat Things, Politics

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37 comments to "“Exploit the Earth or Die” Merchandise"

  • Reechard
    September 1st, 2007 at 3:23 pm

    Stupid idea. Using a charged word and hiding behind the semantics to piss people off. I can’t imagine what this could possibly accomplish, no one would ever argue that we don’t need the Earth.

  • Paqo
    September 1st, 2007 at 3:33 pm

    100% agreed, Reechard

  • jami
    September 1st, 2007 at 3:38 pm

    unrepentant consumerism. that’s just great.

    unsubscribed.

  • Another Jake
    September 1st, 2007 at 4:05 pm

    You’ve missed the point. It’s a campaign in protest of all the other ultra-environmental campaigns that use equally as charged words to forward their ideas. Oh, and they have T-shirts and bumper-stickers and crap too.

    Getting pissed off by it just shows how much people have been convinced that humanity is somehow unnatural and evil.

    Still, I’ll give you it is an illconceived idea and will wind up having the opposite effect that it intended.

  • johnald
    September 1st, 2007 at 4:15 pm

    all living things die, no matter what they do, so it’s a pointless slogan whichever way you look at it.

  • Perceive
    September 1st, 2007 at 4:56 pm

    Touché, johnald.

    And might I add, besides extremist philosophies like the Church of Euthanasia, most environmental campaigns, when you boil it down, is saying that people should exploit the Earth responsibly.

  • melissa
    September 1st, 2007 at 5:03 pm

    Love those objectivists…they always miss the point…or maybe they just love to erect straw men. No environmentalist says we shouldn’t use the Earth.

  • L
    September 1st, 2007 at 6:10 pm

    I didn’t realize the “noble savage” was such a consumer of nuclear power…

  • munki
    September 1st, 2007 at 6:40 pm

    that’s quite possibly the dumbest thing i’ve ever seen on a t-shirt.

  • Will S
    September 1st, 2007 at 6:51 pm

    Oh come on: Every single political action group in the world uses charged words in a slightly oblique way to attract attention/get their message across. And while the message may be a bit inaccurate (it is from objectivists after all), It’s something worth thinking about it.

    It should say: Yes if we use up all the earths resources it will be the end of our species. But we need to recognize that we all use the resources, and while that may not justify wanton exploitation of everything we find, it’s important to consider so we can keep some perspective on the debate.

    But I doubt that would fit on the shirt.

  • Alex
    September 1st, 2007 at 7:19 pm

    Ayn Rand would be proud. I think the rest of the world should just shrug because this already happens every day, with or without the witty slogan.

  • jstruan
    September 1st, 2007 at 7:27 pm

    Is “exploit” a negative word? These definitions certainly don’t seem negative:
    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1B3GGGL_enUS211US213&d efl=en&q=define:exploit&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title

    -use or manipulate to one’s advantage
    -draw from; make good use of; “we must exploit the resources we are given wisely”

  • DCer
    September 1st, 2007 at 9:39 pm

    yes, exploit is a negative term. Don’t try to hide behind bizarre definitions when my dictionary lists ones like

    “to use selfishly for one’s own ends”

    Randroids are universally fools.

    Now they’ve twisted what little ideas Rand had and combined them with Satanism “The rule of law is to doest what thou wilt” and the Objective Standard is what we get.

    guffaw

    I’ve told this story many times. A Randroid was hired as my wife’s assistant, after about 6 weeks at the company she gives a speech to the team about how she is “the architect,” Howard Roark, beset by petty minds just like the Fountainhead and how negotiation of her ideals will kill her soul, etc. They fired her immediately for insubordination and she got a job, not a joke, at the Home Depot because Randians HAVE no ideas and can’t actually LEAD anyone. They turn to a philosophy that espouses the individual because they are incapable of success in normal society that requires ideas that inspire.

    Anyone who says that “all” movements use radical language to shock or offend is a fool, most movements absolutely do not do this as we all know- outside of high school anyway. And the objectivists just never got over their mommies saying they were special on the way to the bus stop.

  • Zandt K
    September 1st, 2007 at 10:11 pm

    I like it, and I would wear one. It’s called marketing.

  • Daniel
    September 2nd, 2007 at 12:08 am

    “That’s quite possibly the dumbest thing i’ve ever seen on a t-shirt.”

    +1

    Sorry, I can’t help but being offended by this. I always thought that I’d get most irony or sarcastically meant messages but it seems this is too far our for me.

    I am bit disappointed that something like this could get posted here.

  • SenorMysterioso
    September 2nd, 2007 at 12:18 am

    I love it

  • Rob
    September 2nd, 2007 at 12:33 am

    Isn’t this just the same as those “I’m with stupid” t-shirts that have an arrow pointing up?

  • Bunk
    September 2nd, 2007 at 12:45 am

    Love it. Logic steps on popular rhetoric, and a t-shirt slogan upsets people! Lemmings!

  • Siduri
    September 2nd, 2007 at 12:49 am

    I like how Randroids confuse “logic with “short-sighted sociopathy”.

    And by “like” I mean “am disturbed by”.

  • Siduri
    September 2nd, 2007 at 12:51 am

    …I mean, really, they define themselves by popular rhetoric, but instead of a mindless allegiance to it, they have a mindless opposition to it. It’s like someone set out to make un-socialism, instead of forging ahead with truly new, original ideas.

  • Bunk
    September 2nd, 2007 at 2:52 am

    I just exploited that dead chicken carcass in the refrigerator. I might exploit ground-up bovine muscles tomorrow. And after that, I’m going to exploit fossil fuels in order to travel to where I can get exploited hops and barley produce, so that I can exploit what’s left of a nice three-day weekend, and live to exploit another day. Hope you all do the same!

  • lc
    September 2nd, 2007 at 5:29 am

    meh, this t-shirt sucks. so do objectivists.

    as someone who studied architecture and worked as an architect for several years i speak on behalf of all of us who’ve had to endure the question, ‘oh, did you read the fountainhead? is that what made you want to go into architecture?’ at social functions from people after you tell them that you’re an architect. PLEASE, DON’T EVER ASK THIS QUESTION. EVER. AGAIN.

    ayn rand is a twit and she perverted the popular conception of what architecture is about for a generation of high school and college students.

    did i mention this t-shirt sucks?

  • Piddle
    September 2nd, 2007 at 6:09 am

    All makes sense to me when I remember this quote by Kieran Healy:

    “Oh god. Ayn Rand. Fourteen year olds of the world unite! The car keys shall be yours by sheer force of will! Objectivism requires it!”

  • MrPumpernickel
    September 2nd, 2007 at 8:22 am

    “Exploit” isn’t a negative term by itself, it entirely depends on the context its used in. When it comes to for instance coal mining or deforestation in South America the meaning of “exploit” becomes more like “parasite”. It’s trying, quite deliberately, with the use of words that has become charged through popular media to convey a message that is the opposite than what the shirt may lead you to believe.

    Though, I suspect a lot of people won’t get that, especially those that have come to the conclusion that the earth’s resources need to be used responsibly by being indoctrinated instead of having thought about and investigated the topic themselves. In the end it’s a cute and novel idea, but it will without a doubt have the opposite effect than the creators intended. To me this is just white noise.

  • ted
    September 2nd, 2007 at 8:27 am

    I don’t get it.

    It seems like a lot of hullabaloo just to sell a t-shirt.

  • Scott Carney
    September 2nd, 2007 at 12:15 pm

    This shirt is the worst thing since global warming. It is a threat to our national security and the only possible response is to post lots of angry comments on this forum to get the shirt’s creators to donate to Greenpeace.

  • Doug
    September 2nd, 2007 at 12:55 pm

    Respect your mother.
    Use the earth wisely or die.
    Foul your nest and die.
    Harmonize with the earth or die.
    Mother earth bats last.

  • Ryan Hunt
    September 2nd, 2007 at 12:59 pm

    Easily the most morally misguided thing I’ve seen posted on Neatorama.

    Disappointing.

  • Jason
    September 2nd, 2007 at 1:10 pm

    Bravo … thank you for putting this up, I would wear one of these … definately !

  • Willie Bro
    September 2nd, 2007 at 1:25 pm

    Thanks. I’ll wear this next Saturday when all my objectivist buddies come over to drink lemonade and discuss who’s the most original and unfettered.

  • Cl3ver
    September 2nd, 2007 at 1:57 pm

    Don’t forget to add…
    “We must not only exploit the earth, but all of the lower beings that live upon it. If we need their land we will take it by any means necessary. If they resist, then they are going against ‘progress’ and will be dealt with. Whether the resistance be human or non-human alike, they will be dealt with accordingly.”
    I approve this message only to point out the stupidity and insanity of people who actually believe this.

  • James
    September 2nd, 2007 at 5:29 pm

    this is excellent!!! running my own eco friendly clothing and homeware shop it really pisses me off peopels attitudes to consumerism…

    everyone exploits something, its the ability with which something is exploited that matters!!!

    and the whole new thing about carbon is such a mimsi pile of absolute crap that in the UK is simply a tax on the public…

    please can I have the contract to print your tees, but on organic cotton, and made by the dying clothing industry here in the uk, by fairly paid workers, in good conditions??? Exploit me… badger me for a deal

  • Ryan
    September 2nd, 2007 at 6:17 pm

    Humans are a cancer to this earth - its nice to see you pompously support our destructive behavior.

  • Nancy
    September 2nd, 2007 at 7:09 pm

    I love the shirt and just love the comments on this site. Nothing like watching smug environmentalist quake a little. Having an informed opinion as opposed to mindless passion is so difficult for the ‘true believers’.

    I’m not a Randian, but I love to see them mix it up with the other wackos.

  • Jason
    September 2nd, 2007 at 7:48 pm

    whats amazing is that the idea that my desire to consume the earth’s resources for my own end would inspire such comments, in fact to go so far as to have people compare me to a cancer … where is the tollerance ?

  • Mouthbreather
    September 2nd, 2007 at 8:39 pm

    That’ll really put people who fight against pollution in their place!

  • MadMolecule
    September 2nd, 2007 at 9:29 pm

    The shirt’s pretty funny. The comments from knee-jerkers who don’t get it are even funnier. And the funniest thing of all is the idea that a t-shirt will actually make one bit of difference in the world.

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