Differing opinions on the fires raging in Los Angeles point to a great political and philosophical divide in our society. Essentially, it is a division over how one views man’s relationship with nature.

One side holds the traditional masculine attitude that nature can be brutal, but we should not cower from our efforts to subdue it. This Yankee can-do attitude that nature’s wildness should be tamed through the heroic efforts of men used to be part of our American DNA. In a sense, it is the spirit that built Los Angeles in the first place. Through herculean efforts of engineering, water was transported from far away to irrigate what is essentially an arid Mediterranean littoral plain. It allowed a modern civilization to thrive there.

The other side holds a more passive and primitive attitude toward nature. They believe that nature is a deity that should be placated through human sacrifice. This instinct for ritual human sacrifice has manifested in different forms throughout history. The Aztecs regularly slaughtered helpless victims to appease their rain god. Modern adherents of this philosophy believe that man must sacrifice modern comfort and security to placate nature.

As one side understands that fire hydrants failing to deliver the water needed to fight fires is a result of municipal incompetence, the other side engages in a rite of self-flagellation proclaiming that our sacrifice has not been sufficient to placate nature’s god. They ask forgiveness for their sin of emitting too much carbon dioxide and promise to repent by only doing their laundry when the sun is shining. Their position is all too silly to take seriously, but they point to their esteemed high priests who have studied the earth and the heavens and know better than you.

Early in my career as an engineer, I encountered an incompetent manager who was in a position of authority that was way over his head. The project that we were working on was way behind schedule and he had no idea about how to get a handle on it. Instead, he would focus on tangential issues of dubious value. When I asked another senior engineer why our manager was devoting so much time and energy to issues of such little importance, he replied that when you cannot put out a raging fire, you placate your anxiety by stepping on matches. Los Angeles mayor Bass and California governor Newsom are a perfect example of managers that exhibit this behavior. They have shown incompetence in their ability to provide for the basic needs (electricity, water, safety, etc.) of their citizens so they focus on things that they do better. In Newsom’s case, it is casting blame at Trump and in Bass’s case, going on a State Department sponsored junket to Ghana.

For those that embrace a passive, feminine attitude toward nature, having leaders in times of crisis that only evoke platitudes such as “Climate Change is real” is all that they really want. That is until their house burns down.

Image from X.