Inanity Left and Right

Our local newspaper reported the other day that Sharon Stone, actress, had opined that the Sichuan earthquake was due to "bad karma," accumulated because of the Chinese government's oppression of Tibet. It's nice to see that stupidity isn't confined to one segment of the political spectrum. I'm sure you remember when some evangelical preachers attributed Hurricane Katrina to the sinful lives of the residents of New Orleans. Didn't the liberals just scream at that one? I'll bet that Ms. Stone found it just terrible that those fundamentalists were "blaming the victims."

I don't believe that natural disasters are retribution for human behavior, nor that they can be averted by prayer or sacrifice. In some cases, as when an earthquake causes a dam to break, human actions may serve to aggravate the effects of a natural disaster. And, where human actions produce physical effects, such as increased levels of carbon in the atmosphere, there may be physical consequences. But volcanoes erupt due to the build-up of magma pressure under vents, hurricanes are caused by a particular weather pattern over warm ocean waters, and earthquakes are caused by tectonic stress along fault lines. The Sichuan earthquake was due to India's inexorable northward movement (at the rate of about 5 cm per year) pressing against the rocks underlying western China.

There are two lines of reasoning here, one positive and one negative. In the first place, we have adequate explanations for natural disasters. The force of India's collision with the Asian landmass is well-known, and has been strong enough to produce the Himalaya Mountains and the Hindu Kush. The existence of faults in Sichuan is also well known. (I might note that the numerous landslides along stream beds, creating temporary dams, indicate that the earthquake struck along established fault lines. Streams tend to follow faults.) Since this earthquake, like Hurricane Katrina and the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, can be explained by well-established causes, there isn't any room for an explanation based upon the vices of the inhabitants or the excesses of the government.

On the other hand, even if we weren't entirely sure of the causes of such events, there is no mechanism by which vice, political oppression, or religious ceremonies could affect them. "Bad karma" is a nice way of saying that, if there were justice in the world, the Chinese government has earned a substantial amount of retribution. But the concept of "karma," like the afterlife, has been developed precisely because there is no justice in the world. There is plenty of empirical evidence that good and pious communities have suffered from natural disasters, while sinks of vice and debauchery have enjoyed immunity. The universe is morally neutral, and our petty moral considerations have no bearing on physical events.

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.