Satiric Essay

The contradictive topic of environmentalism leads to unproductive discussions. Edward O. Wilson’s satire illustrates this concept through a unique structure, parallelism, and diction. The discussions of the topic, environmentalism, are unproductive and redundant in nature. The parallelism of the two passages show how contradictive both arguments are. In the beginning, the passages both share the commonality of name calling. The use of parallelism illustrates how a discussion of this topic is useless. If both sides of the argument are only coming up with statements to oppose each other, there can not be a clear victor. In this circumstance, parallelism serves to primarily illustrate the satirical lens of the argument. Both passages view the ultimate agenda of the environmentalist and the “brown- lasher;” both claiming that each other is after either capitalism, or governmental power. The obvious structure of the passages, also illustrate that there is an unsettling nature of environmentalist discussions. The divisions of the two topics into two separate passages show how people are contradictive. This also emphasizes on the parallelism of the two passages. Parallelism in the entirety of the passages exemplifies that the nature of such discussions are ridiculous and unproductive in nature. The satirical lens of the literary work cannot be over looked. The sarcastic and critical diction emphasizes on the opposing attitudes about environmentalism. Additionally, the ridiculing natures of these passages are illustrative of how the opposing sides will never agree. “We call them greens, enviros…or environmental wackos,” shows the critical perspective of the environmentalist critics. “But we know them more accurately as…brown lashers, wise users…,” makes the distinction that neither side of the argument will ever agree. The idea is stated that they will not agree, and a discussion of the matter is unnecessary and will not make any progress in the world.