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The reason so many of you completely missed the point of this article was because your absolutist, laser-focused earnestness regarding the article's apparent topic caused you to overlook the actual topic, which was: my god life's a funny thing.
What Benjamin was expressing was his recognition about how ironic it was that he himself--of all people--now owns the single most despised representation of ecological irresponsibility imaginable. You can haggle over how large his ecological sin is. That not withstanding, he knows as well as anyone what this represents, and it's that representation that has him scratching his head.
The expression of irony is no different than that of a person waking up and finding him- or herself with a 60-mile daily commute, oppressive mortgage, hateful (but well-paid job), two children, and a resentful spouse, all centered around a 2,500 sq. ft. home in the middle of what was once some guy's pasture.
All of this occurred through a series of small choices, but none of it was planned, per se. We didn't mean to have this life, though this is certainly the life we choose.
How is this possible? That's the question this article examines. How is this possible?
As for the 200 letters of screed that proceeds this one, I too believe that the world would be a better place if you all lived like me all the time.... And you can certainly say that we can laugh ourselves to death with the irony of it all. Fair enough. But not the point of this article.
