-- R.G. Menzies
LIBERTARIAN/CONSERVATIVE DIGEST AND COMMENTARY FROM AN ACADEMIC PSYCHOLOGIST in Brisbane, Australia. My academic publications are widely read
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Wind fantasies are not new
Wind power is a medieval technology that most people visualize coming from Dutch windmills in the 1600’s and 1700′s. The 1600’s were also known for the Tulip Bulb Mania, which the Dutch fittingly called “windhandel” (“wind trade”) because no tulip bulbs were actually trading hands. Tulips were traded on the decentralized stock exchanges in the taverns of Dutch towns, typically using a slate board to post bid prices.
The famous Dutch artist Hendrik Gerritsz Pot’s 1640 painting “Flora’s Wagon of Fools” depicted Flora, the goddess of flowers, riding in a “wind powered car” with attached tulip bulb flag, a drunk openly drinking an alcoholic beverage, a monk or priest with tulips in his hood and carrying a money bag, a two-faced Goddess of Fortune, and followed by a horde of true believing weavers who had abandoned their trade to chase a get rich quick scheme.
The painting is eerily contemporary to our times. Replace tulips with wind power, and slate boards with “cap and trade exchange,” “feed-in-tariffs" and “green power tax credits,” and you have the makings of a modern day Wind Power Mania.
Larger copy of the painting here
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