I dont think I ever called anyone an idiot directly. I may have implied it however. If youre not an idiot though, then you have nothing to worry about.
On the subject of purists, what would your personal definition say about selectively breeding for stripes, etc, as Champagne suggested. Is that still purism (sound like a legitimate term)?
In terms of what we should be doing....... like I said, I dont have all the answers. However I truly believe that hammering it into people that there will be a catostrophic problem in the future will surely do more good than bad.
With the %75 of Tasmanian Old growth set for paper chipping and the Great barrier reef being dredged (just as 2 examples) something is going to reach breaking point. Each action chain reacts with the next and when you put all the extinctions, feral species, land clearing, climate change and ignorance over environmental issues together, what you get isnt pretty.
The way I see it, if more people accepted that a 'doomsday' scenario is actually possible then perhaps theyd do something more to help protect our environment. You say that people are taking action, like yourself, but destructive behaviour is still rampant. Whats being done isnt enough, but that wont change unless more peolpe accept a 'bleak' future is on the cards. Telling them that its unlikely to be as bad as I think, does nothing but set the general public at ease, as though nothing really needs to be changed.
As many here have hinted, the continued expansion of humans is inevitable. To me, based on the past and present species extinctions, this means that more extinctions are inevitable. And not just the one or two a year thats apparently normal. If we cant stop it, at least we can maintain these species, in a pure form, in captive collections. It doesnt help the evironment, but by that time, I dont think there will be much environment left.
What can we do right now? Protect as many remant habitats as we can so that at the very least, these species can cling to survival for as long as possible. I know that isnt anything new or revolutionary, but getting people to believe that it could all be gone one day, must surely help this process along.
Ask anyone on the street if there are endagered animals and theyll agree. They might even name one or two. Ask them if they think they will all be extinct in the wild one day and Im not sure whether or not theyll agree. You cetainly wouldnt, it seems. They should though. Because even if it doesnt turn out to be true....... even if it doesnt turn out to be quite so bad at all (which in my opinion it will) at least it might put a bit of pressure on the world to start looking at things a little more intensively instead of waiting until its too late to do anything.
I just cant see how its a bad thing to give species protection a bigger profile. Which is why I cant see why you attempt to shut down the idea of mass extinction. It cant possibly hurt to be more concerned can it?. It honestly just seems like you want to argue.
Rather than claim in as many ways as you possibly can that my theory has no validity, why not just disagree quietly and say, either way, some more support for the environment wouldnt be a bad thing?