BPSDB
Parse that carefully because it can be too easy to become focused on the “Stupid” part. It’s S-t-u-p-i-d W-h-i-t-e M-e-n.
For completeness we should add “Old”, and “Rich” (and probably some other adjectives as well) because of course in addition to being a race and gender issue climate change is a class and generational one. Having said that, it is a very particular brand of ‘Stupid’ that we are dealing with and it deserves dissection.
Nowhere is this clearer than the recent U.S. Congressional House Energy and Commerce Committee vote that denied the existence of climate change. As has been noted elsewhere, they may as well have voted to deny the existence of gravity. While I have been known to compare climate change Denier‘s intelligence to that of lobotomized rodents it is still breathtaking to see them literally taking it to that level.
This is not garden variety stupidity such as found on thousands of Youtube videos (usually involving self-inflicted pain and injury, often labeled “funny”) or even the colossal idiocy honoured by the Darwin Awards. This descent to unprecedented levels of idiocy is politically motivated stupidity. It is intentional, albeit not necessarily consciously so, and it serves political ends far more important to the Republicans than merely pandering to their base.
That their stupidity is self-inflicted and deliberate is unquestionable. For example two years ago Christopher Monckton was chosen by the Republicans to testify before the Energy & Commerce hearing on climate change adaptation, and last year he was their sole witness giving “expert” testimony before the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.
Let’s be clear here, Monckton is unique in that he is almost certainly the one person in the world most documented for not merely being grossly ignorant about climate science, but for being dead wrong in virtually every respect. Examination of a single article of Monckton’s found 125 logical fallacies, irrelevant statements, and outright errors.
The Republicans could have randomly selected any 8 year old not legally brain dead and gotten more credible and reliable climate change science than they get from Monckton. This is not hyperbole, it is literally true.
Continued at News Junkie Post
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Thanks for the reminder agw is an obvious political issue and the fact that you have a problem with certain humans because of the color of their skin and level of affluence.
WordPress too for reminded me and making it simple to delete this subscription.
Cheers and goodby.
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Ray:
It used to be that you could not tell the difference between weather vs climate, and you are again not so subtly confused.
I don’t see that any assumption has been made about all rich white men.
However, rich white men are the main supporters of the most simple-minded libertarian and Republican lies, and that is the ‘stupid’ part. Add old, and also Protestant, and you’d be even more accurate about this demographic of climate change liars, deniers and delayers — sociologically speaking.
Of course there are a few women with them e.g. Judith Curry. But perhaps we can discuss that some other time.
The point is that it is impossible to investigate the social response to climate change without discussing why a relatively small group of stupid men want to make decisions for the rest of the world.
Don’t play the reverse racism card: there is a serious loss of reality in the fictitious appeal to such a card. The Republican/libertarian response is especially indifferent to women and children around the world who are not white (and not rich, and not Protestant).
There are people in the world who try and use stupidity like Luke Sykwalker uses the force. It allows them to reach whatever conclusions they want without all this evidence and logic getting in the way. Unfortunately, they very seldom suffer the consequences of their stupidity, those around them do.
Watching the House hearings recently I was struck by the affectations of some of the Republicans. Everything was an act, from the deliberately exaggerated folksy accents (which slipped occasionally) to the ridiculous statements.
My view – they are pretending to be stupid because they want to appeal to their voters, who they believe are stupid.
Sou – “… who they believe are stupid.”
And they decide, choose, opt (use your thesaurus) to pander to the worst in their constituents and not the best. And that is where they become cynical, evil, reprehensible (thesaurus again).
It doesn’t matter what you think of people. You can always *choose* to appeal to their better side, even if it’s small or barely discernible.
When you choose to emulate or enhance the worst there is, you and the people who support you can become worse for that reason alone – because you, and they, lose balance.
Climate change is a political issue because the right has made it so. It threatens their world view of unregulated capitalism, the so called “free market”, or it theatens their religous beliefs. The idea of the world pulling together to solve a global problem like climate change, is anathema to them.
Cooperation leads to communism in their minds.
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“The idea of the world pulling together to solve a global problem like climate change, is anathema to them.
Cooperation leads to communism in their minds.”
You have nailed it. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone put it so well.
One of these days, one of those good ol’ boys in a Committee is going to get his science denial mixed up and we will here…
“If Climate Change is real then how come there are still monkeys?”
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