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> men hate the film way more than women do The "climate change is bullshit" narrative is engineered to appeal (among many other things) to this whole mythology

> men hate the film way more than women do The "climate change is bullshit" narrative is engineered to appeal (among many other things) to this whole mythology of rugged individualism. If you "believe in that global warming stuff" it must be because you're a weakling - as opposed to the strong manly individuals who choose to reject it. It's gut instinct politics. I've a hunch (heh) that gut instinct politics correlates with falsehood (and perhaps specifically with engineered, purposeful falsehood) more strongly than intuition would guess. E.g. the whole rise of the National Socialist Party in Germany in the 1930s was entirely predicated on a backwards, anti-intellectual, think-with-your-guts ideology.

DougN7 9y ago
Great comment. Despite my fears/concerns about Trump and seeing the similarities to Hitler, your comment is the first one that hit me with a "crap! it _could_ happen here too!" realization.
- Florin_Andrei 9y ago
  Only after I posted that comment did I realize that I was pushing the discussion in this unfortunate direction. First off, this dead horse has been beaten until it's just a greasy smear on the asphalt. Secondly, there are similarities and there are differences. Could the same thing happen again the same way? Likely not. Could things go to hell in a handbasket in ways that are somewhat similar, and yet different enough to account for the passage of time, economic and geopolitical differences, etc? Maybe, but there are certain pre-requisites that need to be satisfied first, and it's not clear that that's the case yet, or ever. The use of demagoguery in politics has not started with Hitler and will not end with Trump. Ancient Greeks and Romans did it occasionally. McCarthy and Huey Long did it too. The examples go on and on, and every such figure has different skills and characters and attributes. One thing to keep in mind is that Hitler was really, really freaking good at it; he's set a very high bar, if that's the right word for it. He makes the others in this category look like amateurs in comparison. Also, the socio-economic conditions in Germany in early 20th century were pretty spectacularly bad. I'm not saying that everything is just sunshine-and-bunnies now in the world, but there's nothing going on like the triple whammy of global great depression, hyperinflation, and national humiliation after losing a great war, that helped the ascension of Nazism to political hegemony. Time will tell, as always. --- P.S.: For a history of the rise and fall of Nazism in Germany, along with plenty of details about social, political and economic conditions that accompanied those events, see the Third Reich trilogy by Richard Evans. Link to the first volume: https://www.amazon.com/Coming-Third-Reich-Richard-Evans/dp/0143034693/ https://www.amazon.com/Coming-Third-Reich-Richard-Evans/dp/0...
ankushnarula 9y ago
That's just one of the counter-narratives. Unlike the "97% narrative", the counter-narratives are not monolithic. Another counter-narrative says that climate change is happening but the models to date are inaccurate and overblown. Another counter-narrative says that man-made or not, it's hubris to assume that humans can do something about it. And yet another counter-narrative acknowledges climate-change but says that the prescriptions for fighting climate change aren't guaranteed to work and will hurt humanity - in that we should spur innovations that continuously adapt to climate change and boost economic prosperity for all mankind while avoiding worldwide austerity controlled by an earth-worshipping misanthropic orthodoxy. (or something like that ;) )
- Florin_Andrei 9y ago
  All that is technically true. What's missing is that Reality doesn't care about human narratives. It is what it is. Narratives align with it in varying degrees. Some align with it quite well, and we call them true. Others don't align with it at all, and we call those bullshit.

DougN7 9y ago

Great comment. Despite my fears/concerns about Trump and seeing the similarities to Hitler, your comment is the first one that hit me with a "crap! it _could_ happen here too!" realization.

Florin_Andrei 9y ago
Only after I posted that comment did I realize that I was pushing the discussion in this unfortunate direction. First off, this dead horse has been beaten until it's just a greasy smear on the asphalt. Secondly, there are similarities and there are differences. Could the same thing happen again the same way? Likely not. Could things go to hell in a handbasket in ways that are somewhat similar, and yet different enough to account for the passage of time, economic and geopolitical differences, etc? Maybe, but there are certain pre-requisites that need to be satisfied first, and it's not clear that that's the case yet, or ever. The use of demagoguery in politics has not started with Hitler and will not end with Trump. Ancient Greeks and Romans did it occasionally. McCarthy and Huey Long did it too. The examples go on and on, and every such figure has different skills and characters and attributes. One thing to keep in mind is that Hitler was really, really freaking good at it; he's set a very high bar, if that's the right word for it. He makes the others in this category look like amateurs in comparison. Also, the socio-economic conditions in Germany in early 20th century were pretty spectacularly bad. I'm not saying that everything is just sunshine-and-bunnies now in the world, but there's nothing going on like the triple whammy of global great depression, hyperinflation, and national humiliation after losing a great war, that helped the ascension of Nazism to political hegemony. Time will tell, as always. --- P.S.: For a history of the rise and fall of Nazism in Germany, along with plenty of details about social, political and economic conditions that accompanied those events, see the Third Reich trilogy by Richard Evans. Link to the first volume: https://www.amazon.com/Coming-Third-Reich-Richard-Evans/dp/0143034693/ https://www.amazon.com/Coming-Third-Reich-Richard-Evans/dp/0...

ankushnarula 9y ago

That's just one of the counter-narratives. Unlike the "97% narrative", the counter-narratives are not monolithic. Another counter-narrative says that climate change is happening but the models to date are inaccurate and overblown. Another counter-narrative says that man-made or not, it's hubris to assume that humans can do something about it. And yet another counter-narrative acknowledges climate-change but says that the prescriptions for fighting climate change aren't guaranteed to work and will hurt humanity - in that we should spur innovations that continuously adapt to climate change and boost economic prosperity for all mankind while avoiding worldwide austerity controlled by an earth-worshipping misanthropic orthodoxy. (or something like that ;) )

Florin_Andrei 9y ago
All that is technically true. What's missing is that Reality doesn't care about human narratives. It is what it is. Narratives align with it in varying degrees. Some align with it quite well, and we call them true. Others don't align with it at all, and we call those bullshit.