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Asking as an ill-informed European. Is this the Koch of the Koch Brothers that I only know as the financiers behind the GOP and climate denialism and bankrolli

by fefe23 7y ago

Asking as an ill-informed European. Is this the Koch of the Koch Brothers that I only know as the financiers behind the GOP and climate denialism and bankrolling efforts to gut environmental protection laws?

peterwoerner 7y ago
Yes.
rhexs 7y ago
The Koch brothers are the left wing version of the boogeyman. See George Soros for the other side of fearmongering.
- gameswithgo 7y ago
  One of the most fascinating incidents with the Koch brothers is when they funded Richard A. Muller, a prominent skeptic of global warming with actual scientific chops, to do his own temperature reconstruction via Berkeley Earth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Earth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Earth According to Richard, the Koch brothers were genuinely curious about climate change (an odd claim when they were aggressively funding propaganda casting doubt on it). In the end Richard's team got the exact same results in their temperature reconstruction as the other 5 or so efforts had (NASA Giss, NOAA, Japan, UK, etc). and Muller wrote this piece for the NYTtimes, detailing how he was no longer a skeptic https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/opinion/the-conversion-of-a-climate-change-skeptic.html https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/opinion/the-conversion-of... (it was a bit amusing to see how he characterizes the whole episode, "NOW we know this is real" because he had a hand in it, despite 5 other groups already getting the same result decades earlier!) Anyway, this event did not then cause the Koch brothers to apologize and stop funding climate science denialism, they still do it.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
burlesona 7y ago
The Koch brothers are complicated. I found the Freakonomics interview with them very interesting: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-hate-koch-brothers-part-1/ https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-hate-koch-brothers-part... The most interesting quote (from part 2 of the interview): > Charles Koch argues that the biggest threats to America these days are special interests, cronyism, and corporate welfare. Which may seem strange if you think of a corporate CEO, like Koch, as a beneficiary of those things. He also argues that our political system has turned into a dumpster fire, with both parties guilty of rent-seeking and putting their thumbs on whatever scales they can find. Which may also strike you as strange, if you consider that what a political network like the Koch Brothers’ network does is — well, puts its thumb on the scale. Because he primarily funds Republicans, and because so much of that funding is “dark,” anonymous money, he is seen by most Democrats as something close to the devil — even though some of his positions, as you’ll hear today, align quite snugly with traditional liberal positions. > My overall impression from speaking with him? Charles Koch believes he’s fighting the good fight based on proven principles — and that the rest of America has been going mad, bit by bit.

by fefe23 7y ago

peterwoerner 7y ago

Yes.

rhexs 7y ago

The Koch brothers are the left wing version of the boogeyman. See George Soros for the other side of fearmongering.

gameswithgo 7y ago
One of the most fascinating incidents with the Koch brothers is when they funded Richard A. Muller, a prominent skeptic of global warming with actual scientific chops, to do his own temperature reconstruction via Berkeley Earth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Earth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Earth According to Richard, the Koch brothers were genuinely curious about climate change (an odd claim when they were aggressively funding propaganda casting doubt on it). In the end Richard's team got the exact same results in their temperature reconstruction as the other 5 or so efforts had (NASA Giss, NOAA, Japan, UK, etc). and Muller wrote this piece for the NYTtimes, detailing how he was no longer a skeptic https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/opinion/the-conversion-of-a-climate-change-skeptic.html https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/opinion/the-conversion-of... (it was a bit amusing to see how he characterizes the whole episode, "NOW we know this is real" because he had a hand in it, despite 5 other groups already getting the same result decades earlier!) Anyway, this event did not then cause the Koch brothers to apologize and stop funding climate science denialism, they still do it.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

burlesona 7y ago

The Koch brothers are complicated. I found the Freakonomics interview with them very interesting: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-hate-koch-brothers-part-1/ https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-hate-koch-brothers-part... The most interesting quote (from part 2 of the interview): > Charles Koch argues that the biggest threats to America these days are special interests, cronyism, and corporate welfare. Which may seem strange if you think of a corporate CEO, like Koch, as a beneficiary of those things. He also argues that our political system has turned into a dumpster fire, with both parties guilty of rent-seeking and putting their thumbs on whatever scales they can find. Which may also strike you as strange, if you consider that what a political network like the Koch Brothers’ network does is — well, puts its thumb on the scale. Because he primarily funds Republicans, and because so much of that funding is “dark,” anonymous money, he is seen by most Democrats as something close to the devil — even though some of his positions, as you’ll hear today, align quite snugly with traditional liberal positions. > My overall impression from speaking with him? Charles Koch believes he’s fighting the good fight based on proven principles — and that the rest of America has been going mad, bit by bit.