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This is what I really hate about the people who say "Well, we just didn't know back then" or "We didn't have the evidence we do now" or, the worst one of the lo

by bena 4y ago

This is what I really hate about the people who say "Well, we just didn't know back then" or "We didn't have the evidence we do now" or, the worst one of the lot "They didn't do enough to convince me". We knew. The evidence was there. And excuse me princess, if you think it's our job to personally persuade you to the correct position, how about you save all of us some time and just don't opine on a goddamn thing. Because if you're not willing to put in the relatively easy work of looking at the available data, you clearly aren't ready for the much harder work of correcting the issue. I'd even accept, "Well, I was lied to and I fell for those lies." But I've not seen one person go that route. Probably because the entities that lied to them then are still around them today. If you were also a member of certain think tanks, finding out that they were perpetuating lies, kind of calls into question everything about them. Including your perceived status as a thought leader. So the institute can be wrong, but it can't be deceptive. And if the institute is wrong, it's really the fault of everyone else for not doing a good enough job of being logical and rational.

DiggyJohnson 4y ago
Who are you talking to? It sounds like your raving against a perceived "thought leader" that does not exist in this comment thread.
- bena 4y ago
  I was agreeing with the person I was responding to and also commenting on a trend I see in certain individuals at large. Not specific to anyone here in this thread. Take for example Penn Jillette. He was a fellow at the Cato Institute. One of their big positions is that climate change is not a thing. As of 2008, he was espousing the position of the institute, that there was not enough information on it. Today, he says that it's pretty clear that it is now happening, but back then, they didn't have enough evidence and didn't do a good enough job of convincing people like him. But he has to convince himself of that because otherwise, the Cato Institute used him, not for his ideas, but simply because he has influence.
  - nerdponx 4y ago
    Nobody wants to admit to being essentially a real-life Captain Planet villain, robbing future generations in service of individual greed.
- m_0x 4y ago
  It's just a general rant towards climate-change-apathetic people
carapace 4y ago
As a kid in the 80's I could clearly see the handwriting on the wall, and it was pretty disheartening to see nearly all the grownups put their heads in the sand. Environmentalists have been derided as silly hippies for decades. So yeah, it can be a little galling when the same people who wouldn't listen back then suddenly switch to "getting it" w/o going through some sort of i don't know? Contrition? Apology? But then, who cares? It's not like their personal growth is intrinsic to saving the Earth? Anyway, I try to look on the bright side: at least they're getting it now, eh? The important thing is to stop destroying the environment.
- nerdponx 4y ago
  The problem is that "now" is something like 10 or 20 years too late. It's times like these that I come to understand the revenge violence against the previous establishment that tends to occurs during popular revolutions.

by bena 4y ago

DiggyJohnson 4y ago

Who are you talking to? It sounds like your raving against a perceived "thought leader" that does not exist in this comment thread.

bena 4y ago
I was agreeing with the person I was responding to and also commenting on a trend I see in certain individuals at large. Not specific to anyone here in this thread. Take for example Penn Jillette. He was a fellow at the Cato Institute. One of their big positions is that climate change is not a thing. As of 2008, he was espousing the position of the institute, that there was not enough information on it. Today, he says that it's pretty clear that it is now happening, but back then, they didn't have enough evidence and didn't do a good enough job of convincing people like him. But he has to convince himself of that because otherwise, the Cato Institute used him, not for his ideas, but simply because he has influence.
- nerdponx 4y ago
  Nobody wants to admit to being essentially a real-life Captain Planet villain, robbing future generations in service of individual greed.
m_0x 4y ago
It's just a general rant towards climate-change-apathetic people

carapace 4y ago

As a kid in the 80's I could clearly see the handwriting on the wall, and it was pretty disheartening to see nearly all the grownups put their heads in the sand. Environmentalists have been derided as silly hippies for decades. So yeah, it can be a little galling when the same people who wouldn't listen back then suddenly switch to "getting it" w/o going through some sort of i don't know? Contrition? Apology? But then, who cares? It's not like their personal growth is intrinsic to saving the Earth? Anyway, I try to look on the bright side: at least they're getting it now, eh? The important thing is to stop destroying the environment.

nerdponx 4y ago
The problem is that "now" is something like 10 or 20 years too late. It's times like these that I come to understand the revenge violence against the previous establishment that tends to occurs during popular revolutions.