5 ms·

Why Are Conservatives Happier Than Liberals? (2022)

jimswhims 3y ago
I'd be happier if I didn't believe in global warming too.
- mutant_glofish 3y ago
  Really? What's stopping you from doing that then?
  - jimswhims 3y ago
    It's no more possible for me to believe that than it would be to believe the earth is flat or that god exists.
    - mutant_glofish 3y ago
      If you really think that climate science is as robust as the knowledge of the fact that the earth is not flat, I suggest picking up a book and reading a little bit about it. And contrary to all the propaganda, by being skeptic of all the doomsday prophecies, you'd be in the same camp with a joyful bunch of smart fellas: Freeman Dyson [1] (of Dyson sphere fame), John Clauser (2022 Nobel laureate in Physics) [2], Ivar Giaever (1973 Nobel laureate in Physics) [3], William Happer (Physics professor at Princeton) [4], Steve McIntyre [5], Alex Epstein [6], Peter Thiel [7], Bjorn Lomborg [8], John Christy [9]… [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeman_Dyson#Climate_change https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeman_Dyson#Climate_change [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Clauser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Clauser [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivar_Giaever https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivar_Giaever [4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Happer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Happer [5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_McIntyre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_McIntyre [6]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Epstein_(American_writer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Epstein_(American_writer) [7]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel [8]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B8rn_Lomborg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B8rn_Lomborg [9]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Christy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Christy
      - jimswhims 3y ago
        What books have you read? Nine contrarians, some of whom are funded by oil industry sponsored think tanks, others who have zero scientific qualifications (Peter Thiel B.A, Alex Epstein B.A, I mean, come on), don't stack up against the thousands of qualified climate scientists of the IPCC. The science is pretty straightforward. CO2 absorbs infrared energy from the sun, raising its temperature (If you want to measure the amount of CO2 in an air sample, guess how we do that? Shine infrared light through it from one side and measure how much is missing on the other end). That heat is transmitted to the rest of the atmosphere through collisions with the other molecules, N2, O2 etc. We use 100 million barrels of oil a day, approximately 70% of which is burned. About 22 million tonnes of coal and 11 million cubic meters of natural gas are also burned per day. Add in methane and you're looking at almost 140 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent entering the atmosphere every day. We've been building up to this level gradually over the last century or more. That CO2 that we're burning every day sits in the atmosphere anywhere between 20 to 200 years, absorbing heat from the sun every minute of every day.
BillyTheMage 3y ago
2 things: 1. Ignorance is bliss 2. Liberals are conservative; the word you're looking for is progressive. This mixing of words is a propaganda tactic designed to make people unable to understand political discussion. You can't understand a sentence if you don't know what the words mean, and you can't understand what the words mean if you think they're all synonyms.
- mutant_glofish 3y ago
  > Ignorance is bliss I agree. Hobbits [1] generally care and know less about politics. Perhaps in an ideal world, like the Shire, that would be the way to live. > Liberals are conservative; I agree with you that the common usage of the word "liberal" is inappropriate, and would be more than happy to reclaim the word. I disagree with you about using the word "progressive" instead though, as its just a euphemism for "left-winger" (or "communist"). [2] [1]: https://americanmind.org/salvo/beyond-elves-and-hobbits/ https://americanmind.org/salvo/beyond-elves-and-hobbits/ [2]: https://www.city-journal.org/article/progressive-unh-unh https://www.city-journal.org/article/progressive-unh-unh
  - BillyTheMage 3y ago
    Progressives might reach into leftist territory, but certainly not communist. Progressives are the target of much ridicule by far-left-wingers. They tend to have absolutely no clue about the ideas underlying leftism, they just have a few specific policies they want enacted that happen to match some of the things leftists advocate, but usually for different reasons. Progressives still usually subscribe to the western ideals of Representative Democracy and Capitalism.

I'd be happier if I didn't believe in global warming too.

mutant_glofish 3y ago
Really? What's stopping you from doing that then?
- jimswhims 3y ago
  It's no more possible for me to believe that than it would be to believe the earth is flat or that god exists.
  - mutant_glofish 3y ago
    If you really think that climate science is as robust as the knowledge of the fact that the earth is not flat, I suggest picking up a book and reading a little bit about it. And contrary to all the propaganda, by being skeptic of all the doomsday prophecies, you'd be in the same camp with a joyful bunch of smart fellas: Freeman Dyson [1] (of Dyson sphere fame), John Clauser (2022 Nobel laureate in Physics) [2], Ivar Giaever (1973 Nobel laureate in Physics) [3], William Happer (Physics professor at Princeton) [4], Steve McIntyre [5], Alex Epstein [6], Peter Thiel [7], Bjorn Lomborg [8], John Christy [9]… [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeman_Dyson#Climate_change https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeman_Dyson#Climate_change [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Clauser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Clauser [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivar_Giaever https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivar_Giaever [4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Happer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Happer [5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_McIntyre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_McIntyre [6]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Epstein_(American_writer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Epstein_(American_writer) [7]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel [8]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B8rn_Lomborg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B8rn_Lomborg [9]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Christy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Christy
    - jimswhims 3y ago
      What books have you read? Nine contrarians, some of whom are funded by oil industry sponsored think tanks, others who have zero scientific qualifications (Peter Thiel B.A, Alex Epstein B.A, I mean, come on), don't stack up against the thousands of qualified climate scientists of the IPCC. The science is pretty straightforward. CO2 absorbs infrared energy from the sun, raising its temperature (If you want to measure the amount of CO2 in an air sample, guess how we do that? Shine infrared light through it from one side and measure how much is missing on the other end). That heat is transmitted to the rest of the atmosphere through collisions with the other molecules, N2, O2 etc. We use 100 million barrels of oil a day, approximately 70% of which is burned. About 22 million tonnes of coal and 11 million cubic meters of natural gas are also burned per day. Add in methane and you're looking at almost 140 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent entering the atmosphere every day. We've been building up to this level gradually over the last century or more. That CO2 that we're burning every day sits in the atmosphere anywhere between 20 to 200 years, absorbing heat from the sun every minute of every day.

2 things: 1. Ignorance is bliss 2. Liberals are conservative; the word you're looking for is progressive. This mixing of words is a propaganda tactic designed to make people unable to understand political discussion. You can't understand a sentence if you don't know what the words mean, and you can't understand what the words mean if you think they're all synonyms.

mutant_glofish 3y ago
> Ignorance is bliss I agree. Hobbits [1] generally care and know less about politics. Perhaps in an ideal world, like the Shire, that would be the way to live. > Liberals are conservative; I agree with you that the common usage of the word "liberal" is inappropriate, and would be more than happy to reclaim the word. I disagree with you about using the word "progressive" instead though, as its just a euphemism for "left-winger" (or "communist"). [2] [1]: https://americanmind.org/salvo/beyond-elves-and-hobbits/ https://americanmind.org/salvo/beyond-elves-and-hobbits/ [2]: https://www.city-journal.org/article/progressive-unh-unh https://www.city-journal.org/article/progressive-unh-unh
- BillyTheMage 3y ago
  Progressives might reach into leftist territory, but certainly not communist. Progressives are the target of much ridicule by far-left-wingers. They tend to have absolutely no clue about the ideas underlying leftism, they just have a few specific policies they want enacted that happen to match some of the things leftists advocate, but usually for different reasons. Progressives still usually subscribe to the western ideals of Representative Democracy and Capitalism.