Friday, 29 May 2009
-
Where Global Warming Skepticism Comes From
edit: Added a video about current attitudes regarding Global Warming courtesy bryangoodrich
There have been a lot of people posting a lot of anti-global warming stuff online lately and there's so much there that is misleading, misconstrued, and just plain wrong that it would take days to weeks to refute it all and I admit that I'm not anywhere near enough an expert in the field to refute it all.
But it's more useful I think to understand why you should be skeptical of *any* Global Warming Skeptic's argument. It's not because we liberals smugly know that we're always right. Nor is it because somehow we think the fact that there is an overwhelming consensus *makes* something true. None of the Scientists who contributed to the Science that made it into the IPCC reports believes that. Rather they are expressing their best judgments based on all of the data available.
No, the reason why you should be far more skeptical about what Global Warming skeptics have to say than the other side is simple. The organizational structures that produce and promote Global Warming skepticism are inherently biased and extremely flawed. The people involved are ideologically bound and have been demonstrated to time and again have little interest in the truth and every interest in advancing a very specific political ideology.
That's why as some have noted there is a strong correlation between the people who disbelieve Global Warming and those who decry Evolution. Because it's the same types of arguments being used for both. In fact, very often it's the very same people who are most outspoken in their attempts to argue for both. And people working for the same institutions, very often funded by the same companies. And they use the same disinformation tactics each and every time all the while carefully avoiding any kind of forum where they'd be forced to prove their positions on fair grounds such as in the Scientific peer review process. You can just as easily substitute Creationism with any number of other issues. Like the health risks of smoking tobacco. Or the environmental impact of strip mining. Or even the current nomination of Judge Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.
It's not a fait accompli that these people are always wrong of course. Heck they could be right about Global Warming. But if Global Warming isn't really happening or isn't really anthropogenic there's every reason to trust the Scientific Community to find that out through its usual methods. And given the enormous record of success of Science in the modern era there's enormous good reason to trust them. In contrast the Skeptics, and remember these tend to be a very small group of closely related individuals with similar motives, have been shown to be wrong time and time again. And their tactics and strategies have been shown to be outrageously deceptive and overwhelmingly disingenuous.
My point is simply that they are untrustworthy. And the more you learn about them the more clear this becomes.
You have to understand the history of this kind of meddling in our political system in order to even have a hope of figuring out or understanding the truth about the world. It's not your fault if you've been deceived. We've all deceived about something at some point in our lives. But once you start to look at the history with an open mind any rational individual has to acknowledge that certain sources of information are biased and untrustworthy. And once you get there, you're welcome to still have your doubts about things like Global Warming and Evolution but don't you dare pretend that your doubts are supported by facts or sound Science lest you show yourself to be an ideologue completely disconnected from the world of facts and truth.
So for history, I give you this video by a Historian, namely Naomi Oreskes whose examination of the history of the evolution of the Global Warming is beyond par. So if you're still a skeptic, still think these skeptical works you've been watching sound oh so convincing, watch this video. And then watch it again. And again if need be. Until it is drilled into your brain that there is NO conspiracy to convince the world that Global Warming is real. It's what current Science tells us. Period.
This is another video that describes real data about the current attitudes about Global Warming with a little discussion about what is driving them. It is definitely also work thinking about especially if you are still skeptical. Many thanks to http://bryangoodrich.xanga.com/ for bringing it to my attention.
-
recommend
- recs 10
-
share
-
email
- sent 0
Post a Comment
- Back to nephyo's Xanga Site!
- Note: your comment will appear in nephyo's local time zone: GMT -05:00 (Eastern Standard - US, Canada)
Comments (87)
I liked the post, but I don't have time for the video at the moment. I'll check it out later. Being an hour long, it'd better be worth it!
Awesome post.
I hard about that a lot from my folks at home, work and close friends.
Hot stock tip for you. Paint stocks.
President Obama's energy adviser has suggested all the world's roofs should be painted white as part of efforts to slow global warming
Start painting!!!
Awsome clip.
Though, the speaker's voice is a bad bit annoying. -_-
you forget that the deniers are all rhetoricians, and will very swiftly decry this argument as an 'ad hominem', in spite of its evident validity. the american school system seems to train sophists - or at least, the schooling systems on which the majority of xangans seem to have been raised. they are great at formal debates: a talent that could hardly be more useless in the search for the truth. but truth isn't really what they are interested in. and neither is it what their audience wants to hear. global warming skepticism is almost impossible to defeat in these kinds of forums, because its advocates are so deeply invested into a belief that the goal of debate is to win by any means necessary. they are idiots.
I'm not sure where I stand on global warming TBH... I feel that yes, there is definitely global warming, but I don't think it's on the scale that the media is hyping it up to be.
I definitely don't think it's as bad as they say it is. I'm definitely not ignorant of it, the effects, or who/what is causing it, but I just think it's been way, way, way overblown, like the swine flu was.
And I definitely feel the effects of the polar shift that I've been made aware is happening, as well as some El Ninyo effect... *shrug* I don't honestly pay close enough attention to it, just have some slight opinion on it.
However, lol, living in Canada and getting shit snowed on me worse in the last few years ... I have a difficult time believing that the earth is warming up. It's freaking cold and snowy here and it's just been getting worse. If global warming has contributed to THAT, then I just don't know about it yet.
"The organizational structures that produce and promote Global Warming skepticism are inherently biased and extremely flawed."
Ah. But the people proselytizing their Global Warming doomsday scenarios aren't inherently biased or extremely flawed! Good to know.
Wow Poisoning the Well and a Faulty Comparison. That a good combination.
No point telling you anything else, only "those people" disagree with you. I love closed minds trying to call others close minded.
"No, the reason why you should be far more skeptical about what Global
Warming skeptics have to say than the other side is simple. The
organizational structures that produce and promote Global Warming
skepticism are inherently biased and extremely flawed. The people
involved are ideologically bound and have been demonstrated to time and
again have little interest in the truth and every interest in advancing
a very specific political ideology."
This is true for both sides. They all have agendas.
You're also making blanket statements of 'skeptics aren't trustworthy.' Are you saying ALL skeptics aren't trustworthy? Or just specific ones? Because I know some that are quite trustworthy. I haven't seen you name any names of exactly who is untrustworthy.
And Youtube videos aren't proof of anything.
Seriously, I love that you wrote this. I don't even bother with the people that denounce global warming anymore. It's like talking to a bigot brick wall.
<3
As @gabrielpeter - and @trunthepaige - have already pointed out, this is one long ad hominem (Paige uses the term "poisoning the well", which is a form of ad hominem). Now if you want to actually compare arguments and point out flaws in the arguments themselves, I'm all ears. I honestly don't know and don't pretend to know one way or another. But this post bears no resemblence to a logical argument.
@randomneuralfirings - Nephyo is as entitled to offer commentary on global warming-deniers as he is a grounds-up justification of global warming.
Funny, my Chemistry textbook mentioned some reasons that global warming may only be climate shift. I'm neutral on the subject, but I think your analysis is flawed because I know plenty of science-minded, pro-evolution people who don't believe in global warming.
You might also want to show some real research about people's perception of Global Warming. For that, see Krosnick's
The American Public's Views of Global Climate Change
Milankovitch cycles, cough, Milankovitch cycles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLAYRdSnRSI
"The organizational structures that produce and promote Global Warming skepticism are inherently biased and extremely flawed. The people involved are ideologically bound and have been demonstrated to time and again have little interest in the truth and every interest in advancing a very specific political ideology.}
A minor tweak and I have the following:
The organizational structures that produce and promote Global Warming are inherently biased and extremely flawed. The people involved are ideologically bound and have been demonstrated to time and again have little interest in the truth and every interest in advancing a very specific political ideology.
@soccerdadforlife - im happy that you know how to use the backspace button on your keyboard, but what political ideology would that be? saving polar bears?
This seems like a circumstantial ad hominem argument. Just because they have something to gain from it doesn't actually mean that they are wrong.
@Chinese_Sait0u - watermelonism--green on the outside and red on the inside. It's all about political power for socialists.
i think a lot of times when people are trying to say that global warming isn't happening, they're actually saying that the media is hyping it up beyond what we need to care about, or that it's a natural process, or that it is not anthropomorphic, etc etc ... the earth is obviously warming up, so in its most basic sense global warming is happening. it's undeniable.
Global temps have fluctuated for centuries and centuries.and more centuries. Way before there were mass population centers, way before automobiles, way before power plants. They will continue to fluctuate long after we are gone. Our ability to significantly impact these fluctuations is minimal.
Those that would have you believe otherwise are in it for the money. Politicians for tax revenue, or to pad their own pockets. Scientist for research grants (also controlled by said politicians looking to load their pockets/tax revenue.
My concern is how the public is willingly being taken for a ride, or, "There's a sucker born every minute."
@longtimelurker - Those that would have you believe otherwise are in it for the money. Politicians for tax revenue, or to pad their own pockets. Scientist for research grants (also controlled by said politicians looking to load their pockets/tax revenue.
That's right. We're all out to get you!
I wish people would pay more attention to some of the main points of the clip than the body of the entry. The right's propaganda campaign against global warming is pretty damn scary.
I accept that global temperatures could be on the rise. But accepting that global temperatures could be on the rise still leaves the question of cause and effect wide open. Blindly believing that a rise in global temperatures is caused by human activity or will result in famine, massive storms and doom is ignorant. Those who do so are really no different in sophistication from the members of a tribe that believes they must make sacrifices to appease the wrath of their island volcano god. If global temperatures are on the rise (they have actually dropped in the past ten years, look it up), it is pretty evident that they have been on the rise for some time and long before the internal combustion engine or industrial revolution. Think about it, what brought about the end of the ice age, SUV's and coal power plants? I think not. The reality is that there are much bigger players in our global climate, the most significant of those players being the sun. The slightest change in the sun's output could have huge implications for earth's climate and there is ample evidence that this could be a cause (if not thee cause) of global climate change. Even if carbon emissions were the real culprit, mankind is still not the biggest producer of carbon emissions. A single volcano could emit more "greenhouse" gasses than humanity has since the beginning of the industrial revolution. And really, how do we know that the current climate is "normal" or the best climate? Why should we assume it is? Did you know tropical plants have been found in the Alaskan tundra? How could that be if the earth's climate has remained constant throughout history? This whole notion that the global temperatures/climate must remain unchanged or assuming that changes in global temperatures/climate are caused by human activity is ill founded and a dangerous way to set national policy. In a couple hundred years, the whole "green revolution" supported by global warming pseudo-science will likely be viewed like the Salem Witch trials or Spanish Inquisition. And if you think modern/educated people are not susceptible to undo panic, remember Y2K? I recall many "experts" predicted gloom and doom then. Think about it, we can't even predict the weather accurately more than a few days in advance. Show me the smoking gun evidence and I may believe...but at this moment you can't count me among the faithful.