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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRepublicans, how can they deny global warming exists?
It's like not believing in books. It's ridiculous.
ELI BOY 1950
(173 posts)Champion Jack
(5,378 posts)d_r
(6,907 posts)They believe it is flat
immoderate
(20,885 posts)I have a friend who's a committed Libertarian, Objectivist, Ayn Rand worshiper. And that is what reality looks like to him. We all live in our own consciousness.
He has constructed rationalizations and rhetoric that cast doubt on the motives of anyone who disagrees with him. In his mind, global warming is a conspiracy, perpetrated by left wing scientists, to pad their research grants. Only the corporations are not driven by greed. (Forget that nobody goes into science to get rich.)
We have been debating for 3 years. Recently he acknowledged that temperatures are rising, but not from CO2, it's from "natural variation" so we don't have to mess with the "free market."
Anything that would contradict the notion that "the free market solves all problems" does not pass his internal censors.
--imm
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)He stopped talking to us when he started taking about getting a gun... We dared to throw the reality check that he'd have to realize he was willing to take a life well before he filled the NICS paperwork.
He looked at us like a hurt puppy... He said, what about a knee shot.
Me, the medic, told him quite flatly, center of mass, double tap, reassess.
But...
That's reality.
Funny, he has not talked to is in years. No loss there.
immoderate
(20,885 posts)It's mostly for plinking, and if anyone should ask, to qualify me for that "well-regulated militia."
My friend argues like a libertarian idiot, but except for arguing, AFAIK treats people well. Go figure.
--imm
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)And had this magical thought...process...it was unreal.
tabasco
(22,974 posts)or by being stupid, gullible imbeciles who believe propaganda.
randome
(34,845 posts)And they don't care about anyone else. Not even their own children.
Flashmann
(2,140 posts)They believe in books.......Books make hella nice bon fires!!......Bad books!!!......Bad!!
how can they deny global warming exists?
They're PAID to....Simple!!
Berserker
(3,419 posts)And to them he is next in line to that voice in the sky.
longship
(40,416 posts)librechik
(30,677 posts)happens, that the 2000 election was won by Gore, there are too many guns, the church can be wrong, war by invasion is wrong, that US healthcare system sucks, and 1000 other things they are happy to deny.
It suits them.
spanone
(135,891 posts)LeftInTX
(25,590 posts)It costs money to deal with it, so they just deny.
If they admit it exists, then they will need a plan.
raouldukelives
(5,178 posts)We supposedly have a few people who believe it is real representing us now. I still see acquiescence to Wall St, fossil fuels, the MIC and to the continued expansion of practices and industries that brought us here being the plan of attack.
Nevernose
(13,081 posts)Same as Obama will take their guns, destroy the health care system, and declare himself king. That's the problem: most liberals prefer to deal with real problems with real world options, and the Republican core currently lives in a fantasy world, totally devoid of facts or reality, in which black helicopters are coming for them, building a bunker to protect themselves from a "magnetic pole inversion," and in which truthiness replaces the truth.
It's one thing to deal with people who have different philosophical leanings. People with different viewpoints can get along, find a common ground. But dealing with an effectively amoral group (Republican politicians) who actively deny objective, provable, and demonstrable reality? Impossible.
Scientific inquiry, and the conservative approach to it, seems to be a microcosm of the fundamental political issues of our day. Scientists see an observable phenomenon and wonder what causes it, whereas the conservative already knows everything and looks for evidence to support their preconceived notion. Granted, confirmation bias affects everyone, but conservatives take it to an art form.