Scientific Consensus on Climate Change

[The Vegan Marxist]

Anyone watch the latest Real Time with Bill Maher show? If so, did you also give non-stopping facepalms when climate change came up as the topic? Bill Maher and the Canadian Prime Minister were the only ones who knew and argued strongly on the reality of climate change. The two americans, on the other hand, thought it was bullshit and that there's no scientific consensus on climate change. Can I get a "WTF"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_opinion_on_climate_change#Scientific_co nsensus

[Technocrat]

Anyone watch the latest Real Time with Bill Maher show? If so, did you also give non-stopping facepalms when climate change came up as the topic? Bill Maher and the Canadian Prime Minister were the only ones who knew and argued strongly on the reality of climate change. The two americans, on the other hand, thought it was bullshit and that there's no scientific consensus on climate change. Can I get a "WTF"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_opinion_on_climate_change#Scientific_co nsensus

And evolution is "just a theory." ;)

[The Vegan Marxist]

And evolution is "just a theory." ;)

I was actually told that "Evolution is a theory" today. :laugh:

http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=167652263281741&id=100001041497308

[L.A.P.]

If they deny global warming then the private companies can go ahead with their rapid consuming of resources.

[Technocrat]

If they deny global warming then the private companies can go ahead with their rapid consuming of resources.

The United States leads the world in both oil consumption and denial of global warming.

[smk]

Evolution still isn't taught in parts of the United States. I know of someone who graduated from a very religious UNIVERSITY and they were taught creationism in BIOLOGY class.

lolwut

But I agree with your FB post. There are many theories OF evolution. Punctuated equilibrium is not what most people think of when they think of evolution, but IMO it makes a lot more sense.

[southernmissfan]

Unfortunately it is characteristic of the intense anti-science and anti-intellectualism that exists in the United States. Religion and reactionary ideas in general are more prevalent here than probably any other "first world" country (and probably even some less developed countries!). It is part of an overall uniqueness of American society in comparison to the rest of the "first world". The comparatively extreme wealth disparity, weakness of organized labor and lack of as much of a "safety net"/welfare state are other characteristics of this.

American culture and in many ways education is pretty backward. I have actually seen some argue that the "real" literacy rate of Americans is probably much, much lower than the "official" rate. I imagine that would be difficult to measure but they are probably on to something.

Keep in mind this is my opinion but here it is. In America, "intellectual" is a curse word. Culturally, it seems the pursuit of knowledge is ostracized or ridiculed more than it is glorified. There is definitely a promotion of macho bravado for males and weak, simple-mindedness for females--instead of promoting a culture of learning. There is a certain glorification of "folk wisdom". But this folk wisdom isn't really an example of working class, "real world" knowledge as it is simplicity and irrationality, a worldview of bumper sticker slogans.

The particularly awful nature of our media certainly makes things worse. Rational and intelligent discourse does not exist in popular media, only sensationalism and often flat out lies. And I don't mean lies just about politics, I mean about history, science, virtually any topic. So much of the information we are bombarded with by the media is sensational and simply false. It's ridiculous. Not to mention the routine of pretending to have "fair and balanced" coverage by presenting "both" sides of nearly every story. It's a disgraceful technique that shifts frame of debate. So we end up with the illusion that there are these two equally split, equally credible sides to all of these different issues (including evolution, climate change and a host of other things) regardless of actual merit or popularity. A story on climate change will be presented as a debate between scientists who believe in it and those who don't, regardless of the fact that there is a clear consensus and the existence of a handful of (usually dubious) dissenters in the scientific community does not change that. Assuming the dissenters they give a platform to are even remotely related to the scientific community. After all, this is America. Preachers, astrologists, psychics, entertainers, etc., are all considered to be just as qualified as scientists to discuss state of the world.

The cultural/political environment here is not conducive to things such as facts, science, reason or learning. And sorry if my rambling doesn't make sense. I haven't had any sleep.

[Technocrat]

Unfortunately it is characteristic of the intense anti-science and anti-intellectualism that exists in the United States. Religion and reactionary ideas in general are more prevalent here than probably any other "first world" country (and probably even some less developed countries!). It is part of an overall uniqueness of American society in comparison to the rest of the "first world". The comparatively extreme wealth disparity, weakness of organized labor and lack of as much of a "safety net"/welfare state are other characteristics of this.

American culture and in many ways education is pretty backward. I have actually seen some argue that the "real" literacy rate of Americans is probably much, much lower than the "official" rate. I imagine that would be difficult to measure but they are probably on to something.

Keep in mind this is my opinion but here it is. In America, "intellectual" is a curse word. Culturally, it seems the pursuit of knowledge is ostracized or ridiculed more than it is glorified. There is definitely a promotion of macho bravado for males and weak, simple-mindedness for females--instead of promoting a culture of learning. There is a certain glorification of "folk wisdom". But this folk wisdom isn't really an example of working class, "real world" knowledge as it is simplicity and irrationality, a worldview of bumper sticker slogans.

The particularly awful nature of our media certainly makes things worse. Rational and intelligent discourse does not exist in popular media, only sensationalism and often flat out lies. And I don't mean lies just about politics, I mean about history, science, virtually any topic. So much of the information we are bombarded with by the media is sensational and simply false. It's ridiculous. Not to mention the routine of pretending to have "fair and balanced" coverage by presenting "both" sides of nearly every story. It's a disgraceful technique that shifts frame of debate. So we end up with the illusion that there are these two equally split, equally credible sides to all of these different issues (including evolution, climate change and a host of other things) regardless of actual merit or popularity. A story on climate change will be presented as a debate between scientists who believe in it and those who don't, regardless of the fact that there is a clear consensus and the existence of a handful of (usually dubious) dissenters in the scientific community does not change that. Assuming the dissenters they give a platform to are even remotely related to the scientific community. After all, this is America. Preachers, astrologists, psychics, entertainers, etc., are all considered to be just as qualified as scientists to discuss state of the world.

The cultural/political environment here is not conducive to things such as facts, science, reason or learning. And sorry if my rambling doesn't make sense. I haven't had any sleep.

I've come to the conclusion that America is pretty much fucked. I think I'm going to move to France.

[L.A.P.]

The United States leads the world in both oil consumption and denial of global warming.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__jlTYXdkErU/SMmMpPzZWQI/AAAAAAAAAM4/giVv_1ex2C8/s400/Proud_to_be_an_American.jpg

[Technocrat]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__jlTYXdkErU/SMmMpPzZWQI/AAAAAAAAAM4/giVv_1ex2C8/s400/Proud_to_be_an_American.jpg

lol. :lol: