The Wow I Can't Believe That News Story Thread

[OccultHawk]

The Dark Mountain Project | The Dark Mountain Project

https://www.seti.org/seti-institute/.../fermi-paradox

[Lisnaholic]

Originally Posted by The Batlord

And yet the conversation has been so degraded in this country (and presumably China too I guess), the biggest (or second biggest) contributor to global warming, that we can't even agree that it's man made and the side who actually might do something about it doesn't have the balls to stand up to the republicans, and I imagine the democrats are too beholden to their corporate backers to do anything but half-measures that don't threaten all those greased wheels.

^ Isn't it more acurate to say that the side who might actually do something about it were voted out of office ?

The issue isn't so much, "Is global warming man made?" The urgent question is, "Can human endevour reduce or stop a worrying escalation of global warming?" Most of the scientific community, the Paris Agreement signatories, the Dems and Al Gore seem to think it's worth trying. Even plenty of US industries have declared that they will continue to follow the parametres of the Paris Agreement for fear that their products will be boycotted if they don't.

Not wishing to revisit the arguements of the last zillion posts, but it's undeniable that voters do have a voice, consumers do have a voice. Maybe it's not always heard, but that's no reason to stop using it imo.

[The Batlord]

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic

^ Isn't it more acurate to say that the side who might actually do something about it were voted out of office ?

No. Politicians literally do not publicly talk about global warming because they know it's a non-starter, or at least they don't make a big fuss about it. Unless I'm just that out of touch.

The issue isn't so much, "Is global warming man made?" The urgent question is, "Can human endevour reduce or stop a worrying escalation of global warming?" Most of the scientific community, the Paris Agreement signatories, the Dems and Al Gore seem to think it's worth trying. Even plenty of US industries have declared that they will continue to follow the parametres of the Paris Agreement for fear that their products will be boycotted if they don't.

I mean yeah it's worth trying, and so all you people who are foolish enough to think that you can reason with idiots should do so. You're going to do it anyway so I'm not going to try convincing you otherwise except for the sake of a fun argument. Blind squirrels do occasionally find a nut after all.

Not wishing to revisit the arguements of the last zillion posts, but it's undeniable that voters do have a voice, consumers do have a voice. Maybe it's not always heard, but that's no reason to stop using it imo.

Choice is at least partially an illusion when the cultural narrative keeps the train on one single track.

[Chula Vista]

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Choice is at least partially an illusion when the cultural narrative keeps the train on one single track.

Bull****. Now you're just sprewing crap. You were just talking about climate change and I showed that one side is willing to try to fix it while the other side is in denial because there's $$$ to be made off of polution.

So choosing to vote for the former is an illusion over voting for the latter?

Bull****.

[Lisnaholic]

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Honestly that attitude sounds like optimism for optimism's sake, and I am simply not that guy and never will be.

Well, I can't argue with that, Batlord. lt's a matter of personal belief I guess.

The narrative at least in this country really hasn't changed any, and anything Obama did was pretty much under the radar cause nobody cared. Global warming discussion has virtually zero presence in American election cycles.

Perhaps they cared but you didn't notice.

That wasn't any kind of prediction. Just an arbitrary maybe. Maybe our economy tanks to such an extent that the populace actually can't afford big screen TVs and big houses they already couldn't afford, and maybe also food. And then **** gets real or whatever.
Well I know Chula lives in Cali so I was guessing that he might end up underwater. But yeah I was thinking about the whole refugee crisis that would result as well and how Chula would probably be living in a disaster zone camp.

^ I think Chula is a Prepper isn't he? He's filled his swimming pool with cans of beans and his basement with guns. In fact I'm going to PM him later; perhaps he'll let me stay with him when the **** gets real. (Frownland, of course, may find himself turned away at the gate. )

[[MERIT]]

Originally Posted by Chula Vista

No. In the beginning the church was the main motivator.

Also:

Blowing up (figuratively) the current US govermental institution >>>>>>> Civil rights

The black [and other minority] churches were working on behalf of the disenfranchised communities and their citizens.

Originally Posted by Frownland

We need more efficient means of international shipping. That would monumentally decrease our footprint.

Also, more self-sufficiency.

[The Batlord]

Originally Posted by Chula Vista

Bull****. Now you're just sprewing crap. You were just talking about climate change and I showed that one side is willing to try to fix it while the other side is in denial because there's $$$ to be made off of polution.

So choosing to vote for the former is an illusion over voting for the latter?

Bull****.

A side too cowardly to truly stand by their convictions because they know it is not politically tenable to make it the overriding, #1 issue that it should be. And if people who legitimately believe in man made global warming are not willing to throw expediency to the wind in order to beat it into the heads of the populace that, yes, this is the thing we should all care about the most and everything else is background noise in comparison, then how ****ing stupid are they?

[Lisnaholic]

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic

^ Isn't it more acurate to say that the side who might actually do something about it were voted out of office ?

Originally Posted by The Batlord

No. Politicians literally do not publicly talk about global warming because they know it's a non-starter, or at least they don't make a big fuss about it. Unless I'm just that out of touch.

We're talking about the Democrats aren't we? They lost the election didn't they? That was my point.

Perhaps the Dems didn't talk much about global warming, but I think they acknowledged its existence, which is step one. They also have a better track record on environmental issues (See Chula's long post about the Dems' environmental stuff that Trump is rolling back.) Green champion Al Gore is ex-Dem himself, and as the sea and the hurricanes come rolling in, and the wildfires too, you may find more politicians mentioning global warming in the future.

[The Batlord]

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic

We're talking about the Democrats aren't we? They lost the election didn't they? That was my point.

Perhaps the Dems didn't talk much about global warming, but I think they acknowledged its existence, which is step one. They also have a better track record on environmental issues (See Chula's long post about the Dems' environmental stuff that Trump is rolling back.) Green champion Al Gore is ex-Dem himself, and as the sea and the hurricanes come rolling in, and the wildfires too, you may find more politicians mentioning global warming in the future.

Al Gore's political stance on global warming has been turned into almost a national joke because he's been portrayed as a crank to the extent that the populace as a whole has bought into the idea to an extent. The American political narrative is almost completely indifferent to global warming due to the republicans' success at molding the narrative on any range of issues. Liberalism in general is kind of a dirty word in American politics, even if half the population is actually liberal.

For the Nth time, people are ****ing stupid. They simply are not capable of understanding events on a scale beyond the few square miles they will likely be born, live, and die in. We are poo-flinging apes who were never designed by evolution to deal with any of this **** and yet we are recklessly trying to do so with no sense of self-awareness. Human+ is the only reasonable solution to any of this as far as I can tell. We just simply need to be made more intelligent.

[OccultHawk]

There's three camps:

People who pretend not to believe in it
People who pretend they're doing something about it
People who figure they might as well ignore it

(And a few outliers)