pull down to refresh
76 sats \ 15 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 26 Jun \ parent \ on: Banning Fossil Fuels Will Make Heat Waves More Dangerous, Not Less econ
Banning almost anything is evil. Are you thinking this is more so, because so much human wellbeing is only possible because of hydrocarbons?
Yes, banning anything is evil. But the opportunity costs lost by the poor that will not have the same access to better energy will have terrible impacts on their lives. Far greater from where I sit than the assumed impacts of climate change.
I'm not scientist but hearing Bob Murphy use the UN's own reports to show that their actions will make almost no impact on climate change but will impact global economic growth is really enough to pull the veil away. These people pushing for this are evil. Not the foolish but well meaning plebs. Talking about the elites. They don't care about humanity but veil their desire for control in moral terms that are false.
California has passed a ban on IC cars.... why? Posturing. Its absurd.
Its like the people that seem to be concerned about homelessness yet have policies that increase the cost of building housing and reduce the supply of housing. Their policies directly result in the opposite results they claim to care about.
reply
I used to believe that the people in power were just ignorant or wrong. Now I believe they just do not care. They are not interesting in logic, reason, and principles. The only care about gaining and keeping power. I witnessed this during Covid when the elites didn't even try to hide their hypocrisy. Its not that they are just wrong. Its that they don't even care.
This goes for both parties. Even those that have good ideas. If they do not see a path to power they will drop good ideas. I've heard this from former politicians and people that have worked with them. Why would a politician fight for something that will cost them an election. If the public is brainwashed what hope is there of getting your ideas across.
There are VERY few exceptions to this rule. Ron Paul being the main one. There are some current people but only time will tell with them. Massey seems pretty based but who knows.
reply
I agree on Massie. I think Amash was also on, but now he's gone, which speaks to your point.
reply
I while back I heard Bob Murphy tell a story about when decided to focus on education over policy. Apparently he wrote up an excellent plan for some politician to put into practice. The politician and his chief of staff were in favor of it but the political advisor explained it would the end of his political career. Bob decided to shift his focus to teaching vs. policy advising. That should tell you something.
reply
Amash did an interview with Michael Malice right around the time he left office. It was pretty instructive on the problems with public office.
And it aligns with what Massey and Paul say.
reply
I used to believe that the people in power were just ignorant or wrong. Now I believe they just do not care. They are not interesting in logic, reason, and principles. The only care about gaining and keeping power. I witnessed this during Covid when the elites didn't even try to hide their hypocrisy. Its not that they are just wrong. Its that they don't even care.
A entity with a monopoly on violence loses its intrinsic control mechanism, and any motivation to follow logic or morality.
reply
I know people who do research related to climate change. It's a weird brain slug type phenomenon where they don't even internalize the very information that they produce in their own work.
They know, for instance, that the climate in America is becoming more suitable for agriculture, but they still get angry when that's mentioned and proceed to blather on about climate disasters that don't exist and they can't name. They'll write about extreme drought in the abstract of a paper that actually shows lessening drought. They'll talk about adverse climate shocks when their results show benefits. It's very strange.
The point, though, is that they aren't being disingenuous. They're in a cult and can't think straight. They know what they're supposed to say and they say it, but they also know how to do empirical research and they do that, too. I guess it's just very compartmentalized.
If you go high enough up the ladder, are there people who know it's fake and peddle it anyway? I suspect there aren't many. I don't think those people care one way or another and if the scientists below them say it's true, they probably don't question it.
reply
That makes sense.
I've also seen the inverse. Conservatives will reject an idea that is just good for everyone if it is branded as "environmentalism". I've seen this with regenerative farming. Which is literally just lower time preference more natural and sustainable farming. I get opposing the state forcing things but I don't get opposing the ideas that seem to have great results where they are tried. Its a mental block. I have never met someone that wants dirty water, destroyed soil, and polluted air.
This is one of the tools the elites use to divide and conquer.
reply
You'll know this more intimately than I do, but the intersection of conservatives and agriculture is fascinating. No one champions the application of hyper-novel chemicals and genetic modifications, over traditional practices, like "conservative" farmers.
reply
100% and its easy to understand.
Results. Results beat philosophy all day every day for most people. Most people aren't guided by their principles or rather they do not connect the principles they have with their actions. Especially when it affects their bottom line.
The other side though is watching more farmers adopt these regenerative practices because of market demands. Most of the farmers I know think organic and these labels are nonsense. And to a certain extent they are right. The labels have all kinds of loop holes.
The other thing is conservatives are not really conservative. They are just less bought in to the state than progressives. But they are more than happy to adopt change if it makes money or they like it. They will be for welfare if it benefits them. They will support big government if they believe it is pushing their values. Honestly, its maddening to listen to the logical loops they get in.
reply
Absolutely, but the funny part is that they treat organic farming practices as though they're the newfangled intervention and we've been farming mutants with industrial chemicals forever.
I think it is psychologically important to many of them to believe that they are defending the traditional practices against artificial change.
reply
100%
Many conservatives falsely believe they are traditional when they are actually radical when you look at the longer tail of history. This applies to much more than farming. Christian evangelical protestants are another great example. Many hold beliefs that are very young and way out of the norm in the span of church history. But they will claim they are traditional. In many cases they are the opposite. Now so are many progressive mainline denominations but that's pretty obvious.
reply
I grew up on Rush Limbaugh and Buckley. I was all in on conservatism until I started reading Ron Paul for myself and that opened a door to the logical and moral problems in the movement. They lied about Paul. They didn't have answers to his arguments. They could do so much better than they do. Trump really is a old school democrat that doesn't care what people say. He's as dirty as the left and will fight dirty. That's why he wins and why they hate him.
In the end both dem and repub voters really only care about winning and getting their way. They are lacking principles and consistency. I hear no solutions. Only force and violence. Its really absurd.