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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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It came up recently, but I think the only solution is Galt's Gulch.
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Bitcoin fixes a lot of the issues and making wealth more portable is a part of a Galt's Gulch.
Its wild how much the world looks like Atlas Shrugged. No wonder so many people hate it.