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Posted by The Dake Page at 8:59 AM Mr. Richard said...

Although few can be expected to act against their short-term interests, one of the major weaknesses of our society is that structurally it permits people to knowingly lie for money and profit. Given that deception is a fundamental primate behavior with survival benefit, I don't know how this very harmful condition can be prevented from continuing to disastrously affect public understanding and policy.

August 27, 2015 at 1:12 PM The Dake Page said...

It's not just lobbyists that lie, it's the lying to ourselves. When you can deny man-made climate change because "it's just a hoax by liberals to tax us to death," you are actively deceiving yourself. You have to actively ignore clear facts, actively seek out any source that will confirm your false conclusion (even if it means your source is a paid lobbyist or a conspiracy blogger), and you have to hold onto those false beliefs despite unequivocal and overwhelming evidence that they are false.

It's a sign of fear, of insecurity, and dishonesty to oneself. The denier lobbyists count on the irrational fears of the populace, where admitting basic science is somehow seen as an affront to your "personal liberties" and other nonsensical thought processes. Lobbyists act like marketing and advertising companies, selling you on the idea that basic fact can be denied if it makes you feel better.

August 29, 2015 at 9:36 AM 
Your diagnosis of a major social problem is on-target. Can you suggest any achievable (not 'these people should') behavioral or life-style changes that will result in people being less controlled by and responsive to "irrational fears"?

August 29, 2015 at 12:35 PM 
If it were that easy to do it would have happened long ago. It's part of the state of being human; many of us live in fear of reality.

That said, another trait of us humans is the need to feel like we "belong" among our peers, defined as friends, family, or however we self-segregate. When "public opinion" within our self-designated realms change, we change. Often, quickly.

Case in point is the recent gay marriage issue. As recent as when Obama was first elected states were rushing to put on the ballot bans on gay marriage. Not just non-acceptance, but amendments to their state constitutions banning the rights of one group of Americans. Just six or seven years later - a blink of an eye - those amendments have been deemed unconstitutional by state Supreme Courts and now the U.S. Supreme Court has said they are unconstitutional. The rights for gay couples to get married is now accepted by a majority of Americans and states are rushing to codify it in their state laws.

This isn't an outlier. Historically, we hate to change and some folks fight tooth-and-nail to keep from changing, but then we reach some threshold level and everyone rushes to the new view as if they didn't want to be the last outdated view standing. Change tends to be hard to get moving, then happens suddenly. Call it inertia.

So too with public attitudes with climate science. Most people agree we need to start acting on the unequivocal science. The only ones who don't are fossil fuel lobbyists and the fossil fuel campaign contribution legislatures they influence, as well as the extremely insecure and conspiracy oriented among the public. These folks tend to have loud voices, but they disappear as the rest of society sees them as ignorant, buffoonish, and/or dishonest.

So we'll act. The question is how bad it will have gotten during our period of inaction.

August 29, 2015 at 1:28 PM