Intro

It's time for a reality check ...

Maybe we’ve reached the point of diminishing astonishment.

But I suspect that much of what we’re hammered with every day really doesn’t make much of an impact on most of us anymore. We’ve heard the same stories too often. We’ve been exposed to the same issues for so long without any meaningful resolution. We recognize that reality is rapidly becoming malleable, primarily in the hands of whoever has the biggest microphone. How else can we explain a society where myth asserts itself as reality, based entirely how many hits it gets online?

We know that many of the “issues” as defined are pure crapola, hyped by politicians on both sides pandering to “the will of the people,” which is still more crapola. Inevitably, it’s not the will of all the people they reflect, but the will of relatively small groups of people with disproportionate political influence.

Nobody wants to face up to the realities of the issues. Nobody wants to say what’s right or wrong – even when it’s obvious and there are numbers to back it up. Most of us are afraid to bring up the realities for fear of being accused of being insensitive or downright mean.

So we say nothing. Until now.

It’s time for a reality check on the fundamentals – much of which is common knowledge to many of us, already. But it might be comforting to know you are not alone …

Sunday, September 29, 2019

The children's climate-change crusade ...

There’s a modern-day children’s crusade on display. They’re walking out of classrooms and protesting in the streets about climate change.  We’re supposed to take them seriously. 

I can’t.  Not because they’re still kids – well, to be honest that’s part of it; some of them are still in elementary school.  But the real reason is it’s clear they’re simply repeating nonsense they’ve been programmed to say by activists. Which is mostly bumper-sticker crap that’s laugh-out-loud stupid about saving polar bears and the like.   

Make no mistake: these kids are only at these rallies and walkouts because they’re children – they’re there purely for the optics.  The activists responsible for this should be ashamed.    

Most young people showing up in climate change protests or for the latest “Green New Deal” don’t have a clue about what they are rallying for or against.  They lack the basic facts to have an informed opinion, especially when it comes to science.  They have no conception of history, either. They know essentially nothing about socialism, fascism, communism, or capitalism.  Or that most of every Green New Deal is less about science than it is about enforced socialism. 

They’ve been told socialism is good because it helps everyone, and that capitalism is bad because it allows the rich and greedy to exploit the masses. In a truly Orwellian twist, they are promoting authoritarianism and ceding personal liberties to an all-powerful government because they claim to oppose fascists.  You can’t make this stuff up.   

They only believe what they’ve been taught by their progressive teachers and what they see on social media. Which isn’t all that reliable or factual; it’s largely unfounded propaganda.      

The ignorance of a lot of young people today is positively medieval. Especially those who have embraced political activism on issues they know next to nothing about.  Like climate change.    

Their fervor over what they believe borders on religious fanaticism.   An Inconvenient Truth is their scripture. The adult activists are their high priests. The media are their choir, singing the righteousness of their cause and their bravery to speak truth to power.   

They know everything.  Just ask them.

But don’t probe too deeply. That’s unfair.    

In a way they remind me of the Jesus Freaks in my generation.  You know, the ones that said everyone had to accept Jesus as their savior or they’d burn in Hell, no exceptions  But when you asked about all the people born and died before Jesus, like Abraham or Moses, or lived a good life but never heard of Jesus – would they all go to Hell? – they got pissed off.

Mainly because their dogma couldn’t answer that question. How dare you question the basis of their beliefs?  Remind anyone of Greta Thunberg? Anyone?    

Like the Jesus Freaks with their inflexible dogma, our new zealots have all the “facts” they need; there’s nothing more to consider. They have their “faith.” Merely asking a question is a sign of heresy – they know the truth.  Or all the truth they need to know. 

They really do prefer “truth over facts.” While many of us laughed out loud when Biden said that recently, I suspect his crowd nodded in agreement. Particularly the kids.   

The real problem is most of their “truth” is bullshit.  That’s what you call ideas that have no basis in facts.  Faith is one thing; bullshit is quite another. 

Is the world going to end from climate change in 10-12 years?  Can we immediately replace all our current energy needs with solar panels and other renewables? Can we stop using fossil fuels altogether in a few years? Can the U.S. alone cut carbon and CO2 emissions enough to offset emissions from all the other countries in the world? Will making everyone in America become vegetarians save the planet? 

Of course not. It’s all nonsense. 

Climate change is real.  The planet warms and cools periodically. Then it warms and cools again.  It repeats that pattern over and over.   

Nobody is really sure why it was cooling a few decades ago, and now seems to be in a warming cycle. Humans were around back then and are around now – so it’s not just because of humans. Or our cars. Or because of greenhouse gas. Or holes in the ozone layer. 

In fact, the planet’s been warming and cooling intermittently for millions of years.  It’s just what the planet does, all on its own.  Real scientists know this. There are fossil records to prove this.  Blaming humans and fossil fuels exclusively for recent climate change is ridiculous.

It's as ridiculous as claiming that if we as Americans get rid of cows, combustion engines, and planes, and become vegetarians, we alone will somehow dramatically affect the planet’s climate.  We won’t.  If all the European nations and Australia did the same as the U.S. it still wouldn’t make any significant difference. 

Thinking that it would is hopelessly naïve – something you’d expect a kid to say. 

Which is why we shouldn’t be surprised they are saying stuff like this.

It’s not entirely their fault. They honestly don’t know any better. 

But the people pushing them in front of the cameras certainly do.  

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