04-12-2022, 10:20 AM
(04-11-2022, 03:53 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: I have debated climate change on a number of forums for a couple of decades, and the most consistent pattern among climate science deniers I have found, by far, is neoliberalism. As George Monbiot phrases it, anyone who says climate change is real, say the deniers, is "a communist trying to take your money away". Neoliberal free-market, Reaganomics ideology believers, mostly-Republicans, are against taxes and regulations, and removing regulations (again referring to Monbiot) is a big part of this, so that companies are "free" to extract fossil fuels without having to pay for the damage they cause, because then their profits will disappear. Neoliberalism is the biggest threat to our climate and to the living world.
It's been my experience that the people most adamant about freedom are the first to complain about its results. You can't empower people to do whatever they want and gripe when they do exactly that, but I've found that to be the case all too often. Take guns. If you want to immerse the culture in firearms, don't be amazed when murder and mayhem ensue. And let's not forget that freedom to do what you want implies the freedom to do what I and others wish as well. The most obvious contraction is abortion, but drugs, gender fluidity and "bad behavior" are on the list too.
Intelligence is not knowledge and knowledge is not wisdom, but they all play well together.