So we’ve had a week to mull over the UN report that says the effects of global warming are no longer something that will impact the next century. We’ve got from twelve to twenty two years to pull it together, or my children and grandchildren will find the world uninhabitable around them.
This requires immediate action, and there’s one thing in which we can take complete confidence: Trump will do nothing. Even if he said he’d do something, he’d do nothing (right, Elizabeth Warren?)
But some individual states have proven they’re willing to step in where Trump ignores the needs of the world. Now we need to widen that.
There is no more respected scientist in this country than Neil deGrasse Tyson (okay, MAYBE Bill Nye.). Everyone knows and respects him. So Tyson needs to organize GUST.
What is GUST, you ask? Governors United to Save Terra.
Tyson needs to organize a national convention attending by governors from all fifty states. He needs to bring them together to one place, summon a coterie of scientists, and have them lecture at, and work together with, the governors to lay out a plan for them to undertake that will help to decrease the undeniable impact of global warming. Yes, even the governors of states with coal miners need to get on board with this.
Where would the money for this come from? From us. If Tyson began a Kickstarter or GoFundMe page dedicated to organizing the GUST meeting in order to save the planet, he’d easily get the money to do the job. Everyone, Republicans and Democrats alike, respect Tyson and, oh, by the way, want to do what they can to save the Earth.
This is the United States of America, but as states we really haven’t been united since…I dunno…World War II. Now we need to come together. The Feds aren’t going to do it: Trump rejects global warming and the EPA is slowly disintegrating. The states need to do it, and Tyson can get it done.
Organize GUST, Neil deGrasse Tyson. Let a new wind blow through the environment.
PAD
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Since learning that Tyson has been accused of rape, and no comment or investigation into that charge has occurred, I’m (sadly) deeply skeptical of him.
That said, a nationwide organization of the nation’s governors is a great idea in the face of no national leadership. I’m not sure how plausible it is with the majority of governorships held by Republicans, the party that has made climate change denial a party platform.
“Since learning that Tyson has been accused of rape, and no comment or investigation into that charge has occurred, I’m (sadly) deeply skeptical of him.”
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So your standard is all that has to happen is an accusation gets made? And it seems you find nothing happening afterwards, lack of any further evidence to be… support for the accusation.
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That doesn’t seem right.
So your standard is all that has to happen is an accusation gets made? And it seems you find nothing happening afterwards, lack of any further evidence to be… support for the accusation.
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That doesn’t seem right.
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No it doesn’t. But unsubstantiated accusations were just fine with PAD back on September 28.
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And I know, there are people shouting “Innocent until proven guilty.” Uhm…you know that’s not a real thing, right? It’s not in the constitution.
So your standard is all that has to happen is an accusation gets made? And it seems you find nothing happening afterwards, lack of any further evidence to be… support for the accusation.
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That doesn’t seem right.
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Were you actually asleep for the last month??? Sometimes the hypocrisy from the left is just amazing. Now I’m sure beat cop Jerry will follow with a 14 paragraph reply describing how this is different than the kavanaugh issue and how stupid and ignorant anybody who thinks different must be and right wing this, right wing that blah, blah, blah
Hold it right there, George and Pat.
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Don’t make the mistake of thinking every left-wing person out there is 100% on-board with the identity politics and radical feminism of the “New Left”.
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I, for one, remain very skeptical of their tactics and some of their theories and assumptions, while agreeing with the general gist that women and minorities have been treated very poorly in the past and are still a target for prejudice today.
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I never liked lynching mobs, boycotts, hypocritical self-righteousness, and threats to turn people into social pariahs. I didn’t like it when right-wingers made use of these things, I don’t like it when “my side” uses it now.
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Kavanaugh is still a partisan hack that seems in thrall to one of the most disastrous Presidencies in American history, though.
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It’s not really much of an excuse, but if left-wingers are becoming crazy fanatics, right-wingers have been crazy fanatics for many decades, IMO, and have really gone around the bend at warp speed in the last couple of years with their increasing Neo-Fascist outlook somehow making their unshakable Free Market fanaticism even more sinister.
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I don’t really have a lot of faith in mankind left. The world is doomed.
By the way, David Brooks of the New York Times has articulated very well all that is wrong with identity politics and why it’s self-defeating in the long term, even if movements like Me Too and Black Lives Matter do have plenty of valid points:
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“It turns out that if your basic logic is that distinct identity groups are under threat from an oppressive society, it’s very hard to then turn around and defend that society from authoritarian attack, or to articulate any notion of what even unites that society. You can appeal to women as women and to ethnic groups as ethnic groups, but it’s very hard to make a universal appeal to Americans as Americans, or defend the basic American norms that Trump calls into question. It’s a messaging vulnerability that Democrats have imposed upon themselves.”
Unfortunately, with the culture of willful ignorance in America, and the Trump supporter platform mirroring the Isaac Asimov quote about Anti-intellectualism, (“The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”), there is no sufficient proof for science deniers. No matter how much money is spent, no matter who delivers the message, no matter how persuasive the argument, nothing is more powerful than, “nuh-uh”.
Thoroughly agree. The spirit of anti-intellectualism is extremely strong in America today. Too many raised in the dumbed down science and math of today’s schools, trained to accept authoritarian pronouncements as dogma. Told over and over again in their classes that the problems are all THEIR fault, that they have value, that it isn’t your fault, it is alway THE OTHER’s fault.
And soon, they will accept it when political panels with scientific names tell them that their lifestyles, their very lives are the problems. No matter the problems with the data, the analysis or the results that don’t match reality. YOU MUST OBEY!!!!!
Sorry, it hits a nerve when my own analysis of the data and methodologies indicate such deficiencies that only in a pure political environment could this be called science, and not political fantasy…
Ok, qualifications time. Master of Science in Electronic and Computer Engineering. Ten years in a company that does computer modeling and analysis of electronic circuits that HAVE to match reality, and be TESTED to match reality.
Also, nephew with a BSc in Meteorology who shakes his head at the whole concept, as his entire department quietly, quietly disagrees with the entire mess…
Won’t happen. Of the 50 states, 33 of them have Republican governors. None if whom I can think of as not to in the party line any more than Congress. Tyson’s nowhere near that respected.
Yuck. Autocorrect. I meant no governors who don’t toe the Republican party line, any less than Republican Congressional types.
And of the 33, only 15 fall into Trumps camp of climate deniers. And that was before the UN report. Perhaps m8nds have changed. Perhaps some are prepared to put survival above politics.
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PAD
Alas, to them survival in politics is the only one that matters.
Sometimes I think the only thing that can save us is for someone to collect all seven Dragon Balls and wish for every sociopath and psychopath, particularly those in any position of political or economic power or influence, to be cured. And not just cured, but given a conscience at least twice as powerful as normal (prefereably an order of magnitude or two) that will not give them a moment’s peace until they publicly confess to all that they’ve done to harm society, and do their best to undo it and make things right.
“Primitive” societies may not have understood what sociopathy was, but they knew that something was seriously wrong with a minority of the population, and they kept such people from obtaining power. Various pre-Christian European cultures thought of these people as “changelings” (babies swapped with færie döpplegangers that have no human feelings or conscience), the Innuit (“Eskimos”) had the Wendigos (or Wetikos) which were considered to be basically demons in human form (Marvel Comics even used this legend in various issues of The Hulk and Alpha Flight, but unlike the Marvel version, the legendary Wendigos looked human but lacked a conscience), and so on.
We, on the other hand, have developed a civilization that puts sociopaths in positions of power and influence. Indeed, one almost cannot rise high in our culture without being a sociopath these days. It’s going to doom us all.
I have often thought of such things. But, ironically, the last four years or so that have seen the acceleration of ultra-right wing politics, the rise of neo-fascism, capitalism becoming ever more predatory and destructive, leftism becoming more divisive, etc. has made me realize that we don’t need a minority of undiagnosed sociopaths as an explanation for what is going on.
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Normal people with more or less normal emotions and normal affection for their family and friends are perfectly capable of being tempted into authoritarian mindsets, of coming to believe in “fair world” fallacies that serve to justify hyper-predatory capitalism, of falling prey to simplistic propaganda, etc.
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I am starting to believe in the very depressing notion that the bulk of people in all societies will always follow the herd, even if the course to be followed is so obviously disastrous. And the disastrous notions need not be the work of a cadre of committed sociopaths. A lot of times when real bad guys rise to political power, it’s because a number of good guys, neutral guys, or moderately bad guys have all undercut each other and accidentally cleared the path for the bad guy.
Robert J Sawywer’s delightful/scary QUANTUM NIGHT has a quantum physicist discover that people operate in one of three quantum mind-states. The first and, by far most common, is dubbed Q1 and you see them on the early morning bus to work. ‘the lights are on, but nobody home’. They operate using a few simple subroutines to get them through the day, but are barely self-aware, much less aware of those around them. Q3s are by far the least common. They are very much self aware but also aware of those around them (and those far away as well). An awareness which extends to the thoughts and feelings of those people, something to be taken into consideration in our day-to-day interactions. And then, there are the Q2s. Self aware, yes, but only aware of those around them in as far as those exist to serve the Q2s. Sociopaths, in other words. Only science fiction, yes, but it would explain a great many things.
Fascinating. I have read a half-dozen Robert J. Sawyer novels myself. I love it how he always finds new ways to tackle these very philosophical ideas about consciousness. I didn’t read this one yet, though, but I hope to read it in the future.
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But I have to admit that, as fascinating as the idea is for a science fiction novel and as allegory, I don’t think the real world works like that. The idea that there are Q1s around us (they sound a little bit like philosophical zombies) is itself a result of a lack of empathy and imagination, IMO.
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These simple people you meet in the bus actually only appear simple because you got only a little glimpse of them. They obviously have far richer inner lives than early morning inane chat indicates.
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I am also becoming convinced that real sociopaths are far rarer than advertised. Well, at least people who are at the deep end of the spectrum of sociopathy are rare.
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Most people who appear to have sociopathic traits (for instance, people who mock the homeless, or people who admire the strongman President for locking up immigrant children), a lot of times will do a very obviously altrustic and empathetic thing just a few hours later.
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The scariest thought of all is that the majority of people in Nazi Germany were probably as “human” as you and I. They loved their children, did nice things for their friends and co-workers, and felt deep emotions when hearing radio plays. They also, for reasons that sometimes appear unknowable, supported a genocidal fascist government.
Rene –
“they sound a little bit like philosophical zombie” Funny you put it this way as this is how they come to be referred to in the novel. Philosophical Zombies or, simply P-Zombies.
Peter, technically you’re correct about Dr. Tyson being the most respected scientist (by at least the general public, I don’t know about within his peer group), because Bill Nye isn’t a scientist, he’s a mechanical engineer according to what I’ve read. (Anybody here with better knowledge than I have?)
DK,
Engineers are still very much scientists. They just have a much more practical outlook in their science…
As an engineer and scientist, I know this well.