I realize we are but minutes away from Superbowl kickoff (and a little carbon footprinting is okay by me once a year), but it just occurred to me: there seems to be quite a supply of climate change deniers; Shouldn't we be hearing more from FORMER deniers who have come to their senses, or discovered their consciences, or just gotten tired of shoveling BS? What explains the seeming absence of confessions, changes of heart, fierce determination to right past wrongs, etc.?
Some possible theories (vote for as many as you think apply, and/or suggest your own):
1) Silent embarrassment
2) Too busy lying about something else now
3) Deniers Anonymous therapies still being developed
4) Unable to grasp 'difficult' concepts such as global average versus local fluctuation, correlation not equalling causation, the scientific method, photosynthesis and carbon cycle, fossil fuel when burned releasing CO2, atmospheric CO2 trapping heat, exponential growth, feedback loops, economic externalities, time lags, insurance, and the low historical likelihood of vast global conspiracies enduring for decades? In other words, belief in denial-forever as a form of entrenched and irremediable ignorance.
5) Budget cuts in public schools -> chance for rude D and F students to seek revenge for low grades
6) They are the "alarmists" so oft-decried, though less often actually observed (full of baloney as deniers, now full of baloney as anti-deniers), as dishonest as ever, but in the opposite direction, of course unwilling to accept responsibility for their fibs either way, and happy to be at least now lying in support of a larger truth,
Note: Deniers who feel compelled to lie rather than think, and who cannot concoct a fable for this page with at least a modicum of cleverness and relevancy to the question will be banned from future questions.
Paul: Your remark raises the definitional issue of whether those duped by deniers of climate or medical science, who then repeat what they've been led to believe, are also deniers or only dupes. Also: "Nicotine-addiction and Internet-addiction: Contrasts and Comparisons"?
Some possible theories (vote for as many as you think apply, and/or suggest your own):
1) Silent embarrassment
2) Too busy lying about something else now
3) Deniers Anonymous therapies still being developed
4) Unable to grasp 'difficult' concepts such as global average versus local fluctuation, correlation not equalling causation, the scientific method, photosynthesis and carbon cycle, fossil fuel when burned releasing CO2, atmospheric CO2 trapping heat, exponential growth, feedback loops, economic externalities, time lags, insurance, and the low historical likelihood of vast global conspiracies enduring for decades? In other words, belief in denial-forever as a form of entrenched and irremediable ignorance.
5) Budget cuts in public schools -> chance for rude D and F students to seek revenge for low grades
6) They are the "alarmists" so oft-decried, though less often actually observed (full of baloney as deniers, now full of baloney as anti-deniers), as dishonest as ever, but in the opposite direction, of course unwilling to accept responsibility for their fibs either way, and happy to be at least now lying in support of a larger truth,
Note: Deniers who feel compelled to lie rather than think, and who cannot concoct a fable for this page with at least a modicum of cleverness and relevancy to the question will be banned from future questions.
Paul: Your remark raises the definitional issue of whether those duped by deniers of climate or medical science, who then repeat what they've been led to believe, are also deniers or only dupes. Also: "Nicotine-addiction and Internet-addiction: Contrasts and Comparisons"?