More on idiocy

Wow. I got a comment on my previous post claiming that the reason people don't believe in climate change is because "liberals" have made wild claims about it that have not come true. Man, you need a glass navel to see. In fact the consequences are happening faster, and are more severe, than even the most dire predictions of a few years ago. The truth is the exact opposite of what you claim. This idiot also claims that we shouldn't do anything about it because - China, apparently, although he omitted the name. 

In the first place, logically, the question of whether it is true is completely separate from the question of what China will do. That isn't actually an argument, it's just spewing words. However, if we want China to take serious action - and we do - we will have to do everything we can as well. The larger the markets for renewable energy, the more technological advancement we can create, the cheaper it will get and the faster it will be adopted, by every country, including China. We need to cooperate with them -- buying their solar panels will strengthen their own industry and we can sell them our technology. That's how technological change works. The reason the Chinese drive gasoline powered cars with internal combustion engines is that they were invented in Europe and the U.S., and mass production techniques were developed here. 

Now, continuing with the parade of seriously deluded people, we have Florida Surgeon General, the quack doctor Joseph Ladapo. He is telling Floridians that the mRNA vaccines are unsafe. He is not just a liar, he is a psychopath, who is literally trying to murder people for what I presume he thinks is the political advantage of his overlord Ron "Kinky Boots" DeSantis. I agree with Digby that "We must fervently hope that this campaign will have destroyed his political career. The grotesque bad judgement (or cynical calculation) in hiring this quack to be the surgeon general of the state totally disqualifies him from ever having lives in his hands again."  

 

But there is more to be said than that. The question is why and how one of the major political parties has made reality into a political issue. Somehow it is "conservative" to spew lies, and conservative voters are expected to believe them, and somehow this is a movement that has swept up a substantial portion of the population. I am not getting this at all. 

 

And no, I don't publish comments that are materially false, illogical, or dangerous. It is not the case that I don't publish comments because I don't agree with them. Reasonable and intellectually defensible dissent, and legitimate corrections, are fine.