October 25, 2010--Cult of Ignorance
Why am I not surprised that almost everyone who associates him or herself with the Tea Party does not believe that humans are contributing to global warming?
The more intelligent of them concede that warming is occurring but claim that it is the result of natural cyclical forces. They say that there were a number of Ice Ages in the planet's distant past as well as eras when the earth shifted on its axis and there were tropical forests where there is now arctic ice.
This may contradict what many of the religious fundamentalists among them say about the Earth being only 5,000 or so years old and who assert with certainty that what we see now was created in every specific detail in six days by God.
For those of us who are equally certain that the scientific evidence that we are contributing to global warming is overwhelming this almost religious resistance to the clear evidence of science is puzzling. Why to these arch conservatives is opposition to any notion of a human component in global warming a hill to die on?
There are at least four reasons. Some enumerated in a recent article in the New York Times (linked below).
First, there is the economic argument. Critics of global warming say that doing the kinds of things that the Obama administration advocates to reduce human contributions to it are bad for business. Cap and trade, their favorite straw-man for this, is so expensive to implement that it would further weaken the economy and tip us into a depression.
Second, Tea Partiers and their fellow traveller are suspicious of any conversation about global warming, feeling that it is a stalking horse to allow government to further encroach on the private lives of citizens. If humans do contribute to it by burning fossil fuel (something every credible scientist sees as a no-brainer) the government will compel us to give up our cherished gas-guzzling SUVs and make us drive those sissy hybrids. Government will make us insulate our houses, eat more carbon-friendly foods (veggies as opposed to good-old American beef), use those funny light bulbs, and turn down our ACs.
Third are the religious reasons why ultra-conservative religious fundamentalists oppose any scaling back on energy consumption. They actually welcome global warming.
To them it will help accelerate the Apocalypse. Sarah Palin and her ilk are all millennialists, which means they look forward to the End of Days when good Christians (only very specific kinds of good Christians) will be Raptured (raised directly to heaven) while the rest of us will be left to struggle through Armageddon, the Second Coming of Christ, the eventual destruction of the world, and the Last Judgement. To these fanatics an over-heated Earth is just what they want. It takes them and us one big step closer to the END.
Finally, and perhaps most disturbing, global warming rejectors are participants in a cult of ignorance.
There is a deep strain of know-nothingness and anti-intellectualism in American history and we are seeing a reassertion of this right now. Among other things driving the Tea Party's ascendency, beyond the faltering economy and our loss of global dominance (we are losing wars and our economy is stalled while Brazil's and India' and especially China's are thriving), is a hatred for America's educated class. Individuals who see this educated elite ruling America. Ivy Leaguers such as Barack Obama. People who make they feel inadequate and even mocked. As evidence of this they recall Obama's campaign comments about how "average people," out of fear and ignorance, cling to their guns and religion?
So when their political heroine, Sara Palin is exposed as knowing nothing about history, geography, international issues, or what is written about in the daily newspapers, rather than being upset by this (as people like me are) they revel in it, embrace it, and feel affirmed. It is as if they are saying, "At last, someone just like me is a national leader and has to be paid attention to by the fancy people." Delaware Senate Tea Party candidate Christine O'Donnell the other day, in her first TV ad after it was revealed that she dabbled in which craft, after saying, "I am not a witch," went on to conclude that "I am you."
Indeed.
The fact that she embraces the Constitution but is unaware of what the First Amendment says about church and state is not a problem for her fervent supporters. In fact, it only enhances her stature because they too have no idea what is in the Constitution or its amendments. Their guru Glenn Beck certainly doesn't.
Our broken education system, our economy which has enhanced inequality, our submission to fears of all kinds (from immigrants to terrorists to all Muslims) has spawned this cult and it is clearly gaining momentum. We may be going down, these folks appear to be saying, but on the one hand it may lead some of us to the Life Eternal while on the other hand the rest of us are sure enjoying getting even with those who have been belittling and ruling us.
Election Day, therefore, is likely to be bloody.
The more intelligent of them concede that warming is occurring but claim that it is the result of natural cyclical forces. They say that there were a number of Ice Ages in the planet's distant past as well as eras when the earth shifted on its axis and there were tropical forests where there is now arctic ice.
This may contradict what many of the religious fundamentalists among them say about the Earth being only 5,000 or so years old and who assert with certainty that what we see now was created in every specific detail in six days by God.
For those of us who are equally certain that the scientific evidence that we are contributing to global warming is overwhelming this almost religious resistance to the clear evidence of science is puzzling. Why to these arch conservatives is opposition to any notion of a human component in global warming a hill to die on?
There are at least four reasons. Some enumerated in a recent article in the New York Times (linked below).
First, there is the economic argument. Critics of global warming say that doing the kinds of things that the Obama administration advocates to reduce human contributions to it are bad for business. Cap and trade, their favorite straw-man for this, is so expensive to implement that it would further weaken the economy and tip us into a depression.
Second, Tea Partiers and their fellow traveller are suspicious of any conversation about global warming, feeling that it is a stalking horse to allow government to further encroach on the private lives of citizens. If humans do contribute to it by burning fossil fuel (something every credible scientist sees as a no-brainer) the government will compel us to give up our cherished gas-guzzling SUVs and make us drive those sissy hybrids. Government will make us insulate our houses, eat more carbon-friendly foods (veggies as opposed to good-old American beef), use those funny light bulbs, and turn down our ACs.
Third are the religious reasons why ultra-conservative religious fundamentalists oppose any scaling back on energy consumption. They actually welcome global warming.
To them it will help accelerate the Apocalypse. Sarah Palin and her ilk are all millennialists, which means they look forward to the End of Days when good Christians (only very specific kinds of good Christians) will be Raptured (raised directly to heaven) while the rest of us will be left to struggle through Armageddon, the Second Coming of Christ, the eventual destruction of the world, and the Last Judgement. To these fanatics an over-heated Earth is just what they want. It takes them and us one big step closer to the END.
Finally, and perhaps most disturbing, global warming rejectors are participants in a cult of ignorance.
There is a deep strain of know-nothingness and anti-intellectualism in American history and we are seeing a reassertion of this right now. Among other things driving the Tea Party's ascendency, beyond the faltering economy and our loss of global dominance (we are losing wars and our economy is stalled while Brazil's and India' and especially China's are thriving), is a hatred for America's educated class. Individuals who see this educated elite ruling America. Ivy Leaguers such as Barack Obama. People who make they feel inadequate and even mocked. As evidence of this they recall Obama's campaign comments about how "average people," out of fear and ignorance, cling to their guns and religion?
So when their political heroine, Sara Palin is exposed as knowing nothing about history, geography, international issues, or what is written about in the daily newspapers, rather than being upset by this (as people like me are) they revel in it, embrace it, and feel affirmed. It is as if they are saying, "At last, someone just like me is a national leader and has to be paid attention to by the fancy people." Delaware Senate Tea Party candidate Christine O'Donnell the other day, in her first TV ad after it was revealed that she dabbled in which craft, after saying, "I am not a witch," went on to conclude that "I am you."
Indeed.
The fact that she embraces the Constitution but is unaware of what the First Amendment says about church and state is not a problem for her fervent supporters. In fact, it only enhances her stature because they too have no idea what is in the Constitution or its amendments. Their guru Glenn Beck certainly doesn't.
Our broken education system, our economy which has enhanced inequality, our submission to fears of all kinds (from immigrants to terrorists to all Muslims) has spawned this cult and it is clearly gaining momentum. We may be going down, these folks appear to be saying, but on the one hand it may lead some of us to the Life Eternal while on the other hand the rest of us are sure enjoying getting even with those who have been belittling and ruling us.
Election Day, therefore, is likely to be bloody.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
5:36 AM
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