For five hundred years, much of the world viciously opposed the claim that the Earth orbited the sun. For 500 years - even though it was allegedly proven by science. And now, that same pathetic and willful ignorance has risen from the dead.
A recent paper in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society titled "The Psychology of Global Warming" delved into why so many people cling to denialism in locked opposition to evidence and facts.
Why is interesting. But in this instance we do not have 500 years to let reality sink in for those people as they stagger about - grasping not for "brains" like fictional zombies, but for excuses to cling to false beliefs.
That paper discussed psychological tendencies;
Psychology lecturer Ben Newell and climate scientist Professor Andy Pitman, identified different classes of perfectly normal psychological phenomena that can tend to turn people into so-called climate ''deniers''.
The first concerns ''sampling issues'' - the idea that people normally try to refer to real-life examples to draw conclusions and may be heavily influenced by recent media coverage.
''For example, if you read or hear opinions from climate change sceptics about 50 per cent of the time then this could lead to a bias in the perception of the balance of evidence in your mind - that is, that the science is only about 50 per cent certain,'' Dr Newell said.
[editor's note: We would not imply here that big oil, big coal, and corporate-funded think-tanks regularly plant untruths and distortions in all media to create that effect. We'll just say it. They do. Just like cigarette companies manufactured false science to pretend smoking wasn't harmful, the oil/coal status quo produces mountains of false evidence. ]
But the fervent and dishonest attacks of the denialists are more than the result of normal psychological tendencies and manipulation by others. Try this :
Psychosis: ... a thought disorder in which reality testing is grossly impaired. [my bold ]
Symptoms can include seeing, hearing, smelling, or tasting things that are not there; paranoia; and delusional thoughts.
In cases that do not respond to medication, electroshock therapy (ECT) is sometimes valuable. - MedicineNet.com
[note: we wouldn't suggest electroshock therapy for most of the denialists ]
Denialists like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, and right wing journalists eager to pursue an extreme agenda, have both manufactured and drank the global-warming-is-a-commie-plot-nonsense kool-aid. And then, spewed it in every direction. Paranoia and delusional thoughts.
And predictably, climate zombies everywhere are eating that up like brains-in-honey.
All of that would just be shake-your-head sad, except that it presents a huge obstacle - just as it was designed to do. If humanity is ever going to try anything significant to slow climate change, it will require cooperation, negotiation, working together globally, in trust and good will. And that is exactly the kind of thing that manipulative money will paint as oppressive socialism - or any negative-sounding label they care to apply.
With the climate crisis at a critical threshold and zombie-ism on the rise, we are between a monumental rock and a huge hard place. And so, if you are the kind of person that can reason and recognize reality, do everything you can, please, to educate a zombie today.
On the other hand, if you feel like you yourself are being labeled a manipulated zombie in these passages, please, prove us wrong. Have the courage to take a few minutes and read the lists, and the two articles that accompany them open-mindedly, right here. Every credible and significant scientific body from China to the US and Canada, India the UK and Brazil, and everywhere in between, is certain about this problem. And you side with Beck and Palin?
Once again, "Psychosis: ... a thought disorder in which reality testing is grossly impaired. "
note: Hat tip and thanks to RLMiller.
cross posted at worldforallpeople.org