[lbo-talk] Pregnancy, annoying prenatal advice from uninformed people, and global warming denial

[Gar Lipow]

On Thu, Jun 20, 2013 at 4:51 AM, Arthur Maisel <arthurmaisel at gmail.com> wrote:
> Undoubtedly a part of the picture, but the effects of huge amounts of money
> spent on propaganda against climate change shouldn't be ignored. One could
> nitpick over whether the tendency described in the essay is really "human
> nature" or the result of a culture in which so many important truths are
> provisional---because scientific. It's hard to imagine anyone being willing
> to be burned at the stake rather than to deny climate change (I use that
> example precisely to avoid seeming to be nostalgic for a time when truths
> were not so provisional).

Your points are both valid, but don't detract from the usefulness.
Describing something as "human nature" is always problematic, and
almost always an error. But that does not change the fact that this
very informal personal story is a sharp bit of observation even if the
analysis is not brilliant.  And while this social phenomenon is only
part of global warming denial, it has useful implications for people
engaged in public discourse on the subject.

Finally as to willingness to be burned at the stake: people have gone
to jail for long terms to protest global warming. James Hansen has
willingly suffered a serious loss of social status by publicly and
bluntly discussing the seriousness of the crisis.  Quite honestly,
being willing to die for a cause is *less* common that being willing
to publicly take stands that expose one to public vituperation and
ridicule.   While I'm not sure your particular counter-factual counts
as the useful kind, in case in does, my guess is that it is the one
point on which you are  mistaken.
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jun 19, 2013 at 5:07 PM, Gar Lipow <gar.lipow at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> http://ensia.com/voices/pregnant-pause/?viewAll=1
>>
>> A pregnant woman is overwhelmed with prenatal advice by well-meaning
>> friends, most of it nonsense. So for a while she stop listening to any
>> advice. She finally begins listening again when she finds a source she
>> trusts. She compares this to the counterproductive effects of a
>> certain kind of fear-mongering in discussing the climate crisis.
>>
>> Highly recommended
>>
>> http://ensia.com/voices/pregnant-pause/?viewAll=1
>>
>> Also,  Catastrophism: The Apocalyptic Politics of Collapse and Rebirth
>> which deals with this issue in depth is fabulous.Including a great
>> intro by Doug.  But if you want a nice bit of story telling  on this,
>> the above article is worth reading.
>>
>>
>> --
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>> Solving the Climate Crisis web page: SolvingTheClimateCrisis.com
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-- 
Facebook: Gar Lipow  Twitter: GarLipow
Solving the Climate Crisis web page: SolvingTheClimateCrisis.com
Grist Blog: http://grist.org/author/gar-lipow/
Online technical reference: http://www.nohairshirts.com