From the AP:
Only 57 percent of Americans think there is solid evidence the world is getting warmer, down 20 points in just three years, a new poll says.
In a poll of 1,500 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, released on Oct. 22, the number of people saying there is strong scientific evidence that the Earth has gotten warmer over the past few decades is down from 71 percent in April of last year and from 77 percent when Pew started asking the question in 2006. The number of people who see the situation as a serious problem also has declined.
The steepest drop has occurred during the past year, as Congress and the Obama administration have taken steps to control heat-trapping emissions for the first time and international negotiations for a new treaty to slow global warming have been under way. At the same time, there has been mounting scientific evidence of climate change — from melting ice caps to the world's oceans hitting the highest monthly recorded temperatures this summer.
Only about a third, or 36 percent of the respondents, feel that human activities — such as pollution from power plants, factories and automobiles — are behind a temperature increase. That's down from 47 percent from 2006 through last year's poll.
________________________________________________________
There it is folks! Numbers don't lie, though obviously more and more Americans believe otherwise. It's no surprise really that, in the age of reality TV and Fox News and an electorate who thought it'd be cool to have George Bush as president, science is becoming less important to us. Wilful ignorance is in; knowledge is out. We've become so easily propagandized that we buy any lie fed to us without batting an eye, which makes things easier for the corporatocracy but doesn't bode well for our own well-being. Not only do more and more people not know what to think; they don't know how to think.
Below are some other fallacies which way too many people buy into.
1. Creationism is science.
2. Glenn Beck is a journalist.
3. "My kid's not fat, he's just big-boned."
4. Universal health care is evil.
5. Abstinence is the best form of birth control.
6. Barack Obama is a Marxist.
7. If the wealthy and the corporations grow richer, we'll all do well.
8. You may already be a winner!
9. There is a gay "agenda."
10. Selfishness is a virtue.
11. The Christian Right is actually Christian.
12. "Those other congressmen suck but my guy really does care about me."
13. Adam Lambert is talented.
14. We are the most free nation in the world.
15. We're Americans so it's OK for us to be the largest consumer of resources and largest emitter of green house gases on the planet.
16. The nation with the grossest national product wins.
17. Everything will be OK as long as I have satellite TV.
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Comments
R~~
http://www.vat19.com/blog/2008/04/eww.html
Yup.
;-)
Just askin'
Go to a punk rock show; it will inspire confidence in the future.
R
18. You can earn thousands per month while working from your home.
19. Ronald Reagan was a good president.
20 Velveeta is food.
21. Prince Leopold of the Netherlands wants to make my daughter a sex slave for the UN.
And so on.
Andy, is the blindness why they had to slow ride, take it easy?
I think a lot of people know it is warming, but aren't convinced that Mankind A) is the cause, or if the Earth just does what it does; B) if we can do anything about climate change; or, c) if humans can do anything about it, whether nations could actually agree on and implement effective plans.
History clearly shows humans aren't that great at working together.
In addition to trying to stop, reverse or even slow climate change, I think it is critical to develop plans for survival on a changing planet. If we leave that part out, I believe we're in even more trouble.
23. "I'll pull out, I promise."
24. Size doesn't matter.
I worked in many restaurants when I was younger Drew, and filth is indeed on the menu, even in "fine dining" establishments.
Zuma, don't worry; confuztd is the new informd:P
Natalie K, it IS a big lamp, with a leopard print shade and a lifetime supply of Funyuns!
Spotted, I miss Mr. Owl too:(
On a less somber note, those doo-doo soaps may indeed be our grossest national product, right after cluster bombs and Perez Hilton.
MrsRaptor; true dat!
Kyle, a woman without a man is like a fish without a unicycle. Or something:)
I still believe in the Trilateral Commission. They will save our ass from this pseudo global warming.
I am such a Luddite, I think we are going into another Ice Age, frankly. So I don't buy the warming. But the notion that we are poisoning ourselves rapidly -- sure. But that doesn't require much science.
Nick, if the Trilateral Commision can't save us, no one can, except for maybe the Knights Templar or the X Men.
Stacey, it's OK, he doesn't know I stole it. That makes it legal right?
Chuck, as my momma used to say; stupid is as stupid does, and we does stupid good around here.
Janie, Glenn Beck proved in an expo-zay last week that Charlie Brown is actually a leftist plot to destroy Christmas and artificially inseminate American virgins with genetically-engineered baboon semen. Don't even get me started on what Red Dolph the Rude Nosed Reindeer has been doing.
My favorite number is clear!!
Teehheeeheeeee!!!
~wanders off~
amrikans not dumb; smert.
howd are you call us dumb.
move russia comme basterd
not dumm
Can I borrow A Varlet for one of my posts?
I'm hurtin' for a volunteer example on a post I did 2 back on the same basic subject.
I tried calling Dumbasses-R-Us, but they're booked for the holidays.
It would fulfill your Christmas gift obligation...otherwise I want socks and underwear.
Janie, the Scotsman was right of course. For years they've been putting stem cells from lamprey eels in the water supply, which has the effect of fore-shortening our sense of time as well as making us think "So You Think You Can Dance" is entertaining.
Tai, I've thought of quite a few since I first posted this too. That's how it always works!
Don, dumn commye bursteds thing Andrea Mitchellz hot. U no shez no Michelle Backman Turner Overdrive.
I'll try sending Varlet your way Paul, but I've got some Haynes in reserve if he doesn't show up. I wonder if he knows the anarchist "A" in his avatar is a lefty symbol?
Handyman; no you are! :P
A subtle truth is committed---
The Missing Link.
And Paul, you crack me up!
You guys are making my day:)
i wish they would only include, in their surveys, americans with brains. the numbers usually, but not always, come out better.
I really can't wait until the Council of Absolute Authority declares you insane and has you shaved, packed and shipped off to Estonia.
Global Warming 'evidence' is nothing more than the lies of evil, oil hating, madmen bent on killing us all.
In other words, the scientists.
Don't think scientists are trying to kill us all? Explain then, why they are trying to create black holes all over the place with that stupid Large Hadron Collider?
You're right Andy. They'll likely generate a black hole when they finally get that monstrosity up to full power, or create an effect like in that Stephen King story "The Mist" where the barrier between dimensions breaks down and hideous monsters come flooding through. Fucking scientists.
I'm not up on the jargon PoorSinner, but if by AGW you mean global warming caused by man as opposed to natural cycles of the earth, yes, I do believe in it. And when you say EVERYBODY bases their research on the CRU, you're wrong. No one institution, no one group of researchers, is providing the models which show that we're warming up, and warming up faster than anybody had thought even a few years ago. The data is coming from multiple fields, multiple disciplines; it's a flood of information, and it says pretty unequivocally that 1. the earth is warming faster than at any time in recorded history and 2. the most likely culprit of that is greenhouse gasses generated by human consumption of fossil fuels. It's no longer a matter of opinion or conjecture; it's happening, and we ignore that fact at our own peril.
And Merry Christmas to you also!
RavingBits, you raise a good point. As Harvey Danger say in Flagpole Sitta:
"been around the world and found
that only stupid people are breeding
the cretins cloning and feeding
and i don't even own a tv"
Malusinka; it's the "used properly" part that throws most people:P
I saw Yahweh rated your post, but left us no infinite wisdom?
We're doomed...
Ooops. I mean, oh Yahweh, please deign to grace this post with one of your holy bon mots!
22. Sarah Palin really is just like us.
23. Illegals are stealing good jobs from Americans; we really want to pick crops, fix tires and clean toilets.
24. Nobody needs labor unions anymore b/c laws and employers like Wal-mart protect American working stiffs.
Leviticus, 9:17
The one about Toronto doesn't surprise me. Hell, most Americans can't name their own state capital so why would they know the one for Canada?
Yahweh; thanks big guy!
And Elsma, thanks for visiting my post, and especially for your additions to the list. Here are a couple more:
25. Financing wars (and everything else we do) by borrowing from the Chinese is a good idea.
26. Nancy Grace is human.
27. "They hate us for our freedoms."
For years, the oil industry has hired many people to call global warming a myth and are behind much of the dissemination of misinformation. It's to their financial advantage that we don't believe in global warming. They formed a board in the 1980s and invited the insurance companies to join. After Hurricane Hugo, the insurance companies quit. It's not to their financial advantage. Since then, they've kept extensive records showing how real global warming is and what it's costing them. If the oil industry suddenly discovered that global warming was financially a problem, there'd be no doubters.
Marcellaqb, you raise a good point. As soon as it becomes financially expedient for them to do so, we'll see the petro-chemical industry leap into action to push for real change. Of course, by then it'll be too late.
I happen to KNOW that this is TRUE.
*switches station to more fair and balanced reporting*
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2009/20091208_globalstats.html
Global surface temperatures for 2009 will be well above the long-term average, while the annual temperature for the contiguous United States will likely be above the long-term average, according to a preliminary analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The analysis is based on global records, which began in 1880 and U.S. records beginning in 1895
earth flat
funyans food
me sweepy
by
"I just banged my knee!!"
AL GORE's fault!!!
See?
Awesome.
Humankind has also had a net negative effect on the environment, no matter which side of the millennial warming-cooling arc we happen to be on.
Myself, I'm moving to Montana soon.
I think the major reason for why people are so apprehensive to believe either way is the growing mistrust of a government that continues to lie and manipulate the data. Granted there are selfish reasons for the resistance to environmental change like lower standard of living, loss of jobs, and increased taxes. But, consider Americans were sold all sorts of ideas by the government and the results have not fared well for the average American.
In the past 40 years there has been a steady stream of scandal and corruption coming out of Washington. Plus, there has been a growing resentment to many of policies including trade, banking, healthcare, energy, and war that have devastated this economy and the lives of the average American.
The experts told us NAFTA would build the economy and help the consumer. 5 million lost jobs later Americans are not sure a trade policy that rewards companies to ship jobs overseas is good for the country.
The experts told us Iraq had WMD and that global terrorism requires deficit spending for the military to keep us safe. Now we have trillion dollar wars, reduced freedoms, and thousands of people dead. Both democrats and Republicans voted for these wars. And the current democrat is escalating them again.
The experts told us that banking and Wall street needed to be deregulated. Now we have trillion dollar bailouts, interest rates of over 30%, a collapsed housing market and bank CEOs receiving billions in bonuses.
The experts told us we need a war on drugs. Almost a billion dollars later and millions in jail, reduced freedoms, over regulated doctors and still those who want to do drugs do because the marketing has never been better.
I could go one, but it is safe to say the government is now telling us that Cap and Trade is the solution to our environmental problems. But, they forget to say the same people who caused the problems will be making a fortune selling carbon credits. Multinational companies will gain additional advantages because their manufacturing is safe in China and India that will be exempt for decades while small companies in America will pay more. Of course the real reason our government wants Cap and Trade is the 690 billion dollars in additional revenue in taxes. Now it would be one thing if this money was used to actually clean up the environment, but it will be used to fund things like bank bailouts instead.
Also, the fear of Global warming does not seem to effect Al Gore's lifestyle. This great environmentalist along with his wife Tipper have a combined living space of over 20,000 sq feet in three homes. His favorite mode of travel to tell us the world is going to end is private jet. He chastises us Americans while giving Hollywood with its hyper consumer lifestyle a free pass. He has nothing to say about the oil companies that he owns stock in or the zinc mine and documented polluter that pays royalties for mining on his property.
This recent email scandal has only fueled the already growing concern the government is not telling us the whole truth and that science is not as pure as it would have us think. Maybe the solution is to reward companies that build new eco friendly plants in the United States with tax breaks. Why not divert the trillions in bank bailout and war money into building alternative energy infrastructures. Why not remove the exemption from farming hemp which could be a major source of fiber and biodiesel fuel. But, that would make sense and making sense is not what Washington is about.
And thanks for the comment M Tod. There's a lot of truth in what you say.
"making sense is not what Washington is about"
Exactly so. And I agree with you about Al Gore not being a great role model for how to leave a smaller carbon footprint. The thing is though, the experts who say that global warming is happening aren't in most cases working for the government, nor do they have an agenda. They're scientists, and they come from all over the world, from many disciplines. The vast preponderance of evidence says that global warming is happening, and that we're the most likely cause of it. The seas are warming, the ice caps are going away, creating a corresponding rise in ocean levels; these things, and much of the other data, are easily quantifiable, and if a person wanted to see for themselves, it's easy to look up pics of glaciers from 30 yrs ago and the same, much shrunken glaciers now. Global warming isn't theory, it's not an opinion; it's fact. And yet, in the face of all this evidence, people choose to believe propagandists from the petrochemical industry and their paid media whores. That's what I mean by stupidity; when confronted with a choice between believing science or believing lies fed to us by the oil industry and their employees in DC, we choose to believe the latter.
I'm most worried about these stats (context here is a CNN piece quoting Obama's concern):
"In the U.S., a major challenge is to revive the interest, opportunities and abilities of students in math and science, Obama said. American students rank 21st in science and 25th in math compared with students around the world, he said, putting U.S. at a disadvantage on vital issues such as medicine, energy and security."
What's to be done???
And good point Boko; one could do any number of posts like this without running out of material. It'd be funny if it wasn't so frightening. How can an individual, or an electorate, make smart decisions about anything if science, knowledge generally in fact, is viewed with such suspicion? The phrase "the dumbing down of America" comes to mind; I wish it was just a meaningless cliche, but it's unfortunately nothing less than the truth.
#5 "Abstinence is birth control."
This has been grilled into people's heads for about a decade now, and unfortunately even organizations like Planned Parenthood, which should be fighting such nonsense, have given in and preach a watered down version of sex-ed called "abstinence plus." Plus what, facts? Abstinence is just the traditional hypocritical attitude of Christianity to sex. Abstinence education is meant to inculcate hypocrisy in kids, since the larger culture has begun to grow up about sex over the last thirty years--I mean, people are having more and enjoying it more--and the Christians can't stand it. That's why they want us all to play a game of gotcha moralizing with the latest celebrity slob who fucked around on his wife. (Only a matter of time, for instance, before we find out about Ms. Woods' fuck-buddies.)
#7 "If the wealthy and corporations grow richer, we all do well."
Bullshit pure and simple. I know how the biggest corporations make money today and it has nothing to do with productivity or reinvesting. Almost all corporate profit is made in exchange markets--stocks, bonds, currencies--and almost none of it is reinvested in corporations. As a matter of fact, despite common myth, it isn't even reinvested in the form of executive salaries and bonuses, let alone trickling down to workers, who are becoming increasingly beside the point in the structure of global capitalism. The real economic question of the twenty-first century will be what to do with the 70 or 80% of people on the planet who will simply be unemployable, and unnecessary to the system.
#14 "We are the most free nation in the world."
More bullshit. Most European countries have far greater personal freedoms built into their version of the 'control society.' The Rehnquist court gutted the 4th Amendment to such an extent that police in the U.S. can search you and anything you own (your house, your car, your locker at the gym) practically anytime they want, and with practically any pretext they want to use. And all this BEFORE 9/11. Ridiculous.
#16 "The nation with the grossest national product wins."
If GDP were really based on productivity, instead of rigged exchange markets, then China would seem to be the most successful. But China's economy is doomed. They will never be able to employ more than about a third of their workers. Already their cities are ringed by shantytowns where tens of millions of people sit seething, just waiting to be sparked by some incident that would make the Paris riots of a few years ago look like nothing. The Chinese are terrified of their own people, and eventually their little experiment with capitalism is going to crash and burn all around them.
See my post next Monday on one halfway sane proposal that has appeared recently in the news. There is always a flipside. Thanks again for this great post, nana.
Nanatehay, I am one of those Stupid people sitting squarely in this particular group of Stupids at this time: I believe that the earth is presently in a warming cycle, and has been since emerging from a slightly cooler cycle that ended in the mid-1800's. I do not believe that people are the cause of the warming, or that there is anything we can do about it.
We could go back and forth all day, calling each other Stupid, but what would be the point of that? Besides, I don't think you are Stupid. I think we just disagree a little bit.
The tragic part is that nations whose populations do not "believe" in climate change (as if it was a religion) tend to do much less in that arena. Congress loves the polls.
Not the government per say. But, most of the institutions receive either outright government funding or grants from the government. It is the golden rule. Those who have the gold make the rules.
The biggest winners with the present climate change proposals are government and large multinational companies who have moved the majority of their manufacturing to China and India. That in itself gives me reasons to pause.
We would like to think science is pure, but science has a long history of censorship of those who do not follow the status quo. The email scandal only shows that not everyone is on board.
The fact is the American people are easily manipulated on both sides of the argument. Few do any research on their own and trust those in the media like Gore, Beck and other talking heads. I find one of the biggest cheerleaders for climate change is Hollywood, but their lifestyle does not match what they are saying.
I will confess I am like most Americans and have not really read the pros and cons of the argument as well as I should. But, from what I have been finding, it is not close to a slam-dunk on either side.
Myself I would love to see a major move towards both alternative energy infrastructure building and conservation. Both have the technology in place and only need capital to make them cost-effective and marketable. That is where the government should be focusing. Because if we solve our energy problems, the rest will fall into place including manufacturing, healthcare and trade.
Although I'm afraid you're right, and there are too many people who lack reasoning and have very little interest in evidence and facts, can I continue hoping that they're a minority, and the majority is still rather reasonable?
"I would love to see a major move towards both alternative energy infrastructure building and conservation. Both have the technology in place and only need capital to make them cost-effective and marketable. That is where the government should be focusing. Because if we solve our energy problems, the rest will fall into place including manufacturing, healthcare and trade."
You nailed it! Though we see the global warming issue from slightly different angles, what you said there makes as much sense as anything I've read recently. Thanks again for taking the time to share your insights here.
As it stands right now I am not sure the whole global warming theory is correct and the proposed solutions will result in anything more than making the rich richer and the government bigger and more wasteful. For that reason I do not support the ideas of Gore or the president. In a nut shell there are lots of reasons to change our behavior, but the theory of global warming is not a valid one in my eyes.
I think the current trend towards disbelief has more to do with serious people raising serious questions about the evidence (or lack of evidence) which is being used to hike taxes and further enrich the already powerful multinationals. People are starting to see this as another scam.
Also, the Virgin Mary asked me to point out to everyone that complete abstinence is NOT ALWAYS a 100% effective method of birth control. --This message brought to you by the Council To Remind You That Christmas is All About Baby Jeebus.
Here are the 3 most popular theories out there.
1. The earth is getting warming heading towards a melting of the ice caps and global flooding. This is caused by CO2 greenhouse gasses and man made.
2. The earth is getting warmer and we could be heading towards a melting of the polar ice caps causing global flooding. This is caused by a natural cycle not man and there is nothing we can do about it.
3. The earth is not warming. The polar ice caps are actually gaining ice overall and the ocean levels are raising at about 1 to 1.8 mm due to natural occurring creation of virgin water. Whatever trends in weather are unpredictable because the data pool is to small and far to contradicting to create a reliable model.
Creation Science is another topic all together and I don't know what it has to do with the global warming discussion, so I have no opinion either way. As for the fear of Christian fundamentalism, I guess you would have to be more specific since the term is to broad and can mean a variety of things. So can't really weigh in on that area either.
The bottom line is anyone of them could be correct. Each theory has its pie charts and anecdotal evidence to support their theory. Each has a vested interest both financial and ideological in why their theory should be accepted as fact.
My position on the matter would not change since I feel by developing a strong conservation and alternative energy program it would solve not only the levels of CO2 but also a host of other pollutants that threaten our air and water. It would also provide jobs and new industry to rebuild our manufacturing and agricultural base. Unfortunately non of the proposed carbon credits and Cap and Trade schemes will do any of this and will result in the same players extracting more money from us while not doing a damn thing.
18. America is exceptional
19. Sarah Palin speaks for "Real Americans"
20. Intelligent design is a legitimate theory
21. Brown people are taking jobs away from Americans
22. We have a free press
Yes, of course, 57% of American are nose-picking idiots because they doubt global warming is real. If only more people were as smart as you TP.
I don't suppose the fact that the Earth has cooled in the past ten years has anything to do with this widespread stupidness. Or the fact that so-called scientists themselves were baffled as to why the Earth has been cooling.
As to all of your other points, I'd love to pick out each one and debate it with you. But, really, you just wanted to write another piece about how stupid conservatives are and how enlightened progressives are.
How do you fix stupid?
Actually there IS a gay agenda. We just aren't going to let you str8 dick weasels know what it is until it's too late!
I'll give you a big hint though: The guy at the... oh, never mind. You'll find out eventually.
Wait, what?