Sunday, April 30, 2017

Most people want to mitigate climate change. Anthony Watts thinks this is "crazy"

Anthony Watts runs a climate conspiracy blog. He specialises in pseudo-science and dark conspiracy theories for the wackos on the internet. Today he's put up some photos from the various climate marches, which attracted huge numbers of people from all over America, and called them "crazy".
[I'm relieved that the weird slogans didn't put people off going to the march. (Who the heck thought them up? An activist from the 1960s? No, activists weren't that bad back then. A subversive wanting to mock the march, perhaps?)]

Many of Anthony's photos (archived here) are underexposed so it's hard to read the writing on the posters. It's not really hard to read the signals that Anthony Watts is sending, though. He's a fossil fuel advocate who wants his fans to end civilisation as soon as possible. Here is some of what Anthony Watts thinks is "crazy", with my comment in italics.
  • Climate chaos is a healthcare crisis - does Anthony want a health care crisis?
  • Green jobs not dirty coal - Anthony prefers dirty coal to jobs, and clean air and water
  • There is no Planet B - has Anthony got another planet he's planning to move to?
  • We (America) should be a leader in clean energy development - Anthony doesn't want America to be great. He is happy to let China take the lead in clean energy development.
  • Presidenting ain't easy, acknowledging climate change is - Anthony finds it very hard to acknowledge climate change, or maybe he disagrees with Donald Trump
  • In the name of humanity we refuse to accept a fascist America - Anthony thinks it's crazy to not accept a fascist America.
  • Separate oil and state - Anthony wants the fossil fuel sector to run the USA.
  • System change not climate change - Anthony wants the world to be harmed by climate change. He likes the Trump/Pruitt system that is polluting streams, "disappearing" climate information, and wrecking the environment. 
  • President Trump climate denier - I don't know why he thinks this sign is crazy. Anthony is a climate science denier and President Trump has denied it too. I thought he'd like that particular sign.
  • Racial Justice - Climate Justice - That's easy. Anthony is against both racial justice and climate justice.
  • 350 or bust - Anthony thinks it's crazy to want to mitigate climate change.

There are more signs of Anthony Watts' "crazy" at WUWT. One has to ask who is "crazy". The person who wants the world to burn or the people who don't?



I know that the anti-environment lobby group, CFACT, called for people to take photos at the climate marches. If these were the best they got, then they got no evidence of "madness", just a lot of people sensibly wanting to mitigate global warming. Craig Rucker wrote a plea for help at the climate marches. He wants to retain the politicisation of climate change:
CFACT will be on hand, and we need your help.

Earlier this week, I told you about our efforts to go right into the midst of these crowds – just like we did for last weekend’s “March for Science” – to chronicle the madness, conduct on-scene reporting, and provide desperately needed facts to the media, onlookers, and even the marchers themselves that refute the propaganda and slogans of the Green Climate-Left.

It’s critical we don’t cede the battleground to angry, ill-informed radicals. Americans must hear the other side. 
Do Craig Rucker and other disinformers at CFACT really and truly believe that global warming would stop if only there were no people left in the world who understood what was happening? I don't think so. I think it's just as likely that he is just doing what he's paid to do. (Same as Anthony Watts is just doing what his fans want him to do.)


From the WUWT comments


HotScot wouldn't wear 'open toed sandals', even when it's a record-tying 91 F, like it was in Washington for the climate march. He's scared he'd be mistaken for someone who cares about the environment on which we rely to survive. I guess he favours close toed sandals (is there any such thing?) to go with his closed mind.
April 29, 2017 at 8:51 am
Complete with the uniform of the ecoloons, open toed sandals.

Writing Observer thinks George Soros has been very busy. Writing Observer has a serious case of confirmation bias, because he thinks "just about every one" of these signs were made with "expensive four-color printing".
April 29, 2017 at 9:33 am
Just about every one of them with expensive four-color printing, too – lots of Soros cash going into this astroturf.

sunsettommy might be one of the profoundly ignorant people. Or maybe he's a disinformer like Anthony Watts and others at WUWT.
April 29, 2017 at 8:55 am
A parade of profoundly ignorant people are dangerous to society.

markl asks a reasonable question. Is it WUWT that's "loony" or is it the 99.9999% (everyone else in the real world) that's crazy?
April 29, 2017 at 10:59 am
Does the majority of the US population view these protesters as loonies or concerned citizens with a valid platform? 

I'm guessing that charles the moderator is a white male supremacist, that is, a real Nazi sympathiser. (KKK material?)
April 29, 2017 at 11:09 am
Science was invented by white men. Any use of the Scientific method or discussion of scientific issues by, people of color, women, or the LGBTQASDFJKL community is:
CULTURAL APPROPRIATION!




8 comments:

  1. The "weird Signs" remind us that cliche' recycling began a century before plastic bottles appeared - around the time the marching classes began to horn in on the May Day maypole monopoly:

    https://vvattsupwiththat.blogspot.com/2017/04/speaking-truth-to-jargon-jargon-to.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sou, was that you about the weird slogans? I went to both events here in Boston. I spent a lot of time at MIT, first as student then as drawing instructor. At the marches here were real geeks and nerds and a wide range of people with a wide range of issues. There was even a guy waving a communist flag. I felt conflicted about that, not what I like to see, but that's what tolerance is about. Granted the signs weren't as good as pussy hats. Way too many speeches in Spanish. Boston is very liberal, on the whole, and a little weird. It had been suggested people do their own signs.

    You might say, scientists by nature are not necessarily good communicators. That's always been a big part of the problem, he who hires PR consultants has a better chance to look good than people going to bat for what they believe. Hence Trump.

    With 20/20 hindsight, there were so many events going on, I wish I'd attended the cleanup (Charles River locks apparently cram with gunk) rather than going to listen to speeches.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I wasn't referring to the signs. It was these slogans on the march website that struck me as weird/archaic, missing the point, divisive, and totally over the top:

      1. Protectors of Justice
      2. Creators of Sanctuary
      3. Builders of Democracy
      4. Guardians of the Future
      5. Defenders of Truth
      6. Keepers of Faith
      7. Reshapers of Power
      8. Many Struggles, One Home

      I don't think scientists would have come up with them. Perhaps someone old who has a background in activism. More likely someone who thinks that's what activists used to use (they didn't, except for maybe people who stand on street corners trying to sell radical newsheets).

      Might be just a cultural difference between Australia and the USA, I suppose.

      Delete
    2. To expand on that, the website wanted people to go to different points that were set up for each of the above. So if you were a "Defender of Truth" you went to the "Defender of Truth" march point. If you were a "Keeper of Faith" you went to the "Keepers of Faith" march point. The website had definitions of each of the above, which were about as bad as the titles themselves.

      Most people who marched wouldn't see themselves as heroes or rebels or activists. They just want governments and businesses and communities to mitigate climate change (and realise it's happening and we can do something about it). I think most people get a kick out of marching all together, too. Not having groups divided up like that.

      Thankfully it didn't put people off and the marches were a success (at least in terms of numbers) from what I understand.

      Delete
    3. Those are weird. I guess I wanted to put in my thoughts about our local events. I was stuck in Boston, and it was a nice little crowd, maybe 5000. As I said, I would rather have been skimming plastic and muck from the lock with the working resistance.

      Delete
    4. Each march has a different flavour doesn't it. At the March for Science in Melbourne, the speakers at the start couldn't be heard, not even if you were up close. The speaker at the finish was okay, I suppose, but not exactly winning anyone who wasn't already won.

      It's a shame that it's hard to find good speakers. I think in part it's because if organisers don't kow tow to all the different lobby groups they are threatened with having the entire event killed.

      Maybe things will improve on that front over time.

      I don't think people attend for the speeches anyway.They just want to show support by numbers, which is a good thing (and just as well :D). The speech sessions are just a way of getting people to hang about and show the world how many attended. Performers eg musicians would work, too, and could be more fun :).

      Delete
    5. I was at a small march. The most common slogans appeared to be:

      Science not silence

      and

      What do we want?
      Evidence-based science!
      When do we want it?
      After peer review!

      Cute, but neither is up there with "Aux armes, citoyens! Aux barricades!"

      Delete
    6. Magma should have a word with John Podesta- it's his lot that told the West Wing policy "cannot be handcuffed by data":

      https://vvattsupwiththat.blogspot.com/2016/10/ad-john-podesta-ex-masters-of-disaster.html

      Delete

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