Wednesday, November 23, 2016

In New Yorker article President Obama discusses how Facebook and the undermining of facts have negatively impacted the ability to deal with Climate Change.

President Obama visits what's left of Exit Glacier in Seward, Alaska.
Courtesy of The New Yorker:  

The new media ecosystem “means everything is true and nothing is true,” Obama told me later. “An explanation of climate change from a Nobel Prize-winning physicist looks exactly the same on your Facebook page as the denial of climate change by somebody on the Koch brothers’ payroll. And the capacity to disseminate misinformation, wild conspiracy theories, to paint the opposition in wildly negative light without any rebuttal—that has accelerated in ways that much more sharply polarize the electorate and make it very difficult to have a common conversation.” 

That marked a decisive change from previous political eras, he maintained. “Ideally, in a democracy, everybody would agree that climate change is the consequence of man-made behavior, because that’s what ninety-nine per cent of scientists tell us,” he said. “And then we would have a debate about how to fix it. That’s how, in the seventies, eighties, and nineties, you had Republicans supporting the Clean Air Act and you had a market-based fix for acid rain rather than a command-and-control approach. So you’d argue about means, but there was a baseline of facts that we could all work off of. And now we just don’t have that.”

So it appears that Facebook not only helped to undermine our democracy, but may also keep us from saving our planet.

So much for a simple platform for keeping in touch with friends and family.

In the possible good news department, it looks like Donald Trump might be softening his stance on Climate Change:  

Asked if thought human activity was linked to climate change; he responded: “I think there is some connectivity. Some, something. It depends on how much.” 

He also said he would keep an open mind on whether he would pull the US out of a landmark international climate change deal.

I also read that Trump has secretly met with the President a few times, so perhaps Obama is chipping away at his stupidity. 

P.S. By the way this New Yorker article is extremely good, and though I only talked about the climate change portion there is a whole lot more in there that is also quite interesting and informative. 

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:04 AM

    Big Oil is one of PBO's favorite donors. It's why he won't stop the corporate cops from bashing in the heads of the water protectors. Those cops work for his bosses.
    Now the cops lobbed a grenade at some young lady and she got her arm blown off. Obama could snap his fingers and put a stop to this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous5:26 AM

      "Obama could snap his fingers and put a stop to this."

      A judge said the protestors were trespassing. The governor said the pipeline was legal.

      Obama can't do anything that would be legal.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous9:44 AM

      You are an utter moron. Enjoy your new pres who will make all your wishes come true

      Delete
  2. Anonymous5:25 AM

    Donald Trump is poised to eliminate all climate change research conducted by Nasa as part of a crackdown on “politicized science”, his senior adviser on issues relating to the space agency has said.
    ...
    This would mean the elimination of Nasa’s world-renowned research into temperature, ice, clouds and other climate phenomena. Nasa’s network of satellites provide a wealth of information on climate change, with the Earth science division’s budget set to grow to $2bn next year. By comparison, space exploration has been scaled back somewhat, with a proposed budget of $2.8bn in 2017.

    Bob Walker, a senior Trump campaign adviser, said there was no need for Nasa to do what he has previously described as “politically correct environmental monitoring”.
    ...
    Walker, however, claimed that doubt over the role of human activity in climate change “is a view shared by half the climatologists in the world. We need good science to tell us what the reality is and science could do that if politicians didn’t interfere with it.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/22/nasa-earth-donald-trump-eliminate-climate-change-research

    ReplyDelete
  3. a. j. billings5:40 AM

    O/T but still relevant as these are the people that think climate science is a liberal plot.

    This is a very well written and spot-on examination of why so many Americans are blind, ignorant, and unwilling to face facts.

    http://www.rawstory.com/2016/11/the-dark-rigidity-of-fundamentalist-rural-america-a-view-from-the-inside/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:23 AM

      "The real problem is rural America doesn’t understand the causes of their own situations and fears and they have shown no interest in finding out. They don’t want to know why they feel the way they do or why they are struggling because they don’t want to admit it is in large part because of choices they’ve made and horrible things they’ve allowed themselves to believe."
      "In deep-red white America, the white Christian God is king, figuratively and literally. " the fact I’m the enemy because I’m an educated liberal.
      At some point during the discussion, “That’s your education talking,” will be said,"
      " Blacks don’t have dark skin because of where they lived and evolution; they have dark skin because they are cursed. God cursed them for a reason. If God cursed them, treating them as equals would be going against God’s will."< sounds like isis
      "“coastal elites” who understand evolution, genetics, science…nothing we say to those in fly-over country is going to be listened to because not only are we fighting against an anti-education belief system, we are arguing against God. "rural, Christian, white Americans will not listen to educated arguments, supported by facts that go against their fundamentalist belief systems from “outsiders,” any change must come from within"“Democrats have to understand and find common ground with rural America,” is misguided and a complete waste of time. When a 3,000-year-old book that was written by uneducated, pre-scientific people, subject to translation innumerable times, edited with political and economic pressures from popes and kings, is given higher intellectual authority than facts arrived at from a rigorous, self-critical, constantly re-evaluating system that can and does correct mistakes, no amount of understanding, no amount of respect, no amount of evidence is going to change their minds, assuage their fears." NO amount of "niceties" will get them to be introspective. They are willing to vote against their own interest if they can be convinced it will make sure minorities are harmed more."<MEAN GIRLS and BOYS PERIOD!

      Delete
  4. Anonymous6:15 AM

    And so now we hand over a rigged election to the fracking private vultures to develop a communist camp for the bundies and undies of the rump foundation of hope and change. nice and they did not even say Thanks for Giving your middleclass pee on money to advance our upper class fabulous beautiful healthy families of greed and hate....

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous10:39 AM

    “Obama came in as black Jesus,”<DISRESPECTIFUL
    http://www.rawstory.com/2016/11/joe-scarborough-obama-failed-because-he-came-into-office-as-black-jesus/

    "Donald Trump says there’s a bar, I’m going to walk over it,”
    Remember he NEVER DRINKS ALCOHOL<NEVER HAS!

    ReplyDelete

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