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Politics : The Environmentalist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (23172)	10/27/2008 10:06:42 AM
From: neolib	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 36923

The point was that people choose their side not based on understanding of the mechanism, but belief in political ideology. Not everyone of course, but it seems to be nearly all. Those who are left wing Big Government kleptocratic socialists believe in the Greenhouse Effect doomsterism, those who are right wing individualist Libertarians do not. It's an interesting dichotomy. What is most interesting is that the left wing AGW believers are at least aligned with scientists, while the right wing deniers are not. That is what I find most interesting. Of course, the same applies for evolution vs. creationism as far as the left right split goes. Very interesting indeed. Of course, it was also the right wing Libertarians who pushed all the claims about smoking not causing cancer. In fact it is pretty much the same right wing Libertarian Think Tanks who have been involved on all the science bashing, and are the principle players in bashing AGW. VERY INTERESTING! Of course I've pointed this out numerous times on this board, but IIRC, this is the first time one of you bashers has come to the same realization. Now, the question for you is why are the Libertarians so anti-science? AFAIK, it is because the science would seem to hint that either some regulation, or collective action might be useful in certain instances, so the individualistic, freedom loving Libertarians instead stick their heads in the sand and deny the science. You have indeed nailed it this time Maurice, the problem is largely because of ideology. I congratulate you on your insight. I wonder if there's a similar belief system across other aspects of physics, chemistry, mathematics. Do Left Wingers not believe in gravity? Do they deny electromagnetic theory? Do they imagine pi doesn't fit into a circle? Do they eat pie? Can they spell pi? Can they smell pie? Err...see the above. The problem is not odd believes of left wingers in other branches of science, but extensive problems of right wingers. They set up entire Think Tanks with the express purpose of producing research results "acceptable" to Libertarian ideals. It is called Think Tank Science. Irving Kristol got the ball rolling. Read up on him. The point is that left-wingers interpret complex science to mean more socialism, "wealth" redistribution, and government control are needed. Right wingers don't. You need to study it a little more, as I hope the above has made clear.