Sam Harris, the prominent atheist writer, introduced a concept into the lexicon of the enlightened; conversational intolerance.
That is, if someone is spewing bullshit, you have the right to call them on it. The context of his argument was for theists who insist on interjecting their god into the conversation. For Harris, theists and non-theists (Subject A) alike should be allowed to, in the context of casual conversation, deny the ramblings of a dogmatic theist (Subject B) as such;
A: I’ve decided to marry another man
B: Did you know that in Ezekial 4:12, it says explicitely that two men may not…
A: Your god is a load of shit.
B: Now you’re being intolerant
A: Damn straight.
So you see, conversational intolerance involves respecting one’s beliefs, just so long as they keep it away from you. Just as though you were dealing with a fervent believer in Illuminati lizard-people who rule the world, you are well within your right to call Shenanigans on that which does not have empirical evidence to support it.
So I’ve been thinking lately; where else does this apply? It, naturally, did not take long to figure out.
Climate change.
I realize that I’m preaching to the choir here, because anyone with the capacity to read more than a paragraph of text is incapable of denying the obvious scientific truth of man-made climate change, but that’s not what I’m arguing for. I’m arguing for a militant opposition to those who would try and destroy the credibility of science with misleading falsehoods and unverified accusations. This vehement rage doesn’t extend to violence or the subjugation of these people by any sort of law, but rather, it implores and forces us to call the bullshit.
What does this entail? It’s simple. If someone tells you that they believe solar flares are causing the rise in global temperatures, don’t respect their beliefs. There is about as much credible science to support that claim as there is for a flat earth. You’ve got to forget about appeasing people and respecting their beliefs, you’ve got to go for the jugular and make them realize that there is no place in a scientific discussion for pseudo-intellectual peabrains who read a blog once and think they know everything there is to (I realize the hypocritical irony in this, just move on.)
It’s quite funny, really, that climate-change deniers have labeling global warming as a religion, because the intelligent side certainly treats it as such. Rather than looking at this scientific certainty with the normal dressings of factual truisms, we instead are meekly supportive of everyone else’s beliefs as though there’s room for discussion. This cannot be the case. We’ve got to show the world that this science is irrefutable, and to do so we need to destroy their claims without mercy.
For example, in recent weeks aspects of the mainstream media (and not just FOX) have been touting the lunacy that the past week of snowstorms on the American east coast have disproven global warming. While there have been passionate and thorough thrashings of this insanity by some, others have just ignored and dismissed it, partly because they refuse to comment on opinion and partly because there seems to be an overriding feeling of “Oh, people are smarter than that, they wouldn’t buy the snake oil.”
Well the news is that people are idiots. If they hear one thing repeated enough, they’ll believe it. While some seems to be nihilistically nonchalant about public opinion in regards to climate change, as that certainly doesn’t change the science, but they ignore the very, very serious ramifications. For example, the people elect representatives and while it can certainly be said that virtually all American politicians are interchangeable heads of the same corporate beast, the fact remains that some believe in global warming and some simply do not. That has very serious impacts on how the UN decides climate change policy, how the EPA tackles polluters and how scientific bodies receive funding to conduct research into feasible solutions.
So this requires a lot of being armed. The days must end of our side passively saying “Well, I haven’t done the research…” or, “Well, I believe that…” No. It’s time to whip out our long list of research and bash them over the head with it. It entails us explaining the difference between climate and weather to them like children. It means we must deal with the fallacious bullshit and challenge the idea that this is just another ‘natural warming cycle.’ It’s time to go on the offensive.
And goddam, stop backing away from Al Gore. If there’s one pariah that has really gotten screwed in this whole mess, it’s Al Gore. Unfortunately for both us and Gore, he’s become the face of the scientific side. This means that the deniers have a very specific and targeted person they may attack, and what’s more is that he’s a politician (ewww.) Sure, An Inconvenient Truth wasn’t the best guide to man-made global warming, but it definitely helped on public opinion, that is, until it came under heavy fire and there was nobody to defend it. Every reasonable person backed away from it like it was the plague, mumbling “Well I certainly believe in climate change, but Al Gore…” If he has to be the face of this movement, we may as well back him up on it.
So, if there’s anything to take away from the brutish beating that our side, the right side, has endured in the past year; be prepared. Don’t let anyone deny this science, because the future of our society depends on it.
