My correspondent replies regarding my comment about whether it’s proper to use the term ‘stupid’ in this situation:
Yes, yes, human cognition and sensory systems evolved to keep us from getting eaten by the sabre-toothed tiger, etc. But when people willfully ignore the science and allow ourselves to be intentionally led astray by politicians and wealthy — both groups knowing the truth — how is it anything but stupidity? Or in other words: “I know full well that this will destroy the future and possibly adversely affect me much sooner, but I’m going to do it anyway for some possible short-term personal gain or simple to feel comfortable in my faulty worldview.” And yes, it’s systemic, so it’s much harder to see (for the individuals) how those individual decisions are causing it, so another inaccuracy for the word “stupid”. But when making a short, one-sentence comment, rather than writing several paragraphs, it’s hard to find a better word.
Why are we really here? Well, it’s complex, very complex. The reasons include interactions between complex systems (hence, more complexity — and that’s using rather academic divisions between different human pursuits and foibles). For example, I include corporate personhood in American law. Corporations have been given to much freedom to sway the public on that basis. They’ve used it to convince us that there was no global warming for decades so that petro companies could continue to rake in huge profits. How did that come about? Well, one of the key SCOTUS rulings in its favor started with some law clerk bought off by rich railroad interests in the late 1800s.
Another cause is the right-wing’s propaganda about “socialism”. Where did that come from? Why, that came about because wealthy, white, former-slave owners and other racists didn’t want to give Blacks their full rights after the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments (yes, 3 of them) all tried to provide them. The whole “socialism” meme started back around the turn of the 20th century as racist code for Blacks being able to vote. While we’re on that subject, I’ll also point out the DOJ was created solely to solve this problem. And the Voting Rights Act. And the Civil Rights Act. [At this point, I feel like it would be ethically acceptable to simply charge any organizations whose purpose is furthering racism (e.g. the KKK, but plenty of others) with treason, and start locking up their leaders for long federal sentences. But only because I oppose the death penalty for treason. Because if 3 amendments, a federal department and 2 huge pieces of legislation are not persuading you, it’s time for corporal punishment.]
We are also here because of the changes in political alignments of various groups and classes of Americans, described by conservative writer David Brooks in an upcoming The Atlantic print article (where he blames one group of liberals, with which I disagree, but his description of the groups is good). Class warfare has morphed into fascists vs. progressives with a lot of confused centrists not doing the right thing.
And we’re here because of a panopoly of human flaws, from greed to confirmation bias to other cognitive weaknesses, including our horrible ability to correctly estimate relative risks. But we do know these things. They are documented in lots of literature, and even the popular press (best selling books, even). Else how would I know them? So why do not more people avail themselves of this knowledge and make use of it? I guess they’d rather wreck civilization, kill a few billion people than change their world views. That seems, well, stupid.
And I’ve only gotten started on the causal reasons above. I could go on and on.
There is much to appreciate in my reader’s reply, but I think my reader is unfairly disregarding two components of the electorate:
- Those who have observed several verified government conspiracies and have decided that anything that seems like a conspiracy is probably a conspiracy. It’s neither logical nor reasonable, but for some it’s what their existence begins to revolve around.
- Those who have permitted their religious upbringing to dominate their view of the world, and that religious upbringing tells that climate change isn’t happening, or its Part of God’s plan.
Or this guy has another approach to the problem:
Right-wing pastor Perry Stone says that Christians don't worry about climate change or the environment because they know that all those problems will be taken care of when Jesus comes back. pic.twitter.com/TGi6diOzU8
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) August 11, 2021
We won’t talk about that fiendish problem of stewardship and how it means take care and not suck dry.
