sonora2sonoma

Given the recent atypical weather being experienced in disparate parts of the planet, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to deny the role fossil fuels are playing in the changes we are witnessing.  But, as the changes wrought are made more manifest each day, resistance to the acceptance of the reality of climate change has shown no signs of abating.

One of the more vexing aspects of this situation is how to account for the specter of otherwise intelligent-seeming people acting against their self interest in their continuing denial of the scientific consensus concerning rising global temperatures.

To point out the self-serving nature of such attitudes only provides a partial explanation of the phenomenon; short-sightedness also plays a role. But why would Republicans, who as a group have learned better than Democrats how to play the long game, fail to appreciate the need to try to see around corners when regarding the potential dangers posed by a changing climate? One would think they would be eager to seize upon the many opportunities for economic enrichment to be found in developing and refining new and renewable energy sources and other technologies designed to address the environmental consequences of prior inaction. But no! What is seen instead is a chorus of denials, deceptions and distractions designed to assuage a body public that has largely moved beyond these leaders’ outdated and unsupported positions.

In truth, these so-called leaders are, by their actions, demonstrating they no longer view themselves as beholden to the people who elected them to represent their interests and are instead working on behalf of entrenched interests to maintain the current power structure. There’s no news here, you might say, and you’d be right. Hasn’t it always been thus?

Well, yes, there have always been people willing to compromise their convictions for cash. But oftener than not, they have been the outliers, the minority, held in check by precedent, propriety and common sense. When those practices fall out of vogue, as they appear to have done in our present circumstances, duller minds prevail, and the wheels of government begin to steer toward chaos. The resultant government by the few for the few and the nonsense it spews forth is readily consumed by all stripes of unenlightened people, the incurious, the undereducated, the skeptics, troglodytes and flat-earthers who are threatened by the truth and folks who lap up the anemic bullshit they see on Fox

There’s a certain type of person who’s impervious to the truth, for whom ‘alternate facts’ hold special significance because they conform to their preconceived notions and biases. These folks can be seen anywhere in history and their story is always the same–marked by resistance to new ideas, they are driven to maintain power at any cost, even if it means burning down their own houses. For people like these, reason doesn’t even enter the equation.

Tim Konrad

2020.01.09