The Evil of Banality
An expert puts us in our place
Posted on 21 Dec 24
by John RidgwayIn Uncategorized
Have you ever wondered what a climate change denier looks like? I know that sounds like a silly question, but I’m being serious. In the same way that an airport security officer can look at a passenger, and by observing his swarthy complexion and shifty eyes immediately know he is a terrorist hijacker, is there any equally simplistic profiling that can be used to pick out your average Cliscep reader? Surely it cannot be that all white males of a certain age fall into the category, so that can’t be used as the basis for your prejudgements. In fact, there are no phenotypes or cultural groupings that can be used. But, according to one expert, there is one shared characteristic that makes for a convenient collation, and hence an effective treatment. Yes, we are all evil, so much so that if our innate malevolence were to be readily apparent, our approach would be as obvious as the slavering advance of an orc army.
If any of you are feeling a teensy bit offended by any of this, then I’m afraid you’re just going to have to suck it up, because I have all of this on the highest authority imaginable – none other than the greatest climate statistician that has ever walked this Earth. Yes, it’s Professor Michael Mann, no less.
To be specific, he supplied the seminal profiling of the average climate change denier when he tweeted the following:
Who created this climate-denying orc army? Of course it was fossil fuel interests and plutocrats…Why is this true? Because climate denial isn’t about legitimate scientific skepticism but, rather, a malicious contempt for science, factual discourse, and objective truth that aligns with a totalitarian worldview embracing nativism, bigotry & misogyny.
And, to avoid being accused of proffering unsubstantiated opinion, he added:
And yes, there is empirical, peer-reviewed support for the conclusion that climate deniers, in general, are truly awful human beings:
https://spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/asap.12347https://cliscep.com/2024/12/21/the-evil-of-banality/
