tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200276.post6097886466466306563..comments2023-12-28T06:30:48.808-05:00Comments on The Rule of Reason: Our Lying, Cheating Do-GoodersUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200276.post-47847222380966437002007-11-28T11:03:00.000-05:002007-11-28T11:03:00.000-05:001. The ICACC (Imminent Catastrophically Anthropoge...1. The ICACC (Imminent Catastrophically Anthropogenic Climate Change) movement has leaders and followers. If news reports are reliable sources, then I agree that almost all of the leaders are motivated by envy. Many of the followers might be as well, but not all of them. <BR/><BR/>I have noticed--but only anecdotally--that many ICACC followers use ICACC as a "positive," partial substitute for religion. Environmentalism, which is the background of ICACC, gives them a worldview, of sorts. ICACC in particular gives them a sense of purpose in their daily lives, a purpose that "transcends" the mundane. ICACC also gives them the rituals they need to structure their otherwise empty lives: deciding what to eat, what to do with the trash, and what to plant in their yards.<BR/><BR/>The fervor these people exhibit is akin to Christian or Muslim evangelism. Of course, some Christians in particular are <I>also</I> environmentalists, but their environmentalism is secondary to their Christian worldview, and they reserve their ultimate enthusiasm for Christianity.<BR/><BR/>2. By the way, it is true that religionists ultimately appeal to faith--especially on tricky subjects like the Holy Trinity (God is One in Three)--but they spend a lot to time trying to persuade people to adopt their ideas. They, like secular environmentalists, rely greatly on the testimony of supposed experts. <BR/><BR/>3. As reinforcement of Michael Smith's positive message, I would encourage readers to examine the mystical movements that were alive and well during the Renaissance and Enlightenment. Those particular movements eventually faded away. It is not particular movements which will do us in, but the fundamental ideas that underly the various movements.<BR/><BR/>Burgess Laughlin<BR/>http://aristotleadventure.blogspot.comBurgess Laughlinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13865479709475171678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200276.post-48429286744383100522007-11-25T12:12:00.000-05:002007-11-25T12:12:00.000-05:00To understand the popularity of the anthropogenic-...To understand the popularity of the anthropogenic-caused global warming (AGW) movement, one must understand its primary function: it is a vast mechanism of rationalization for mankind’s ugliest emotion. <BR/><BR/>In “The Comprachicos” and “The Age of Envy”, Miss Rand explains how Progressive education produces concrete-bound mentalities that hate the good for being the good. This hatred, she explained, is actually a hatred of reason and all of its manifestations: intelligence, self-confidence, competence, ambition, certainty, pride, success, virtue – and of course, the hatred is directed at the three greatest manifestations of reason still in existence: the United States of America, the industrial technology that makes western civilization possible, and the men of ability that keep it working in the face of a vast array of obstacles erected by the haters. <BR/><BR/>There are varying degrees of this hatred. It ranges from the full-blown hatred exhibited by environmentalist like Eric Pianka, who openly advocates the death of billions of humans – to the sort of lesser haters who fall-in with movements like the “feminists”, whose hatred is limited to successful, mature western males, or the “labor movement”, whose hatred is limited to successful employers and independent workers. <BR/><BR/>It has been 35 years since Miss Rand wrote those articles. How many additional haters has the system created since then? While the Piankas of the world are still small in number, I believe this hatred infects, to one degree or another, a significant percentage of the millions that have graduated from the humanities departments of our universities over the last 35 years. <BR/><BR/>The anthropogenic global warming movement serves as a very powerful rationalization for all sorts of examples of this hatred. <I>It tells the haters – all sorts of haters – that science has justified their hatred.</I><BR/><BR/>Many have noted that the AGW movement is like a religion – and this is true in the sense that many of its adherents are completely beyond reason. But the movement purports to be science, not religion. It doesn’t demand that we take its claims on faith. Rather, it claims to be supported by such “hard” sciences as physics. This is simultaneously its strength and its weakness. <BR/><BR/>AGW’s claim to be science-based boosts its rationalizing power immensely. Cloaked with the credibility of modern science, it tells the haters they are right to hate intelligence – because it was intelligence that devised fossil fuel technology. They are right to hate ambition – because it was the ambitious who built the giant corporations spewing out CO2. They are right to hate the self-confidence they see in the men of ability – such men foolishly failed to foresee that their fossil fuel-based economy would put billions of people at risk. They are right to hate the United States – because it is the leading producer of CO2. They are right to be slothful, lazy and un-ambitious – because this is necessary to “minimize their carbon footprint”. <BR/><BR/>Those that doubt the motivation of the AGW movement should observe the near-universal glee of the AGW followers at each new “finding” that purports to prove that civilization must be dismantled. Only a hater of the good could experience joy over news which, if true, would signal an enormous disaster for mankind. <BR/><BR/>But AGW’s claim to be science is also its fatal weakness. Even now, we can see a growing number of scientists repudiating its claims. We can also see a new level of desperation in the haters: the desire to cut-off all discussion on the issue and declare it closed. In science, the desire to forbid research by other scientists is the greatest confession that one knows one’s theory is false. A scientist confident of his theory encourages more research because he knows it will simply generate more data to confirm his theory. <BR/><BR/>Will the tide turn in time to prevent the AGW crowd from convincing our legislators to cripple our economy? I think it will. And then the haters will need a whole new rationalization.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5200276.post-69174030237660231392007-11-23T21:29:00.000-05:002007-11-23T21:29:00.000-05:00I just saw this article on how women are not havin...I just saw this article on how women are not having babies because it is not green, stiupid people, that god there are some of us who are brilliant.<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>I agree 100% with youAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com