Blog Comments and Brain Death

This is the kind of stupid shit we get when I open up blog comments to just anyone.  Read this, it was posted two years ago.  

The point is, they may use words like "statistical" but I doubt they know what it means.  My guess is that this could be a Russian troll or an American Republican.  In the latter case, they are just being stupid.  In the former case it is sad that American counter intelligence has failed to protect us.

Murder and Bipartisanship

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Not going to do a great job here so work with me. Global climate change will make life miserable for possibly billions of people, it has already affected hundreds of millions. But the cause of this disaster, our political elites and the elites that control them, is decades in the making, and those who are most guilty will live their lives in nearly perfect security, although their children will hate them for their greed because they will know the real story even if they dont admit it. But in this country we are watching a hideous little corrupt nightmare in real time in which the followers of the Republican cult are the victims of the latest coronavirus variant, sweeping through the unvaccinated like a sword of gods vengeance wielded by an angel of justice, who beg for the vaccine as they are intubated at the hospital, cursing the republican murder swine who lied to them and begging for their lives. And you can be sure that the failed and corrupt justice system of this country will not do a damn thing about it, this deliberate murder of thousands if not 10s of thousands if not more of the stupid followers of this so called political party. Probably only those who die or their relatives will see in its true horror what was done to them, but those of us who are not members of the cult have to watch this horror and know for certain that the murder of our fellow citizens will not be avenged. And then there will be a call for "bipartisanship" that we should compromise with these murderers who only want to destroy this country. Who, therefore should we negotiate with? Can we not at least demand that they elect new leaders as the old ones, the Ted Cruz's and McCarthys and so forth, have hands dripping with blood. Shall we negotiate with them? About what, exactly?

A little melodramatic, true, but you get the point. And what is beautiful is that while Trump killed a half million Americans, they were from all political beliefs. But now his representatives in federal and state legislatures and the pundits from hell spout deadly venom and kill their own followers.

What philosophy should I use to explain this? Platonic? Liberalism? Laissez Faire capitalism?

What Would a Reasonable Criticism of Greta Thunburg Be Like

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Greta Thunburg spoke at the UN about global climate change and of course there has been a huge reaction from our right.   As we would expect from the right, all the arguments are ad hominem or worse.  So lets ask what a proper response would be if people were actually being constructive here.

In the following, I am not saying that she is wrong and these arguments prove it, I happen to think she is fundamentally correct and serving a useful purpose. 

They might say "We are already in the midst of doing everything humanly possible to ameliorate global climate change, but thank you for your reminder."  Of course that wouldnt work because no one in the world would believe it.

Or they might say "Creating a binding international agreement that affects so many parties and costs so much money today (however much it may save money in the future as well as lives, etc) is by definition incredibly complicated, takes a long time, and in the past has rarely worked".  That would be historically true but one could easily retort "yeah, but not only are you not trying, you are actively impeding progress".

Or they might say, "You are right and we have dropped the ball, but you cant just say "fix it", you have to build a consensus for a solution and that is nearly impossible in this case".  A good response to that is that "We dont care".

But none of this matters.  Greta has the moral high ground. And a Child Shall Lead them.