Comments on: It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the new administration to take this down… https://habitablezone.com/2016/12/15/it-will-be-interesting-to-see-how-long-it-takes-for-the-new-administration-to-take-this-down/ Tue, 07 Apr 2026 19:18:10 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: hank https://habitablezone.com/2016/12/15/it-will-be-interesting-to-see-how-long-it-takes-for-the-new-administration-to-take-this-down/#comment-37798 hank Fri, 16 Dec 2016 17:26:18 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=60728#comment-37798 The opposition to AGW science is not solely due to stupidity or even ignorance. Instead, it reveals a level of cynicism and self-interest that is truly breathtaking. I believe those of power and influence who toil ceaselessly to discredit or silence those of us concerned about climate change do not necessarily fail to disbelieve the evidence. Those who do reject the facts are more likely to be those hangers-on, want-to-bes and sycophants who feel themselves as the natural inheritors and administrative/managerial allies of the "entrepreneurial" elite. I think many critics of AGW know exactly what is going on, and they feel that they are in a good position to profit from the coming chaos. It is in their interest that our current state of indecision and conflict be prolonged indefinitely, or that it deteriorate even further. They may not necessarily anticipate an uninhabitable planet or a collapse of world civilization due to climate disruption. After all, no one can predict (or dismiss) that with certainty. But they do foresee a world in which they can exploit the crisis for their own financial and political gain. They are convinced they are going to make out. Like all merchants of death, they never imagined the guns will ever be trained on them. It's what they like to think of as a "business opportunity". It is perfectly consistent for them to see themselves as sympathetic with AGW science while simultaneously negotiating deals between American oil companies and Russian oligarchs for exploitation of hydrocarbon resources in the Russian Arctic and the Gulf of Mexico. Polar operations are much easier and cheaper in a summer ice-free Arctic. There is little we can do to convince or educate these people. They are the same folks who sell automatic weapons to drug lords, and who defended the pesticide merchants, the tobacco companies and the polluting industries. These people do not (privately at least) dispute the fact the polar ice is melting away. They just see it as a way to be able to drill for oil and gas cheaper and easier in the high Arctic. Those who live in gated communities patrolled by armed guards need not fear food riots and civil unrest. Shortages of any kind, whether they be of energy, privacy, clean air and water, housing, credit, medicine, education or freedom never threaten everyone simultaneously or equally. And they're betting that by the time the troubles work their way up to their socio-economic strata, either a magic bullet will materialize and slay the bogeyman, their wealth will insulate them from the consequences, or they will be dead anyway. When people like that believe those things, it really makes no difference to people like us whether they're right or not. The opposition to AGW science is not solely due to stupidity or even ignorance. Instead, it reveals a level of cynicism and self-interest that is truly breathtaking. I believe those of power and influence who toil ceaselessly to discredit or silence those of us concerned about climate change do not necessarily fail to disbelieve the evidence. Those who do reject the facts are more likely to be those hangers-on, want-to-bes and sycophants who feel themselves as the natural inheritors and administrative/managerial allies of the “entrepreneurial” elite.

I think many critics of AGW know exactly what is going on, and they feel that they are in a good position to profit from the coming chaos. It is in their interest that our current state of indecision and conflict be prolonged indefinitely, or that it deteriorate even further. They may not necessarily anticipate an uninhabitable planet or a collapse of world civilization due to climate disruption. After all, no one can predict (or dismiss) that with certainty. But they do foresee a world in which they can exploit the crisis for their own financial and political gain. They are convinced they are going to make out. Like all merchants of death, they never imagined the guns will ever be trained on them. It’s what they like to think of as a “business opportunity”. It is perfectly consistent for them to see themselves as sympathetic with AGW science while simultaneously negotiating deals between American oil companies and Russian oligarchs for exploitation of hydrocarbon resources in the Russian Arctic and the Gulf of Mexico. Polar operations are much easier and cheaper in a summer ice-free Arctic.

There is little we can do to convince or educate these people. They are the same folks who sell automatic weapons to drug lords, and who defended the pesticide merchants, the tobacco companies and the polluting industries. These people do not (privately at least) dispute the fact the polar ice is melting away. They just see it as a way to be able to drill for oil and gas cheaper and easier in the high Arctic.

Those who live in gated communities patrolled by armed guards need not fear food riots and civil unrest. Shortages of any kind, whether they be of energy, privacy, clean air and water, housing, credit, medicine, education or freedom never threaten everyone simultaneously or equally.

And they’re betting that by the time the troubles work their way up to their socio-economic strata, either a magic bullet will materialize and slay the bogeyman, their wealth will insulate them from the consequences, or they will be dead anyway. When people like that believe those things, it really makes no difference to people like us whether they’re right or not.

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