Thomas Sowell believed that there is something to gain even by implementing severely flawed social schemes. This excerpt is from “Blurred Vision,” in Reason Magazine:
What is the point of the ideological crusades of the left? To make the world better? Not primarily, according to Thomas Sowell. The main purpose is to make members of the left feel good, and to do so by placing them in a position of apparent intellectual and moral superiority to the rest of humanity. Leftists, in this book’s terminology, are “the anointed,” and their overriding goal is to distinguish themselves from “the benighted,” which includes everybody else.
The “vision” of the anointed is a world view in which social problems exist because of the negligence or malevolence of the benighted—and thus can be solved by imposing the views of the enlightened few on the rest of society via government action. To believe otherwise—to view social conditions as largely outside of anyone’s control and subject to innumerable trade-offs and constraints—is repugnant to left-leaning political and intellectual elites, Sowell argues, because it robs them of the opportunity to display their superior concern and insight.
I experienced this during an ironically humorous internet exchange between me and a mob of anthropogenic global warming enthusiasts. I am an AGW skeptic who supports rapid reduction in the use of fossil fuels and their eventual elimination, because it is child’s play to construct a compelling proposition for this without ever mentioning global warming. My support was rejected because it was for the wrong reason.
Bill, what is your compelling reason that is other than climate change? Could you share a link to such argument?
You are free to believe or disbelieve the compelling reasons, but high school physics and chemistry suffice to understand.
Fossil fuels are finite. Our new discoveries and improved extraction methods don’t create any new fossil fuels. We cannot rely on a source of energy that will run out. Read the history of Nauru, which spent money foolishly while mining finite amounts of guano. The bird poop ran out and today Nauru, once the richest country in the world, is a basket case.
Use of fossil fuels releases particles into the atmosphere. We know that some of the particles, such as surfer compounds, carbon monoxide and others, are toxic to life.
That’s it. Basic physics and chemistry. I look at climate science and shake my head. The latest sudden upsurge in temperature conveniently coincides with a change in how global temperatures are measured. When one does not change the way they are measured, they do not change.
The climate is easily the most complex of all complex systems with which we interact. We believe the major drivers are solar cycles, vulcanism, orbital variations and tectonic plate movements. CO2 is a walk-on role without any speaking lines. I learned a great deal from Michael Crichton’s final fifty years of fiction: approach complex systems with humility, not hubris. Do an internet search for Crichton and “Aliens Cause Global Warming.”
We are not experiencing record heat. The geological record tells us earth has been much hotter in the past. The rise of sea level is cyclical, see sunken cities in the Mediterranean, off India and Pohnpei. We saw global temps rise ten degrees C in ten years following piercing of a methane deposit before humans existed. I’m far more worried about the loss of topsoil from Africa to South America every year.
The Great Flood was evidently real in most parts of the earth that passed on oral traditions. Every prediction of gloom and doom has been wrong. Also see Crichton’s “State of Fear.” If I’m wrong, and there’s really global warming going on, then I’m still right in my position, regardless of the reason. Globally, glacial mass is not changing, according to the world’s experts on glaciers in Iceland. The ones retreating get publicity, the ones advancing don’t.
Thanks for that, Bill. I can easily join you in some of your stated reasons.