Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Naomi Klein has claimed that the reason Americans, British, Australians and Canadians are the world’s leading “climate deniers”, is that we share a “frontier mentality”.
According to Klein;
Klein said the denial of climate science was prevalent in English-speaking countries such as Australia, Canada, the US and the UK because of a “colonial settler mentality”.
“Countries founded on a powerful frontier mentality have this idea of limitless nature than can be endlessly extracted,” she said.
“Climate change is threatening to that because there are limits and you have to respect those limits. Where that frontier narrative is strongest is where denialism is strongest.
“The rest of Europe has a keener sense of boundaries – they’ve lived against the limits of nature for longer.”
For once Naomi has a point. People who reject climate alarmism, in my experience, tend to be people who think for themselves.
And I was always lead to believe that “Ideation” was beyond the capabilities of the average over-edjumacated Bimbo.
No! That’s not the reason. The reason is that those of us in the Western world are expected to pay for this scam. If you want to see us 1st worlders get on board make the 3rd world pay us to “fix” the climate.
Are the Inuit, and various south American and other sundry recluse (vis a vis Modern Humans) aboriginal peoples “Deniers”, or do they lack the “Frontier Mentality”?
Fascinating. I can’t wait for the Pretzel.
I hear the beaches are lovely this time of year in Yemen and Somalia. Go for it.
Have you ever noticed that folks who have others all figured out usually don’t seem to have themselves figured out?
Let’s just say that the “frontier mentality” is what keeps folks from driving the wagons over a cliff…
Unlike alarmists we are not a flock of sheep.
Naomi Klein is not fond of Israel either. Too much frontier mentality perhaps?
Apparently, people in a lot of European countries are even more sceptical that us pioneer (hill billies). Holland which is below sea level and Danmark, which generates a lot of wind power are just not buying into the hype either.
Right.
Proportion responding in 2008-09 that global warming was a serious personal threat.
What a weird woman.
Europeans have a keener sense of boundaries? Gosh let me think about that. USSR = Russia + 14 others; unified Germany; Czech + Slovakia; Yugoslavia = Serbia + Slovenia + Croatia + Bosnia + whatever; Ukraine = a work in progress. Now that is what – 25+ years. Well defined indeed?
These warministas have no clue about the actual science so invariably busy themselves analyzing their opponents experience, education, brain, etc.
Sheeple vs people?
Of course, she’s bonkers anyway – a quick look at the genetic map of England will reveal that it is one of the most settled and ancient societies in the world. The genetic mix is largely the same today as it was in the 9th Century, outside of the great cities where immigration throws up anomalies.
Utter bilge from Klein – again.
Her logic is doubtless based in some sort of survey or scientific account. No? Well then my opinion is as good as hers. This is a good thing, being a pioneer! Artificial boundaries are for the sheep, though often led to slaughter.
Naomi dear.. Canadian, aren’t you..
Well, if you are really worried about a it of warming.. then move north .
The North West Territories beckon you.
I bet you actually live within 100km of the US border, probably on that little spike of Ontario that brings you even further south
And where do you holiday in winter?
Again, a valiant attempt to explain the mental defects of us skeptics. First we were conspiracy theorists, and now pioneers.
I think our true common defect is that we are applying the Scientific Method in a post-reality society. We really should know better. We tell people this sort of thing:
Hypothesis: CO2 will cause runaway warming.
Experiment: Let the CO2 continue to increase 20 years.
Result: No warming.
Conclusion: The hypothesis is incorrect.
There was this golden age where this reasoning worked. No more. We’ll probably have to wait for an ice age to convince these people.
BFL said:
“August 18, 2015 at 10:07 am
This title might explain the problem and also what I’ve got against cats:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cat-parasite-toxoplasma-gondii-linked-to-mental-illness-schizophrenia/
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/toxoplasmosis/basics/causes/con-20025859
http://www.health24.com/Medical/Diseases/Diseases-from-cats-Client-20120721
Of course if you need a good barn mouser then they might be more fun than rat traps.”
I say don’t take everything you read at face value! My reply isn’t really off-topic, since we are speaking of alarmist hype in service to a political agenda, BFL.
In this case, there is most definitely a concerted bias against free ranging and/or feral domestic cats, from orgs like the Audubon Society, and “environmental” advocacy groups who make sensational claims with little to no actual evidence (sound familiar?).
I became interested in this specific topic when California Sea otters were found to be dying from Toxoplasmosis infections, and the hype was that it was caused by runoff into the sea from people emptying cat litter boxes on land (hype from biased “researchers” at UC Davis). Coincidentally, I was already interested in Dr. Torrey’s research on TG since I work with folks experiencing severe mental illness. Ultimately, it was proven through DNA analysis that the Sea Otters were infected with strains of TG that were unique.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15003489
But you can bet that some environmental group, or cat-hating group will still try to hype the cat connection.
Although E.Fuller Torrey was a pioneer in exploring the possibility of a link between toxoplasmosis and severe mental illness, he would be among the first to say that he did not find any “proof” of a connection, only that there was some correlation that does not necessarily mean “causation”.
The facts are that
1) all felines of every species are the “definitive hosts” of *sexual* reproduction of the toxoplasma organism. However, this crafty microbe also reproduces asexually in virtually every warm-blooded species (including birds and sea mammals), and even in some cold-blooded ones (sea mussels) on the planet by cloning itself.
Humans are by far the most infested animals.Worldwide it is second only to malaria as far as infections go. It is even found in the foxes on Svalbard island, a place where no felines have ever lived.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18096319 (among others)
2) In the USA, the leading cause of Toxoplasma infection is meat-eating, and it is a leading food-borne illness, according to the CDC : http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/ (among other articles) .Approximately 22% of the US human population carries Toxoplasma at any given time. In other places around the world, approximately 95% of the population carries it.
Clearly, Toxoplasma Gondii infection (Toxoplasmosis) ain’t all about “cats”.
And with even less bonafide evidence, “climate change” ain’t all about human CO2 emissions, no matter how far afield someone like NK wants to stretch her imagination in order to make the case for it. .
One thing about a “frontier mentality” she didn’t consider, a love of independence, in thought and action.
I’m not from Missouri but it used to frontier county in the US. It’s called “The Show Me State”.
The alarmist with their models have failed to show anything that matches reality.
Maybe she should consider another reason; Many of the top (actural) climate scientists are from these countries and speak in English, e.g. Richard Lindzen, Roy Spencer, John Christy, etc.
Notice, Naomi, that it has been the most insular, whether politically or racially or religiously, who ended up during the 20th century running over everyone’s borders and requiring the hard work of the frontier-mentality nations to put them back. The idea that we should give in to despot mentality, whether of another nation or ideology or ideology masquerading as science, is ludicrous.
But, then, Naomi, you are showing the classic liberal mentality: the belief that the world and all there is in it exist in a one-to-one correspondence with your idea of it.
Sorry, babe, you’re dead wrong, and we’re not going along with your death wish.
Smitten! Can’t recall seeing a better looking alarmist grace these pages? (I bet you a fiver I can convert her to our Team.) This will be my first line….
“Hey Nay! Since China produces more CO2 than all of us colonizing frontiersmen put together, can you name the great Chinese explorers that colonized the world with their brazen frontier attitude? No, how’s about din din the, I here the crow is great up Nort’ in Canadia…”
Ms. Klein is talking pure mush; pure propaganda pushing. There is no truth whatsoever in her words.
Fer cryin’ out loud, who in the heck “denies climate”!?!?? Who in their right mind denies the climate changes?!?? I made it through grade school and learned about Tropical Earth, Snowball Earth, the past glaciation that covered my neighborhood, and I could look out the window and see that the glaciers were gone. Grade school! And, by gosh and by golly, it seems we have warmed up since the Little Ice Age. Imagine that!
‘Climate Change’ has become code for ‘Global Warming,’ which was shorthand for the original ‘Anthropogenic Global Warming,’ which was code for ‘CO2-based Anthropogenic Global Warming,’ which was being sold as ‘Runaway Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming due to Fossil Fuel use’… which isn’t happening and which isn’t ever going to happen if it didn’t happen when atmospheric CO2 was 3,000-4,000 or more ppm. “We’re all gonna die and we’re all gonna fry” above 350ppm my sweet Aunt Fanny!!!
*pause for a breath*… *and another*
Naomi Klein is talking pure Social Science poop and I recommend that she consult with Stephan Lewandowsky to learn how to do it properly. The critters and the cause of their behavior she is talking about do not exist except in her bit of Marxist heaven (where they are kept in cages, and fed tree bark when not being cattle-prodded, as a warning to right-thinking people). Skeptics are not one thing; one monolithic lump of wrong-thinking humanity. The whole premise of a “frontier mentality” is made up of whole cloth just to denigrate those who might stand in the way of her dreams of a Marxist utopia. That’s the warp and the woof of it.
Her declaration, that those with a “frontier mentality” have no brake on their propensity to use up all available resources, is patently false and is an insult to all good stewards of the Earth who happen to be skeptical of the idea that there is some sort of climate-related emergency or imminent doom to befall all of mankind, and that it is all due to fossil fuel use.
I would prefer that she just throw herself on the ground, kicking and screaming in the finest tradition of the tantrums of a 3-year old, and explain that her animus towards a skeptical viewpoint is because, “You skeptics just won’t do what I want you to do! Waaahhhh!!!” That would be honest, and I could accept that viewpoint.
Now, will ya’ll excuse me while I take a break and dab the flecks of spittle from the corners of my mouth?
/end irritated response, liberally spiked with incredulity, to Naomi Klein’s nonsense
For the record, I don’t think Naomi is correct, about climate skepticism mainly being focussed on the English speaking world. FOIA, the person who leaked the climategate emails, claims to be from a non-English speaking background.
A quote from the note FOIA included in the CG3 release:
… That’s right; no conspiracy, no paid hackers, no Big Oil. The Republicans didn’t plot this. USA politics is alien to me, neither am I from the UK. There is life outside the Anglo-American sphere. …
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/03/13/climategate-3-0-has-occurred-the-password-has-been-released/
memo to Naomi –
surely it was the pioneers with frontier mentality who created CAGW.
How would she know how prevalent AGW skepticism is anywhere else?
It appears most of the citizens of China aren’t buying into the AGW nonsense either. In fairness, though , I think Genghis Khan (or whatever the current PC spelling of his name is is) could be classified as a “frontier-buster” and independent thinker. Show me your (unmanipulated) data,Naomi !