WHY do anti-global warming people have to be such ASSHOLES

[Rosemary2205]

Over the weekend I got into a conversation about global warming with a couple of people and one of them almost had an embolism and practically screaming about how "Al Gore is lying just to get national attention" and CFL's are even worse for the environment, burning oil doesn't do anything to "a big planet like this" and how nazi environmentalists have been trying to destroy our way of life since the 70's.

It was one thing for this person to be so grossly uninformed. But it was the asshole attitude of "I'm right, everyone else is wrong and don't bother me with facts or I'll scream and yell until you all shut up".

Freeepers - what can you dow with them??

[MissB]

1. Laugh at them.

[AlinPA]

7. That's what I do. I shake my head and laugh a bit; sometimes I say "That's

what Jerry Fallwell and Pat Robertson say, too".

[greenman3610]

16. Actually, Pat Robertson is now coming around on warming

Yesterday on the 700 Club, evangelical Pat Robertson declared himself “a convert” on global warming. Robertson said that he has “not been one who believed in global warming in the past.” But now, Robertson said, he believes “it is getting hotter and the ice caps are melting and there is a build up of carbon dioxide in the air.” Robertson implored, “we really need to do something on fossil fuels.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/08/03/robertson-global-warming/

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. You're looking at it wrong.

Being an asshole is a prerequisite to being an global warming denier.

[Rosemary2205]

4. This person always seemed like a decent human being to me.

This was a charity function and he is heavily involved. This is one of those "give you the shirt off my back" guys. It was so odd to see him go absolutely nuts over the mere mention of a CFL.

[yardwork]

11. I know. There's one in my office.

Did you know that the polar bear population is like, totally exploding?! Because it's colder than ever at the North Pole! Colder than ever!

She won't watch Al Gore's movie, because she says she "already knows everything he's going to say." (Said with a glowering look.)

She seems so nice and then....

[Rosemary2205]

17. It was like sitting in the middle of bizarro world

This group has a strict but informal policy of avoiding politics unless it's a matter of discussing how to approach the powers that be for assistance in our cause - which has to do with helping and promoting mobility for the physically challenged.

Like you -- he seemed so nice and then........

[damntexdem]

3. Because they're burning up ...

and they don't know why.

[jtrockville]

5. How else could you refute a consensus

of the entire scientific community?

[Mythsaje]

6. "Well, buddy, if you owned a big mansion

and used only the corners of each room to shit in, eventually they'd start filling up, wouldn't they? We've been spewing shit into the planetary atomosphere in larger quantities for the past couple hundred years. What gives you the impression that there's a limit to how much the atmosphere can handle? It is, after all, a CLOSED system."

I don't know any global warming deniers. I probably wouldn't bother with such a speech. I'd just mutter, "You're an idiot," and walk away, which is pretty much how I deal with ALL assholes IRL.

[yardwork]

8. What can we expect from people so divorced from reality?

I mean, what would it take to be in total, absolute, 100% denial about global warming?

There's your answer.

[treestar]

9. They are afraid to face up to it and are in denial, therefore mentioning it

threatens that precarious mental set up.

Some of them are extremely religious in a fundie way - these think there is no point to worrying about it because they will be raptured anyway. So they deny that anything should be done about it, even if it exists.

What amazes me is that they think it is an attempt to impose a dictatorship on them - because the government will be running everything if anything is done about GW, in their minds - yet they don't see terra and war as the much more effective justification for those kind of measures than environmental laws.

[Spazito]

10. I used to get as angry and excited when I ran into people like that

but now I just ask, "What harm is done by recycling, turning the thermostat down, developing alternate fuels, reducing pollution? Let's say, for argument's sake, the scientists and Al Gore are wrong and there is no global warning, why not still do the things suggested, if nothing else you will save money and IF they are, in fact, correct then what was good for your pocketbook turns out to be the right thing to do for the environment."

I then ask, what is the down side to doing the things suggested?

They don't have an answer, they either change the subject or, on rare occasions, say I have a good point, lol.

[HonorTheConstitution]

12. Give him what once a native American said: Only when the last tree has been destroyed, the white man

will learn, that he cannot eat money.

Maybe your friend is still too stupid and brainwashed by the MSM that he cannot translate that into

air, water and other pollution.

[unpossibles]

13. selfishness

when you boil it down, if humans are even slightly responsible for GCC, that means we have to consider our own behavior and be responsible for our actions. Which means changing what we're doing ultimately.

This flies in the face of the Capitalist ideal of constant growth and endless consumerism, not to mention brings to mind more regulation and other things the small government types don't want to hear. (disclaimer: I am a capitalist in many ways and do not think communism is the answer, but we also need to be realistic about the problems within our own system if we hope to survive and improve things).

Another thing is, these are the paranoid people who don't want anyone to tell them what they can or can't do. Ever. Which is the real reason they hate Big Government so much. Well, that and greed, but greed is just applied selfishness, really.


Frankly though, I think it's mainly because they're told to react that way.

[SoonerPride]

14. You are what you eat.

Yes, it's true.

[Beaverhausen]

15. Ask them why they disagree with all the world's leading scientists.

[Az]

18. The current issue of Scientific American states flat out the earth is heating up

and it is due in part to our actions. It has an article in it spelling out the irrefutable evidence. Might want to go purchase a couple copies and send it to idiots that refuse to accept it.

[Rosemary2205]

19. I'll have to hunt it down. Thanks!

:)

[hfojvt]

20. "If you cannot win by reason

try using volume." Calvin

They are taking an intellectually precarious position. The conventional wisdom of the media is against them. Having 'the whole world' against you makes people nervous. Often their debate opponents will attack them, calling them corporate dupes, or otherwise ignorant idiots or lunatics. Plus, they have an irrational, deep seated hatred of Al Gore.

Imagine, if you will, the same conversation taking place two years ago about the Iraq war. Wouldn't the liberal practically have an embolism about how George Bush is lying, and Saddam didn't have WMD, and how fascist corporations have been trying to destroy our way of life since the 50s...

Too often, arguments devolve into name calling, shouting, and grand theories.