Trevor Noah smacks around Trump and other climate change deniers on The Daily Show

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/11/28/trevor-noah-smacks-around-trum.html

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When they ignore the large consensus on climate change and even energy company internal studies that have surfaced, Hanlon’s razor suggests we are allowed to conclude malice.

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Like Upton Sinclair said, It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.

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The fact that Rick Santorum and other Republican pundits tried to turn that saying around on the entire scientific community (“if they don’t perpetuate the climate change myth they’ll all be out if a job”) makes my head hurt.

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He’s not wrong. It all comes down to integrity.

Scientists use data to back up their findings and opinions (and climate change science is a mix of both). If they are making stuff up or misrepresenting a study, then some other scientist that wants to keep their job is going to call them out.

Santorum, on the other hand, will lose his job if he were to accept reality.

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Not really; that’s my point. Even if individual scientists lacked integrity to the same degree that politicians do the world’s scientific community still wouldn’t be able to come to a single overwhelming consensus without the data to back it up.

Politicians want to make the issue of climate change about intangible qualities like “integrity,” which can be called into question or dismissed as a partisan issue. Scientists want to make the issue about “evidence.”

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Fixed that for ya.

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It’s not fun to even joke like that. Internet sarcasm will be our downfall.

It’s not sarcasm. Only really awful scientists start with their opinion and cherry-pick data to support it. The vast majority of scientists, who vary from competent to brilliant, design experiments to answer a question and let the data FORM their findings and opinions.

And as @Headache points out, the ones who don’t get called out and often ostracized by their peers.

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That, and how it will affect The Economy. Doubt the scientists, or claim it is too expensive if you can’t.

Sometimes it really feels that climate change is but a symptom, what we are really dying of is a bad case of Shareholders…

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News flash: scientists can study anything, if they weren’t studying climate change they would be studying something else weather or environment related.

Second news flash: oil companies make wayyyyyy more money than all the climate scientists combined.

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Trevor Noah smacks around Trump and other climate change deniers on The Daily Show

No he doesn’t. Don’t get my hopes up.

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The argument that larger media (CNN, etc) is complicit in damaging the earth by having unscientific guests as a ‘professional’ counterpoint is very valid. People perceive guests as vetted equal sides of one argument. Noah makes a very good point. It’s carnival barking and the planet is getting destroyed by it.

When this debate started decades ago there used to be anti-warming scientists but even they are now convinced this shit’s real. Now we have Rick Santorum?

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I mean, can you imagine if CNN did the same thing with rape or murder?

Announcer: “Thank you police officer for your statement on the murdered person. We understand they can’t speak for themselves, as they were murdered.”

Rick Santorum: “Now hold on, Angela, I’d just like to speak out agains the deceased. There’s no facts that murder kills. It’s part of the leftwing anti-murder bias. Where is the proof!”

Police Officer: “Well there’s the body. It’s dead.”

Santorum: “Malarky!”

Announcer: “Thank you for your counterpoint. We’re so glad we brought you on the air. Mr Officer, can you respond to Mr Santorum’s claims?”

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Seven to ten years of university followed by a starting salary less than many tradesmen is possibly the worst get-rich-quick scheme in history. /s

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Hubris. It gets all of us. Where/when we least expect it. Hedging is good. Allows you to make virtuous moves when you really don’t know or understand.

Detachment is difficult when all the crowd wants is to pick out and burn the witch.

He refuses to listen to scientists or anyone else for that matter.

The upside for dealing with people like this is that they probably ignore sensible medical advice, as well as guidelines for diet and exercise. I’m sure they’ll be shocked when those consequences hit home, too.

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I misread your comment. To me it seemed that the original statement implied that findings and opinions were based on data- not that the data was picked to support the opinions. I was hearing your comment as a sarcastic take on a science denigrator.

generations to come shall enjoy milder breezes
and live under sunnier skies

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