Even as global climate change is actively happening and is being documented as causing one catastrophe after another, so many people deny it is even a real thing. Living where I do, surrounded by the ultra-conservative, I shouldn't continue to be surprised. Somehow, these folks always find another way to stun me.
I had watched that video feed from EVNautilus and winced when those comments were made. Not because the researchers made them - hell, I'd do the same thing in a joking manner. But they (and I) know that the "road to Atlantis" is just geology at work. I winced because I knew immediately that those phrases would be turned into clickbait and the fringe would jump all over them.
On the good news side, it was heartening to see someone keep his cool in a desperate situation and land a plane that would have likely crashed otherwise. As a former military aviator I can confirm that this was no simple feat, even in that plane. Takeoffs and landings are the most critical part of every flight and learning to land in an emergency situation took real guts and a clear head. And kudos to the instructor who calmly worked with that passenger-turned-pilot!
I'm not sure people *truly* deny climate change is happening. They are *in denial*. Now that it's really obvious, I think they know, but they refuse to accept it. And they aren't willing to change. That, to me, it the most depressing part - how self-centered a significant majority of the population can be. They just don't care except for their own gain.
That is a good distinction between denying and being in denial. I hadn't thought about it before. I do see a few (I know a couple personally) who think it's all a big hoax that "the Left" are using to gain power somehow. The only conversation I had with one of them - my neighbor - was so convoluted and bizarre I just gave up on it. It involved government mind-control conspiracies, demons (yes, biblical demons) and other topics that I didn't have the time, energy, or desire for. But most are probably simply in denial as you stated.
And yes, the short-term gains, self-centered greediness, and lack of forethought are very depressing. Whatever happened to wanting a better world for our children, and their children?
Even as global climate change is actively happening and is being documented as causing one catastrophe after another, so many people deny it is even a real thing. Living where I do, surrounded by the ultra-conservative, I shouldn't continue to be surprised. Somehow, these folks always find another way to stun me.
I had watched that video feed from EVNautilus and winced when those comments were made. Not because the researchers made them - hell, I'd do the same thing in a joking manner. But they (and I) know that the "road to Atlantis" is just geology at work. I winced because I knew immediately that those phrases would be turned into clickbait and the fringe would jump all over them.
On the good news side, it was heartening to see someone keep his cool in a desperate situation and land a plane that would have likely crashed otherwise. As a former military aviator I can confirm that this was no simple feat, even in that plane. Takeoffs and landings are the most critical part of every flight and learning to land in an emergency situation took real guts and a clear head. And kudos to the instructor who calmly worked with that passenger-turned-pilot!
I'm not sure people *truly* deny climate change is happening. They are *in denial*. Now that it's really obvious, I think they know, but they refuse to accept it. And they aren't willing to change. That, to me, it the most depressing part - how self-centered a significant majority of the population can be. They just don't care except for their own gain.
That is a good distinction between denying and being in denial. I hadn't thought about it before. I do see a few (I know a couple personally) who think it's all a big hoax that "the Left" are using to gain power somehow. The only conversation I had with one of them - my neighbor - was so convoluted and bizarre I just gave up on it. It involved government mind-control conspiracies, demons (yes, biblical demons) and other topics that I didn't have the time, energy, or desire for. But most are probably simply in denial as you stated.
And yes, the short-term gains, self-centered greediness, and lack of forethought are very depressing. Whatever happened to wanting a better world for our children, and their children?