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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Fw: New Cumberland BC Cumberlander Article:Howshould the world respond to climate change?

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  • From: Toby Hemenway <toby@patternliteracy.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Fw: New Cumberland BC Cumberlander Article:Howshould the world respond to climate change?
  • Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2010 08:53:55 -0800


fdnokes@hotmail.com wrote:
It has brought out how completely infiltrated a person can
be (as I was) with notions of political correctness.
I am grateful for having had the chance to witness this.
At risk of belaboring a thread, once again I'm having just the opposite reaction. It seems very politically incorrect to argue with heat and passion with someone about climate change. It seems very politically correct to call for tolerance and to be respectful of views no matter how destructive they are.

For propaganda to be effective, it must do two things: It needs to get to the target audience without their realizing that it is propaganda, and it needs to trigger an instinctive response in that audience that renders them ineffective or compliant, whether that instinct is anti-semitism or the sacred cow of tolerance. I'd say that article has been effective propaganda.

Again, the evolution debate is a good example: Science-based education has been compromised in our schools because the creationists have been very effective at playing the "balance" card, which is a plea for tolerance. Educated people keep thinking that the debate can be won on the merits of the science, as in AGW, and it won't be. It's a political issue, and the better strategist will win. So while we argue morals, they put out obscene rants by Glenn Beck and the other henchmen, and the forests burn.

At any rate, it's fascinating to me to see how differently we can view the world.

Toby
http://patternliteracy.com





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