“Was not their mistake once more bred of the life of slavery that they had been living?—a life which was always looking upon everything, except mankind, animate and inanimate—‘nature,’ as people used to call it—as one thing, and mankind as another, it was natural to people thinking in this way, that they should try to make ‘nature’ their slave, since they thought ‘nature’ was something outside them” — William Morris


Friday, July 3, 2015

"We Don't Know What Percentage"

This is the new right wing tactic: "We don't know what percentage is caused by humans." Actually we do. Quite precisely.

Pretty much 100% of it. (Animated graph.)

"We don't know what percentage" buffs the "skeptical" image. The patina of an intelligent lack of certainty.

Just before this, it was "I'm no scientist," which appeals to anti-intellectualism ("I'm not one of those nerds") and effects humility.

What will it be next? Let's anticipate, defang, and prevent.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

One of my fave parts in Hyperobjects is when you say, WE HAVE ENOUGH DATA ALREADY!!! Put more eloquently, of course.
You should see the data agriculture profs produce about whether farm animals should be allowed move their fucking limbs. Omg. The bs about needing data on that issue is beyond insane.