What do George Will, Sarah Palin, and Some Numnuts Over on the Hannity Board Have In Common?
They remind me of that guy from that infamous 1970's TV commercial who famously declared:
I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV.
To explain, George Will is taking a lot of heat lately for being a shill for the anti global warming crowd. But you know how I like to say things like, don't pretend? You know how base line facts are important to me? Here is the baseline fact. George Will knows as much about the science of climate change as an illiterate Yak herder knows about polymer extrusion technology. That does not mean all by itself that every thing George Will says on the subject is the purest of bullshit, but honestly, I will take George's word on the history of Baseball (not as gospel, but as someone who seems to have done enough work in the field to know something about it), but I have no reason to take his word on any field of science. Actually.
Now what does that have to do with a particular poster (actually one of the moderators) on the Hannity Board? This guy is religiously, zealously against the global warming argument, but even if he has done some research, he is clearly not talking about a field he has mastered, but instead is clearly presenting an ideologically-biased, dogmatic, and subjective POV. Loon even has a website dedicated to the subject, even if he clearly really has no mastery over it.
*Sidebar* Back when I was a lobbyist at the state level, I got to see the serial crazies who would show up to legislative hearings to let the people's elected representatives know what they thought on a range of subjects, no matter how little they knew about what they were talking about.
I am not saying this guy from the Hannity board is that bad, but I am making the inference. At least he has done his partisan talking point home work.
Moving along, what does Sarah Palin have to do with this conversation, beyond the fact she is a ripe, and by that I mean stinking ripe ignorant partisan on this issue, herself? Well she is a bridge to that guy who was not a doctor, but played one on TV. And the point I am making about her and George, and the Hannity board loon is, one can learn the terminology. That is what people who play doctors on TV do; they learn to say Foley bag, and ventricle, or epi, or infarct. But the mere fact they learn how to use some terms, and by use I mean say or type, doesn't mean they know shit about the concepts.
Yes, I drug Sociopathic Succubus Sarah into the topic as low hanging fruit. But this whole stink over George Will, and how the Wash. Post was giving him a pass for stating partisan bullshit as if it were scientific fact, did make me think of Ms. Palin. I remember when I was first learning about her, and I mean like days before her acceptance speech, and I watched/heard her interview with someone where she blabbed blabbed about energy policy. At first it seemed she knew what she was talking about, somewhat, but the more I learned about her, and the more video I watched, the more convinced I became that she was mostly just spewing jargon and talking points, more so than actually having a mastery of the subject.
And that is what a lot of the right wingers who are gun ho against the global warming argument are doing these days. Not to say that I totally believe that everything the proponents of global warming theory say is 100% verified scientific fact, but I think they have proved the likelihood of some facts, and that is saying a lot. That is science, actually. It might not be perfectly unassailable veritas, but it is sound science. However, what their opponents are doing, to a large extent, is throwing lots of terminology and jargon at the global warming side, and hoping they can earn points for sounding scientific, with out having actual sound science to back their arguments up. And that is bullshit; just like some actor who used to play a doctor on TV being in a position to be an authority on the Worth of some over the counter remedy.
I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV.
To explain, George Will is taking a lot of heat lately for being a shill for the anti global warming crowd. But you know how I like to say things like, don't pretend? You know how base line facts are important to me? Here is the baseline fact. George Will knows as much about the science of climate change as an illiterate Yak herder knows about polymer extrusion technology. That does not mean all by itself that every thing George Will says on the subject is the purest of bullshit, but honestly, I will take George's word on the history of Baseball (not as gospel, but as someone who seems to have done enough work in the field to know something about it), but I have no reason to take his word on any field of science. Actually.
Now what does that have to do with a particular poster (actually one of the moderators) on the Hannity Board? This guy is religiously, zealously against the global warming argument, but even if he has done some research, he is clearly not talking about a field he has mastered, but instead is clearly presenting an ideologically-biased, dogmatic, and subjective POV. Loon even has a website dedicated to the subject, even if he clearly really has no mastery over it.
*Sidebar* Back when I was a lobbyist at the state level, I got to see the serial crazies who would show up to legislative hearings to let the people's elected representatives know what they thought on a range of subjects, no matter how little they knew about what they were talking about.
I am not saying this guy from the Hannity board is that bad, but I am making the inference. At least he has done his partisan talking point home work.
Moving along, what does Sarah Palin have to do with this conversation, beyond the fact she is a ripe, and by that I mean stinking ripe ignorant partisan on this issue, herself? Well she is a bridge to that guy who was not a doctor, but played one on TV. And the point I am making about her and George, and the Hannity board loon is, one can learn the terminology. That is what people who play doctors on TV do; they learn to say Foley bag, and ventricle, or epi, or infarct. But the mere fact they learn how to use some terms, and by use I mean say or type, doesn't mean they know shit about the concepts.
Yes, I drug Sociopathic Succubus Sarah into the topic as low hanging fruit. But this whole stink over George Will, and how the Wash. Post was giving him a pass for stating partisan bullshit as if it were scientific fact, did make me think of Ms. Palin. I remember when I was first learning about her, and I mean like days before her acceptance speech, and I watched/heard her interview with someone where she blabbed blabbed about energy policy. At first it seemed she knew what she was talking about, somewhat, but the more I learned about her, and the more video I watched, the more convinced I became that she was mostly just spewing jargon and talking points, more so than actually having a mastery of the subject.
And that is what a lot of the right wingers who are gun ho against the global warming argument are doing these days. Not to say that I totally believe that everything the proponents of global warming theory say is 100% verified scientific fact, but I think they have proved the likelihood of some facts, and that is saying a lot. That is science, actually. It might not be perfectly unassailable veritas, but it is sound science. However, what their opponents are doing, to a large extent, is throwing lots of terminology and jargon at the global warming side, and hoping they can earn points for sounding scientific, with out having actual sound science to back their arguments up. And that is bullshit; just like some actor who used to play a doctor on TV being in a position to be an authority on the Worth of some over the counter remedy.
posted by Abstentus at 1:51 PM
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