The Real Danger Of Politicizing Everything – CleanTechnica

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Recently, a fellow writer here told us about the death threats that meteorologists are facing. In a time when politics has wormed its way into everything, enlightened discussions about public policy in the face of a global threat get swept out of the way in favor of hatred, disinformation, and violence. I don’t have all of the answers, but we’d better at least identify the problem if we want to even have a crack at solving it.

When Politics Worms Its Way Into Places It Doesn’t Belong

In some ways, politics has always been avoidable. Before we had governments, kings, or even whoever was in charge of the earliest prehistoric cities, our ancestors were still social creatures. Game cameras have found that many “loner” animals like mountain lions and bobcats don’t really live alone like we thought, but a periodic rendezvous for reproduction and to share larger kills pales in comparison to the levels of cooperation and group strength that humans have managed.

Even in a small, largely egalitarian tribe, decisions still must be made. The food here is getting a little meager, so where should we go? No, there’s no time to experiment with those seeds. There’s a mammoth to kill! It looks like the people in the next valley are trying to horn in on our berries. Should we withdraw or go club them? Even without mortgages, tax policy, educational systems, or telecommunications, there was probably no shortage of issues to squabble over.

But the way a family squabbles and the way politicians often squabble these days are still very different things. When you disagree with a family member over resources or future plans, you find a way to work it out in nearly all cases without finding a way to bring threats of deadly violence into the mix. It’s also very unlikely that a marriage would survive very long if a man starts coming up with crazy stories about his wife plotting to control the weather behind his back. There’s just a certain level of craziness or evil that a consensual human relationship can bear before everything comes apart and someone possibly ends up either in prison or in a facility for the insane.

However, what would be considered abuse and felony-level domestic violence at home passes for normal as long as there’s partisan politics and elections involved. Want to go to the local Starbucks? You’d better not get a latte unless you’re an effete “librul.” Guns? Those are for crazy right-wing cranks (unless, of course, you’re hunting ducks or something). If you’re a real man, you need to have a truck, modify it to emit insane amounts of smoke, and put on a sticker about a conservative political issue or you might be gay or something. EVs are terrible—unless, of course, you’re the proud owner of a Cybertruck or another Tesla from that Nazi-supporting Elon Musk.

Buy the wrong car, buy the wrong drink, or have the wrong opinion, and someone will try to make you pay. Maybe they’ll just key your car. Maybe they’ll just make fun of you. Or maybe they’ll give you a death threat. In the worst case, they might even kill you.

Talking About The Weather

It used to be that the weather was a good starting point for a conversation with a stranger. After all, we all share the weather no matter what our background is, right?

But even the weather is something that there’s an approved or unapproved opinion on. If you’re on the political right, you’re supposed to believe in all manner of insane conspiracy theories. The Democrats are controlling the weather with an array of radio transmitters in Alaska. Hurricanes keep getting sent to Florida and Texas, and then nobody comes out to help afterward. It used to be that they’d claim that it was the wrath of their god when bad things happened, but somehow the weak and effeminate “libruls” are powerful enough to rival the old gods now.

At the same time, fact-based discussions of climate change can be done poorly. It’s reasonable to explain that the intensity of storms and other extreme weather events can be amplified by anthropogenic global warming, obviously. But, when people assert that there’s no way to solve the problem without “smashing capitalism” or giving a particular political party everything on its wish list, people who aren’t committed to that party’s cause will find it all a bit too convenient. So, we end up pushing people into climate change denial simply because they think that’s better for their interests.

At the end of the day, ideologues and extremists end up pushing the discussion instead of allowing reasonable adults to actually figure things out. Worse, even benign discussions about the weather end up turning into political discussions, making it yet another thing you have to tread on eggshells over.

Violence Against Weathermen & Weatherwomen

It sucks when everything goes political and nasty, but as if that wasn’t bad enough, now we’re seeing something as benign and universally-experienced as the weather become not only ugly, but violent. With people feeling like their whole future hinges on whether their side wins arguments, inconvenient truths are a mortal threat.

The list of meteorologists and other experts who have been threatened with violence for discussing climate change isn’t limited to just one or two professionals. Katie Nickolau, a TV newscaster in Michigan, defied those threatening her, saying that “Murdering meteorologists won’t stop hurricanes.” Other meteorologists in Iowa, Washington, D.C., and Houston have all faced similar threats online, as well as accusations of being part of a cover-up for a conspiracy to control the weather and use it to punish red states.

The damage this does to us all is very real. Not only do meteorologists self-censor to avoid the wrath of anti-science audiences and even coworkers (who don’t tend to be scientists), but some even quit their jobs to avoid violence and fear. This, in turn, leads to less good science happening in local newsrooms, fear of expressing opinions or sharing facts that the public needs to hear, and less support for truth-seeking research and fact-finding.

Featured image by NASA (Public Domain).