“What most upset her was the effect on her #scientific #research. About 40% of her lab’s income came from state funding, which put it in danger as #climatecrisis #denialism spread.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
Meet the new American refugees...
"An irrational belief in irrational ideas usually leads to irrational results" - Futurist Jim Carroll
So let's try and figure out what's going on.
I took today's quote, fed it to ChatGPT, and got the picture above which I used for today;'s 'inspiration' image.
Look, in the last little while, I've looked into the Science of Stupidity, the Science of Mistakes, and The Science of Regret. So why not the Science of Irrational Decisions, which I learned is often referred to as "cognitive distortions." There's a lot to be found online to explain where we are. Charts and stuff that explain the many different types of irrational decisions aka cognitive distortions.
There's even a course or two to take on it.
It's a fascinating topic, and as expected, there's a lot of research to be found. It's a wonderful rabbit hole to plunge into because you will find such papers as
Overcoming Cognitive Distortions; How to Recognize and Challenge the Thinking Traps that Make You Miserable.
That tracks. People seem to be pretty miserable right now because of the cognitive distortions they've gone through that got us to where we are today.
And, as might expected, there is to be a leadership / personal growth book about it, with the title Predictably IrrationalL: The Hidden Forces that Shape our Decisions, released back in 2008. It probably could use an update!
So let's dig in, shall we? Let's talk about why folks make poor choices about big economic and political issues that end up hurting everyone.
Here's what the science tells us. When people vote against their economic interests or support harmful policies, it's rarely because they're stupid. Their brains just don't always work in their best interest when dealing with complex global systems. Why is that? Our brains take shortcuts. We use mental rules of thumb that help us make quick decisions. This works fine for everyday choices but fails miserably when considering trade policy, inflation control, voting, or healthcare systems.
What happens to people in this circumstance? They get emotional about political and economic issues. Fear, anger, and tribalism cloud their judgment. When someone supports tariffs that will ultimately hurt local businesses because they sound "tough on foreign competition" - that's emotional reasoning drowning out economic reality. It's cognitive dissonance, plain and simple.
The kicker is that the condition leads to great uncertainty, which fuels itself creating more uncertainty in a vicious spiral.
It's complex, folks, and there is no easy way out.
Buckle up.
Read the rest of the post.
**#Irrationality** **#Cognition** **#Distortion** **#Economics** **#Politics** **#Decisions** **#Tribalism** **#Uncertainty** **#Bias** **#Denialism**
This is Hilarious: I guess now Rustad (who no one in their right mind would call “woke" on anything) ‘caved to the woke liberals who have infiltrated the party’ because:
checks notes…. he thought mocking and denying the horrors children faced in Indian Residential Schools was bad.
These people are just racists and demand to be celebrated for it.
Will the BC Conservatives last until the next BC Election?
Article by @akurjata
Meanwhile, in the definitely-not-racist-at-all BC Conservative Party, they successfully identified an overt racist after missing that fact when they approved her candidacy and have banished her to sit as an Independent thus ensuring the BC CPC caucus is figuratively and literally, “racist-adjacent" in the Legislature.
#CPCBC #ResidentialSchools #Denialism #BCPoli
https://www.albernivalleynews.com/news/dallas-brodie-ousted-from-bc-conservative-caucus-rustad-says-7867520
#CandaceOwens is the real plague on society with her hate mongering, attacks on others, anti-semitism
https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/11/29/candace-owens-barred-from-new-zealand/ #LGBTQ #Conservatives #Hate #Denialism #Antisemitism
AIDS denialism was a popular movement in the late 80s and early 90s. It caused death and destruction - and people like RFK Jr still occasionally parrot the lies. That poppers or bad lifestyle caused AIDS and that HIV is NOT the real cause.
These lies have killed thousands of people - and harmed many more.
Given RFK Jr is now going to lead HHS - and be responsible for setting policy and dictating public health - let’s take a look at one high profile AIDS denier and the damage she caused.
Christine Maggiore believed that HIV did not cause AIDS. She believed it was the treatment that caused the disease - and as a result refused to treat her HIV. She wouldn’t even take them when pregnant and breastfeeding - despite doctor’s advising her they drastically reduced the odds of giving your baby HIV.
Her daughter Eliza became sick at 3 years old and died of an AIDS related pneumonia- without ever being tested for HIV.
Doctors who weighed in on the case expressed concerns of negligence on behalf of both her parents and the paediatricians involved.
They explained that had Eliza been HIV+ her pneumonia would have been treated with a more aggressive antibiotic which could have changed the outcome.
The police investigated Maggiore - but in the end the L.A. District Attorney declined to prosecute.
Christine did not change her stance and continued to promote her AIDS denialism - at one point bragging that at least 50 women had “come around to her point of view.”
She literally lost her child and still couldn’t see past her dangerous anti science rhetoric.
How many children were needlessly infected with HIV and subsequently died of AIDS? We can never know for sure.
Folks like Christine and other AIDS denialists preyed on people’s fear and their need to not be responsible for infecting their children. It’s far easier to blame the drugs and lifestyle - because then you can tell yourself you’re ‘better than those people.’ Safer. You won’t get sick and die.
Christine’s behaviour was frighteningly similar to the “exercise your immune system” crowd. The people who refuse ANY Covid mitigations because they believe they can diet and exercise their way out of serious illness and disease.
They fight against clean air, refuse vaccinations and rage against masks. They blame “big pharma” instead of considering Covid may be more dangerous than they realize.
Christine encouraged other mothers to avoid HIV meds and “trust their immune systems” and it had devastating consequences.
Now we see parents encouraging repeat Covid infections as they chase elusive herd immunity. Refusing MMR vaccines. Organizing measles and chicken pox parties.
We have a man poised to lead public health who openly opposes all childhood vaccinations and has been reckless with his HIV and Covid minimization.
Children will become disabled and die - and just like Eliza - they deserve to be protected.
We need clean air in schools (and school busses) and better public health guidance on masking. We need people acknowledging that COVID is anything but “mild” in children. We need to ensure children retain access to vaccines.
It’s worth noting that Maggiore died three years after her daughter Eliza of AIDS related pneumonia…. But never publicly changed her stance on HIV.
Denial is powerful and cognitive dissonance a hard nut to crack. But children are counting on us. They need us to do better.
RFK Jr has potential to do tremendous damage to the health of future generations. This isn’t just about Covid or HIV - but rather any and all disease that we’ve made strides against. He will take us back to a time before we fluoridated the water & vaccinated kids. We must fight back.
For more on Christine Maggiore & AIDS denialism check out the article below:
https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-christine-maggiore30-2008dec30-story.html
Note that it’s estimated that at one point 1 in 4 people with HIV believed it wouldn’t cause AIDS. We don’t hear about it now because they all died.
Denialism & anti-public health messaging kills. For more on RFK Jr and HHS click below:
https://www.them.us/story/rfk-jr-kennedy-trump-health-human-services-secretary
#disinformation #denialism #AntiScience #ScienceDenialism #quacks
The decline of Sabine Hossenfender as a science communicator is sad and worrying. As Professor Dave says, I don’t begrudge her attempt to make money in these hard times. But the way she happily will jettison science and replace it with paranoid accusations tells me she either has no principles she won’t sell for a buck, or she had fundamentally messed up principles to begin with.
This is who he is! "He has promised to grant the #oil lobby’s policy wish-list, even though the sector is responsible for nearly a third of #Canada’s #greenhousegasemissions." https://www.thespec.com/opinion/contributors/big-oil-pays-big-bucks-for-private-meeting-with-poilievre/article_c075f3bf-625e-5004-b216-1ccec025f6ec.html
Floridians get the weather they deserve apparently!
Do I care? Nah! Sorry not sorry!
Denialism isn't a political stance, it's a philosophical one. That's why both right- and left-wing people indulge in it.
Anybody who can be convinced that something is true against evidence otherwise is wide open to being convinced regarding denialism — of anything. HIV/AIDS, COVID, transgender, sexism, racism, etc.
Which is why political efforts to defeat denialism will never work. The only way to defeat it is through education, from kindergarten up. All age groups, all the time.
So I was advised to start a #TikTok (you can find me there at https://tiktok.com/@bentleytoks) and at least half the comments so far are from denialists. If you were curious whether *anybody* could actually believe #MarjoryTaylorGreen's bizarre #WeatherControl claims the answer is yes.
"The #religious right has been pushing the same narrative for years, linking social liberals to #authoritarian #socialism, and in turn characterizing #environmental science as a socialist partisan weapon,” https://www.desmog.com/2024/09/09/inside-the-anti-climate-culture-war-led-by-jordan-peterson-and-project-2025/
As we head towards Labor Day, and the final sprint of the 2024 campaign,
the dominant trends of the election seem set.
Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party are running a hopeful and joyous campaign
focused on expanding individual freedoms and improving the lives of all Americans.
Donald Trump and the Republicans, on the other hand,
continue to peddle a dystopian view of the country that is, well, weird.
#Election #denialism fits into the GOP’s theme
because it relies on dark conspiracy theories
and unnamed “others” who are trying to steal the election.
But it is more than that.
It represents a 
strategy to win an election
in which millions more citizens will vote for Harris than for Trump.
Part of their plan is to normalize the abnormal.
In their telling, harassing election officials is free speech,
kicking voters off the rolls is election integrity
and refusing to accurately certify elections is reasonable inquiry.
Another way of normalizing their anti-democratic approach is by 
using the courts as a filter for these claims.
As Marshall McLuhan famously observed, “the medium is the message.”
By filtering their extremist approach through court cases,
Republicans aim to create an air of respectability to them.
That is why, in the last week of August,
we again saw a raft of new court cases filed by the GOP asserting extraordinary things.
They won’t win, but they hope that by filing these claims in a court,
it will make their crackpot theories seem less so.
️
THE OTHER THINK TANK:
While Heritage’s ill-fated #Project2025 has gotten all the headlines, another outside group has been quietly plugging away at transition efforts with much less fanfare.
The 
America First Policy Institute ( #AFPI )
has (smartly) avoided #Heritage’s braggadocio -- but has similarly done mountains of #unofficial #transition work while maintaining close ties to Trump:
#Linda #McMahon chairs the group’s board, and CEO #Brooke #Rollins is Trump’s former Domestic Policy Council director and has been personally in touch with the former president.
Operating outside the Trump campaign, 
AFPI has interviewed more than 1,000 potential administration hires, drafted scores of executive actions Trump could quickly sign and solicited recommendations for the first 100 days of a second Trump term.
“AFPI is not becoming the transition,” one insider told Hailey and Meridith. “But by virtue of how they are situated and that we are in a very late timeline for this work, AFPI and the transition may be a distinction without a difference.”
Not everyone is happy with the arrangement.
In GOP circles, we’re told, AFPI is seen less as a visionary policy shop than a #ragtag collection of operatives.
And Democrats will certainly seize on the group’s associations with 2020 #election #denialism and, a la Project 2025, their support for other #hard-#right positions
BYO mask. The airlines are a vector, they are complicit, they don't care about your health and safety, just your wallet.
"Over the last decade or so, I’ve been a strong advocate for #criticalthinking, a discipline that can transform lives and give us a new conception of what it means to understand reality. It’s no stretch to say that “everything changes when you adopt a worldview that embraces critical thinking.”
Pseudo-skepticism - What is Not Critical Thinking - Critikid
https://critikid.com/pseudoskepticism
#cynicism
#Contrarianism
#Denialism
#FLICC
#pseudoskepticism
#misinformation
COVID is a good case study for illustrating the “Collective Denial Playbook” that underpins our new normal reality.
A common strategy to neutralize a social problem is to make knowing about it hard, often by restrictingefforts to look into it, like scaling back COVID tracking. In April the CDC ended the requirement that hospitals report COVID admissions and occupancy data, removing one of the last tools we could use to monitor what’s happening. “We now enter the blackout phase of epidemiology” wrote science journalist Laurie Garrett on X, adding: “There will be patients, but their numbers and whereabouts will be unknown….” Disappearing is also accomplished by not alerting the public. For example, during the winter surge, we heard “crickets from the White House.” In fact, as COVID positivity and death rates rose, tweets from CDC director Mandy Cohen decreased.
If the COVID situation is tracked and the public warned, things don’t feel normal. But if we don’t monitor or mention it, then things can feel “back to normal”—fine, even.
#covid #denialism #ToxicPositivity
We’ve Hit Peak Denial. Here’s Why We Can’t Turn Away From Reality
We are living through a terrible time in humanity. Here’s why we tend to stick our heads in the sand and why we need to pull them out, fast
@antnisp @JuliusGoat
I really wish people would stop using the word "skepticism" when what they really mean is "denialism." #Skepticism is a healthy disregard for unsubstantiated claims (like flat earth, bigfoot, intelligent design, etc.), while #denialism is a deliberate choice to ignore the overwhelming evidence and persist in willful ignorance.
