many people are “full of it”. i used to encounter a young bartender at a restaurant that i frequented. we often engaged in spirited debates on divisive topics.
despite diametric positions, we enjoyed the sport of argumentation and no one took it personally. civility kept matters from devolving. at the time, he took many liberal positions as sacrosanct. he was unshakably beholden to this dogma.
the pandemic curtailed my opportunities to dine at the location. upon returning to the restaurant, i discovered that this young bartender’s viewpoints took a 180 degree turn. he now was in concurrence with many of my positions. without my assistance, his witnessing the nature and extent that individuals engaged in activities to create unfounded hysteria radically changed his views.
creating “unfounded hysteria” has one essential element -fear. mortality is a great vehicle to drive fear. “your are going to die!” is enough to get people to engage in irrational thought. this fear must be created by some “rationale”. science, or using the term science, is often the perfect choice; rational process for the rationale. the next step in building this hysteria is to create an atmosphere with the particular scientific community to promote opinion and studies that lean towards conclusions that support the rationale. thus, scientists who write favorably on the topic are rewarded with grants, publicity and attention.
“fear”, rational or irrational, is also a favorite for the media. people’s eyes and ears love to consume “fear” porn. “if it bleeds, it leads” is an old newspaper addage.
censorship also is required to make the hysteria work. alternative facts and theories cannot exist. they must be discredited and those advancing them need to be demonized. labeling dissenters as crackpots always works. likewise, trotting out “fake” consensus of “so called” experts is a playbook favorite.
this hysteria movement even must engage in censorship of scientific opinion for the sake of the great risk of death, suppression of facts and studies dispelling consensus, to them, is justifiable. hysteria forever!
this young bartender, after seeing how those in power handled the pandemic. , realized how his generation was also conned by “climate alarmists”.
a recent john stossell piece in the nypost.com had an interview with a climate scientist. she described how she was embraced by the “climate” community after she published an article which could support the “climate change” agenda. she was given rock star treatment and trotted all over the planet to meet politicians.
there was a problem, however. her data was not correct. critics of her article pointed to flaws. as a good scientist, she went back and realized that they had a valid point. other individuals, it appeared, encouraged her to resist in releasing data from her study. one can assume that the agenda behind such unethical behavior as it would hurt the “climate change”.
in sum, sometimes “you are full of it” because people are stoking you with irrational fear. who would not be concerned if they heard the following? “if we don’t fix climate change, we are going to die!” “if you aren’t vaccinated, you are going to die!” “if your child with gender issues isn’t subjected to mutilation, they are going to die [by suicide]”. sometimes, there is the need to pump the breaks on your emotions and take a step back to evaluate the situation without giving into fear.
be well!!
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