They Now Say Objectively Stupid Shit and Their Followers Eat It Up
Jordan Peterson, Canada’s very own resident pop psychologist, this evening tweeted a copy of last year’s “World Climate Declaration” in which “1,100 scientists” declare “there is NO climate emergency”. Led off by Peterson’s declaration amid weird mock poetic line breaks and textually haiku-esque visual appearance that “Boy that 97%-of-all-scientists-believe-in-a-human-caused-climate-emergency thing is sure Starting to look like A Lie” [quoted verbatim, caps in original].
My understanding is that none of the 1,100 scientists in that declaration are climate scientists. (I have not verified this myself, though I will assume somebody has.) It’s been generally accepted, until 5–10 years ago, by intelligent and reasonably well-informed people that climate scientists are the people within the scientific community most able to authoritatively opine, from a place of considerable knowledge and practical experience, on climate science issues. That’s kind of how that works. You want an opinion on a heart patient’s condition? You don’t talk to an engineer.
And yet, Peterson is choosing to amplify the idea that all those non-climate scientists are the people we should all be listening to on the subject of climate change. Instead of the climate scientists.
I don’t know whether Peterson has yet made some kind of claim that all the climate scientists are corrupt or paid off by Big Livable Planet or Bill Gates or something, but I’m guessing something like that is on his schedule. Which is unfortunate, because I’d like to think there’s something resembling a commitment to professionalism in him. Because anybody with half a brain, particularly actual scientists, would see that as, plain and simple, poor science.
But therein, perhaps, lies the problem. You know how every so often some mouthbreather gets in a tizzy about “Dr. Jill Biden”? Peterson has reached the same level of academic achievement as she.
Neither in a science.
But that isn’t even the point. That crew don’t need to reason anymore, or hold their ideas up to scrutiny, with us or each other (seriously, who are the climate scientists who agree with them? why aren’t they putting them out on the road?). Because their followers don’t require that, and see it as an enemy. Pretty sure that’s the textbook definition of blind faith.
And I fear that it’s far too late to argue the point with quite a few, because they are just not going to be pried loose with facts and scrutiny.
Somebody needs to put Peterson on the point of some questions:
- As an academic and as a researcher, do you subscribe to the general idea in academia that an authoritative person in a scientific field is probably a scientist who has studied in that field?
- None of the 1,100 are climate scientists. Why are you telling people to listen to THOSE people on the subject of climate change, instead of climate scientists?
And just now, a minor TV actor I follow said this: “Covid was created by scientists in a lab. I’d say science is now the leading killer, globally!”
So, we’re at the point where climate scientists can’t be believed because they’re scientists, and all scientists are suspect. Guilt by association. A particularly dumb and self-defeating exercise of it by a large mass of people, but still.
(I pause to note that Jon Stewart did a rather unhinged rant a little over two years ago against “science” on the basis that there might be some bad actors involved in Covid-19. Quaere whether he had a role in sparking this, or if it was inevitable.)
As usual, not sure what to do with this information. Open to ideas.
