Comments on: Why the “Don’t you care about your children?” argument doesn’t work on climate deniers http://www.briangordon.ca/2010/03/why-the-%e2%80%9cdont-you-care-about-your-children%e2%80%9d-argument-doesnt-work-on-climate-deniers/ Go Local, Go Sustainable, Now Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:22:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: GreenHearted http://www.briangordon.ca/2010/03/why-the-%e2%80%9cdont-you-care-about-your-children%e2%80%9d-argument-doesnt-work-on-climate-deniers/comment-page-1/#comment-563 GreenHearted Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:35:56 +0000 http://www.briangordon.ca/?p=2139#comment-563 When I first started thinking about what you posted here, I didn't want to believe it. But then I remembered a TV show I watched recently (a rare occurrence since we don't have a TV) about a sociopath. And now I understand. The most obvious trait of sociopaths is their lack of empathy. They honestly can't feel what others feel - though, if I understood correctly, they can imagine feeling it (if they want to), and they can probably fake feeling it, which makes the rest of us imminently manipulate-able. If I were to surmise some advice in what you've posted, it would be this: figure out what "power" looks like to these people, find out what its foundation is, and start dismantling it (shareholder support for CEOs at AGMs, middle-of-the-road voters for elected officials, etc.). I don't plan on giving up being nice any time soon, but I can get smarter - and maybe read The Art of War! When I first started thinking about what you posted here, I didn’t want to believe it. But then I remembered a TV show I watched recently (a rare occurrence since we don’t have a TV) about a sociopath. And now I understand.

The most obvious trait of sociopaths is their lack of empathy. They honestly can’t feel what others feel – though, if I understood correctly, they can imagine feeling it (if they want to), and they can probably fake feeling it, which makes the rest of us imminently manipulate-able.

If I were to surmise some advice in what you’ve posted, it would be this: figure out what “power” looks like to these people, find out what its foundation is, and start dismantling it (shareholder support for CEOs at AGMs, middle-of-the-road voters for elected officials, etc.).

I don’t plan on giving up being nice any time soon, but I can get smarter – and maybe read The Art of War!

]]> By: Bigcynic http://www.briangordon.ca/2010/03/why-the-%e2%80%9cdont-you-care-about-your-children%e2%80%9d-argument-doesnt-work-on-climate-deniers/comment-page-1/#comment-537 Bigcynic Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:02:15 +0000 http://www.briangordon.ca/?p=2139#comment-537 I agree with nearly every single word of this, except the implication that the entire climate change denial movement cannot be reasoned with. Sure, the wealthy interests leading the movement don't care about anyone but themselves and cannot be reasoned with, but the support they have mustered among the masses is through very effective propaganda. The reality-based community, including the environmental movement, has done a spectacularly piss-poor job of engaging the general public on climate change, particularly exposing the corporate interests being the denial campaign. I agree with nearly every single word of this, except the implication that the entire climate change denial movement cannot be reasoned with. Sure, the wealthy interests leading the movement don’t care about anyone but themselves and cannot be reasoned with, but the support they have mustered among the masses is through very effective propaganda. The reality-based community, including the environmental movement, has done a spectacularly piss-poor job of engaging the general public on climate change, particularly exposing the corporate interests being the denial campaign.

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