Agnotology: The Surge - 13

Denial Divide

In this series we have been observing how ignorance is generated within a society (Agnotology: The Surge, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12).

We have done so by looking at both the corporate as well as the political entities that engender and use various devious machinations to render Americans ignorant of or in denial of scientific facts.

Politically oriented denial in the U.S. government  stands out starkly in the world's governments, because traditionally the U.S. has been oriented toward an acceptance of scientific discoveries, yet, about 97% of Republican politicians now in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives are in denial of what 99% of scientists say about global warming induced climate change:

More than 1,500 wildfires have ravaged California so far in 2014, more than twice the state sees in an average year. On ABC’s This Week, Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, cited scientific research that links the increased number of fires to the state’s changing climate.

Host George Stephanopoulos asked Brown how he’d adapt to the future, given skepticism among Republicans in Washington. Short answer: not easily.

"That's a challenge," Brown said. "It is true that there's virtually no Republican who accepts the science that virtually is unanimous. I mean there is no scientific question. There's just political denial for various reasons, best known to those people who are in denial."
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[Research shows that] eight [Republican congress members] out of 278, or about 3 percent [are not deniers ... hence ... 97% of Republican congress members are in denial].

(PolitiFacts, cf. Meet the Congressional Republicans in Denial). This is greatly at odds with the bulk of the world as well as most of the U.S. public (Wikipedia).

The loss of accountability (When Accountability Is A Plague) that results in immediate damage to democratic institutions (witness congress), renders the scenario into one of Big Brother Oil-Qaeda calling the shots (MOMCOM: The Private Parts).

Which means that we are rushing headlong into a catastrophe of epic proportions against the will of the people of the U.S. and of the world at large.

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

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H/T to Tom ...

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