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Bill Nye Slams Donald Trump, Republicans On Climate Change (cnn.com)
An anonymous reader writes: On the eve of Earth Day, environmental activist Bill Nye told CNN that while everybody is more aware of climate change "than ever before," we still have a long way to go (annoying auto-play videos). The science educator and engineer, who became an icon on his 1990s hit show "Bill Nye the Science Guy," criticized the Republican presidential candidates and the fossil fuel industry for not acknowledging the deleterious effects of climate change. "There's still a very strong contingent of people who are in denial about climate change," Nye said. "And if you don't believe me, look at the three people currently running for president of the world's most influential country who are ... climate change deniers," Nye said, referring to the three Republican presidential candidates: Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich.
Amazing how very shortly after this feed gets put up, the first postings all follow the MO of the petro-chemical industry and the GOP...
So, let us address a few things here.
1)
"Bill Nye isn't a 'Science Guy', he just holds a BS degree!"
Assuming for a moment that we overlook the obviously implied "appeal to authority" fallacy this involves, he could be a bumbling idiot with cabbage in his beard that talks to empty chairs-- The data he directs people to is correct, and will continue being correct no matter what degrees or qualifications he has. So, discounting this obvious fallacy, there's buried ad-hominem goodness there too. Shooting the messenger like this does not make climate change less real, nor the message inaccurate.
2)
"The climate change crazies want to force their religion on us!!"
Science is not a religion. It is a process, and a damned cuthroat one too. It might surprise you to know that the scientifically literate population have known that CO2 is a greenhouse gas since 1909, and have raised the red flag on industrial release of this gas through fossil fuel combustion since the 20's, predicting mass climate change. Here it is, a century later, and we have bulletproof data showing exactly this. What exactly consistutes religion to you? The belief in something without proof (which is what denialism is, given the massive amounts of experimental and climatological data collected so far showing that fossil fuel use is cumulatively deleterious to the climactic environment) or observing repeatable phenomena, creating testable hypotheses, and then strongly advising the world based on those findings? (science, and in this case-- the message of 99% of the world's climate scientists.)
3)
"Release XXX from prison so they can (euphamism for harm) Bill Nye!"
Seriously? You advocate physical violence and harm to silence a message you find disfavorable? For real? No wonder the world is so fucked up, if you actually think killing the messenger makes the reality of the message go away. That is some premium magical thinking you have going there!
4)
"Bill Nye is a known shill/hippocrite! Everything he says is a lie!"
From whom exactly does he accept money in exchange for his activism (since he is "known" to be a shill, this should be easy.) and in what respects is he a hippocrite? Because he uses electricity? (There are carbon neutral means of generating it, and he has expressed a preferrence for this. How then is his message hippocritical here?) Because he drives a car? (There are some very nice looking electric vehicles these days. I dont know for sure if he drives one, but I would expect that he would prefer to use one over a destructive internal combustion vehicle, given his rhetoric. Unless you have proof he drives a gas guzzler, this isnt hippocricy either.) Seriously, where does this come from? Hopefully it isnt imagination land.
5)
"He and Al Gore........"
Guilt by association and bandwagon fallacies. Try to be intellectually honest here folks.
I grow tired of hearing all these absurd rationalisms for denying the realities happening all around us, just so we can pretend that everything is OK, when all the data shows it most certainly is not.
Europe here. We would really LOVE Trump as your prez. He should be even more entertaining than that last monkey you put at the helm.
Seriously, what is it with the US and electing duds for the office of president? It's kinda amusing to be honest, it really seems you're trying to find the most useless person and put him in the most powerful seat as if that whole thing was some sort of entertainment show rather than politics of a country that pretty much commands hegemony of the planet.
I mean, don't get me wrong, we are absolutely FOR that. To be honest, a competent president that can actually act sensibly in foreign politics and stops you from being seen as the schoolyard bully of the world, coupled with the economy you have, that would probably put a serious dent in our chance on the world's market. Right now what allows us to pretty much take over economically internationally is that nobody wants to deal with you if they don't really, really have to. If that wasn't the case and anyone on that planet actually liked you, we'd be in a far, far worse situation.
Fortunately that's not going to be a problem. It would be a little tougher if Clinton made it, but even she's slippery enough to be unlikable. And Sanders is fortunately history. That guy really got us worried for a moment.
So, in closing, allow me to declare my absolute support for your new president Trump. And if you really love us, could you reelect him in 4 years? That would really be awesome!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Bill Nye he isn't a science guy. He has a Bsc in engineering
He doesn't ever claim to be a climate scientist. All he is doing is repeating what the climate scientists say. That is why he doesn't have to be qualified because he is not trying to claim that all the experts are wrong. He is not trying to say that he knows better than all the people who can be considered to be experts in the field.
The reason why the deniers are so obsessed with Nye's lack of academic qualifications is that they can't actually prove that what he says is wrong.