Why are conservatives so threatened by the idea that global warming might actually exist?

Question

By the way, all you lovely knee-jerk reactionaries who answered this question... I never said anything about how I, personally, feel about global warming.

I'm just intrigued by the idea that a CONCEPT can threaten people so much.

Oh, and to wmcritter: Very nice. Propaganda taking your freedoms away - you must mean sort of the way Bush got the Patriot Act to pass, right? You know, the bit of legislation that now allows your government to come to your house, arrest you and hold you indefinitely without the benefit of trial simply because they want to?

Okay, geniuses... also, NO ONE is saying that ONLY humans are responsible for global warming.

It is FRIGHTENING how stupid some people are. The global warming cause is simply to encourage people not to engage in behavior which CONTRIBUTES TO global warming. I've never heard ANYONE say that humans are the sole reason for global warming.

READ A FREAKING BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

Turning Global Warming into a political discussion could only happen in America. All over the world, people are listening to scientific fact and experts on the subject....and in America...they are looking to their politicians to decide what they should believe. Believe it or not, there is a world outside of the political debate in Washington, and there are issues that have nothing to do with Democrats and Republicans.

We hear, frequently, about people being 'dumbed down'...but we always lay that at the feet of the media. Amazingly enough, its actually American politics that has dumbed down the most number of people in the US.

Answer 2

It's not a question of whether or not warming is actually happening. It's a question of what is the actual cause and what, if any, would be a human action that could actually affect the trend. Conservatives tend towards the notion that human action has little, if any, real effect on global weather systems, that the warming is a natural cycle, and that the extremists are cherry-picking the worst of the data in order to make things appear worse than they actually are.

Any computer model that forecasts such things cannot approach the complexity of actual global conditions and have to make assumptions to achieve any results. Those assumptions are based on the "best guesses" of the people running the studies. At best, they could be labelled speculation, at worst, sheer sophistry.

One only has to look at things like the current debacle with the tire "reefs" that now have to be cleaned up to realize that extreme environmentalism advocates, with their constant leaps to unjustified conclusions, often times either cause more problems, or at least fail to fix the problem.

Answer 3

*sigh*
Perhaps you don't care what conservatives have to say, but what you should know is that it is intellectually dishonest to ascribe to other people feelings or motives when you have absolutely no idea if they're true or not. There is no feeling of fear or of being threatened by the existence of global warming.

First, very few conservatives deny the existence of global warming. The temperature of Earth has varied naturally for eons, going through warming and cooling cycles, based on natural phenomena, such as increased solar activity or severe volcanic eruptions, etc. This cycle has caused Greenland to be arable, and has also caused Michigan to be buried under glaciers.

What we do contest, however, is the current scaremongering about global warming. Many scientists (climatologists, meteorologists, etc) dispute the claims that the current warming trend (1ºC over the past 100 years or so, the majority of the temperature rise being in the first 50 years) is due mainly or even significantly to human activity. There are questionable assumptions in many of the climate models being used for the scaremongering, and there are many disputes as to the interpretation of the data.

What we fear is a knee-jerk, know-nothing mob hysteria movement doing severe damage to the economy of the US and the world without having an open and honest scientific debate about the truth of global warming.

We also fear the human suffering and misery that a knee-jerk action such as Kyoto would entail, when it would affect the economies of the West the most, causing severe worldwide economic repercussions.

Perhaps instead of trying to smear conservatives, you should open your mind to the full gamut of issues involved in global warming and the effects of restricting emissions.

Answer 4

I'm not threatened at all. If it does exist then it is a natural state of the earth. Why would humans be so egotistical to think that WE ALONE are the ones in charge of the environment? Think about it, if the world went through an ice age, wouldn't it have to go through a warming too? Further more, do you remember the hype about the holes in the ozone layer? and how using hairspray was bad for the environment? What happened with that? OH YEAH... Scientists found out that the holes have been there way longer than they had thought, and it wasn't us that caused it... Yes, we may have CONTRIBUTED to the widening, but we were by no means the leading cause. Think about it.

Answer 5

Conservatives are not threatened by the idea of global warming. I think you misread reaction, and that is due to your internal baggage.

Theses are the fundamental objections to global warming:

1. Global warming has not been conclusivly shown to exist.
(Not one I embrace, but I compare it to those who created complex circles upon circles upon circles in response to Kepler's eliptical orbits).
2. If global warming does exist, it is a natural cycle of the planet and its relationship to the sun, cosmic rays, and place in the Sol system. (This aspect of the debate is the most ignored and is quietly gaining the most support of climetologists and physicists.)
3. If global warming does exist, is it a bad thing? Increased water and growing seasons allow for more food to be harvested, more water in desert and arid areas...etc. et al.....
4. If global warming is a bad thing, is money better spent preventing it, or is money better spent adjusting the world to cope with it. Conservatives remember the so-called "Rome Report" of the 70's that argued (with many of the same scientists of the global warming debate today) that we would be depleted of oil and gas reserves, mass starvation, and global cooling by the turn of the millenium if we did not stop our industrilization and greenhouse gas emmisions.

I would argue that skepticism is always to be admired when it comes to spending the people's money. As a libertarian, I have more than my fair share of problems with the GOP and the Dems both, but I find your veiled arguement flawed and baseless.

Answer 6

Not that we are actually afraid that it exist.....but if actually did any research at all you would find that the earth has gone throught his warming and cooling over and over through out hunderes of years. It has not just happened. It is a cycle that it goes through. Goodness, in the last 100 years the oceans have risen what 6-8 inches.....that is some serious global warming. What they have not told you is that actually the earth right now is colder than it was 20+ years ago. There was a newsweek article back in the 70's....then it was we were entering another ice age...PFFT. Well the government was so worried, that some one came up with the brilliant idea that spray the ice caps with some black stuff to help it melt and attract heat would stop this inevatable ice age that was coming.....so lets take a look at some pictures...if you happen to notice, ice in Alaska is a beautiful pale blue, very little trash or BLACK stuff....now lets head North to the pole....take a look at this ice....paying close attention that this is where the government wanted to spray their black mixture....Now we all know not very many ppl live in the area of the north pole....and they ceretainly dont have the polution that we have here....but the ice there.....is not pretty......it does have layers of black stuff in it. HUMMM you know how our government is.....no matter what party....they all lie. So it is entirely possible that the government did put this black stuff on the ice caps to absorb the suns energy to melt this ice and warm the earth atmosphere so that there would not be another ice age....So what you need to do ..... it to become your very own thinking person, and stop letting these fools think for you.....the democratic party want to scare you and make you think they are the only ones who have the answers.....it is called the dumbing down of america.....and you are falling for it.....the democratic party is taking us srtaight into a socialistic government....guess what.....thats what Russia called itself during its communist days with Stalin, and Hitler.....The government make all your decisions....because you are not smart enough to think and make decisions yourself....do you really want the government how to raise your kid...and that you have to make them believe this way and only this way.....this is where the democratic party wants to take us.....Take off the blinders and read, research, think for yourself.....don't allow them to do it for you.

Answer 7

jessica_l... –

Having been a global climate change research scientist for 15 years, I assure you that you and everyone denying the evidence for global warming are either ignorant of the facts or do not care about the fact the facts.

Back to the question -

Those who are threatened are the Exxon’s, etc. who are rolling in money and do not care about the future. They have run an excellent political propaganda campaign against the reality of anthropogenically affected climate change. It has worked because they play on the simplistic belief systems and poor education of most conservative voters.

Answer 8

I'm not threatened, nor am I convinced that it does exist. 30 years ago scientist were saying we are heading into another ice age. The weather person still has a hard time telling tomorrows climate. As Clinton told the father Bush, "It is the Economy Stupid."

Answer 9

We aren't. We're threatened with the idea that the left and the media will push this idea to a point that it changes our lives and threatens capitalism and our own nation's sovereignty.

Global warming is a religion that the UN can club us over the head with, and it is Americans on the left who want this religion to take over.

I feel threatened alright, but not by global warming itself.

Answer 10

OK it does exist. But not because we have caused it. Me driving a hummer does not cause global warming. Nor can we stop it. It is just a natural thing the earth goes through every few thousand years. It will cool off again.