How can I convince my family that China didn't create global warming as a hoax?
That is the million dollar question these days.You are far from alone, but are experiencing in microcosm what the world is experiencing witnessing the recent US election. It’s rare to see such an extraordinary display of preference for fake news, false facts and head-turning hypocrisy from those who profess to virtue.I don’t have a good answer for you. I’ve been trying to figure out how to speak to conservatives about global warming and renewable energy for years without a lot of success. I have a few suggestions, but I don’t hold out a lot of hope.I used to think that conservatives were reacting to a message about America being in a bad place on climate change and suggested using language about how great the USA is and how to make sure it gets better. Then Trump won on a platform of how awful the USA is while Clinton lost on a campaign pointing out accurately how great the USA was doing.I used to think you could dodge the subject and just talk about useful solutions in economic and efficiency terms. But then Trump won on a platform of word salad.I used to think that conservatives could be convinced by the right facts presented correctly. Then Trump won with a conservative electorate which rejected all facts which didn’t fit their biases and accepted all bullshit which confirmed them in stunning droves.I don’t know if your particular family is so far gone that they’ve lost any way back to reality, but I am praying to the FSM that they and millions like them aren’t.Keep trying. Keep finding ways to see their point of view and change it a few degrees. Keep trying to gently inject fact and useful doubt. You personally have a part to play in keeping the world safe.Because far too many US conservative voters are completely bonkers right now, and it’s a huge problem for the world.Like my content? Help it spread via Patreon. Get confidential consulting via OnFrontiers. Email me if you’d like me to write for you.
Should we talk about 'global heating' rather than global warming as suggested recently by a Meteorological Office scientist? He felt 'warming' was too gentle for what's happening.
Unfortunately, Climate Change is now in the political realm.Therefore you shall not be able to learn anything at all about it from public discussion, media, etc.There was a tendency early on to bring it from the scientific realm to the political. What really brought it to the political in a big way, was Al Gore’s ‘Inconvenient Truth’.Political issues divide people into competing herds, with competing ideologies. Ideologies are akin to religion. And present-day discussions about Climate Change are reminiscent of religious wars from the past.In politics, herds of people do NOT use reason (i.e. the frontal lobe of the brain). They only use instinct. That’s the way we humans are.What could (potentially) happen to help us learn about Climate Change?Late Michael Crichton, of Jurassic Park fame, had an interesting proposal.His argument goes something like this:‘We’re spending a lot of money studying climate. If we hope to learn something, we should spend some more, and make double blind studies - the way FDA works in approving drugs. People who collect the data, should not know people who do statistical treatment of collected data, and so on. Nobody’s livelihood should depend on the results’.Implicit in Crichton’s proposal is the following:You cannot really simulate climate; it is too complex and it is a non-linear system.Human relation with money, as animals’ relation with foo, is instinctive. It is difficult to expect scientists to essentially different from other people. They would be biased without knowing.Good luck. The religious war is on-going.
Should people believe in God?
Should people believe in unicorns?What about vampires or the Tooth Fairy?Believing in things without any evidence is problematic. It leads to people thinking that they can believe whatever they want. If you can believe whatever you want then you can ignore the truth or make up your own. Facts are no longer important.This is how you can end up with an American President who thinks that global warming isn’t happening even though there’s solid evidence that it is. He thinks it’s okay to grab women by the ‘pussy’ because he’s rich. Many women would disagree with that statement. He thinks it’s okay to make up stories about whoever he wants without any evidence to back up his claims. That’s called lying where I come from.He actually tells lies that are demonstrably wrong. He lied about the weather and the crowd on his inauguration. We have video evidence of how wrong he is and he still repeats the lies as if facts don’t matter. He lies about the Presidents before him. He lies about his opponents. He lies over 70% of the time.When you can believe what you want. Facts mean nothing because you can just say ‘I don’t believe you’ and make up whatever you want.If you believe in God without evidence then you may as well believe in unicorns, vampires and the Tooth Fairy too. There’s just as much evidence for them as there is for God.So, people should believe in God, if there’s objective evidence for God.I’ve never seen any, have you? :)
My sister is an extremely compulsive, pathological liar and I can't live with it anymore!?
Sweetie, your sister is a sociopath. I've met a few in my life and have been a victim of them. It's incredibly hard for the average person to understand the reality that sociopaths do in fact exist. Roughly 4 percent of the population will be a sociopath, 3 percent are women and 1 percent are men. That means that one out of every 25 people you met will be a sociopath. A sociopath is defined as someone with little to no empathy or conscience. They will lie with impunity, they feel no guilty about their poor behavior or actions. They constantly try to control and manipulate the people in their lives. Does your sister have no real friends? Does she never take any responsibility for disagreements? Is she always trying to "win" the argument and stir things up? Does she seem unaware of the consequences of her actions? Is she reckless and untrustworthy with money? Does she take everything and gives nothing? Does it feel like you live with an emotion sucking vampire that sucks all the positive emotions out of the room? Then she is a sociopath. They are incurable, she will never get better, no shrink can fix her, no drugs will give her empathy or compassion for others. Your best bet is to move out at 18 or as soon as possible and give your parents your best wishes, because until they kick her out, they are not going to have a moments peace. I repeat, the psychiatry profession recognizes no cure for sociopathy, you can only get out of her life.
Do you understand that pain is relative?
Dude, that was a long explanation. but I agree with everything you've said. The thing is though, what I have learned in my sometimes violent and volitile life is, it's all relative. Two things I live my life by now, which I contribute to a happy lifestyle these days... Don't sweat the small stuff, and it's all small stuff. Everything in life is relative. and some how when I try to explain this to others, they have no clue what I mean. but I mean what you mean relatively speaking.
Why is the term "bleeding heart" used as an insult?
They put bleeding hearts on cigarette packs in Canada. I think it's kinda cool. hehehe