Sometimes a commenter on Diamond-Cut Life says something so valuable I’m compelled to print it as a post, itself. Richard Pauli’s is such a comment.
In response to The Psychology Of Naysayers On Global Warming, Mr. Pauli points out that when the person denying global warming is a decision-maker (a senator, for example) we cannot afford to just ignore them or offer them counseling for oppositional defiant disorder, because they are actively doing harm to us all.
Incidentally, I respect people like Richard whose online presence is their full name, because they’re standing behind their words and opinions in the most responsible way. The following is Richard writing:
You have a wonderful site; so very important. I am thinking more about your closing statement:
“People whose lack of psychological health leads them to deny or oppose the concept of global warming should be seriously ignored — except to offer them counseling…”
Clearly you choose those words carefully. I fully agree. But a Climate ODD ( a Clodd ?!?!) – well they can do real harm. I would label Senator Inhoffe a clodd. He wields tremendous power and acts to prevent adaptation or mitigation. He should be seriously ignored. But he cannot. I know we must, but I am not sure how.
I am old enough to remember Senator Joe McCarthy (demagogue from the 1950’s) – his true self was exposed on TV in the Army/McCarthy hearings – after which he drunkenly faded away. It looked to me like the exposure to his real self worked to protect us. But the stakes now are much higher and the science tells us we do not have the luxury of time for all the necessary counseling.
I know that is a big issue in the counseling profession.. but the analogy holds up in politics – what do we do with someone whose behavior is harming us all? I can ignore delusional words from a clodd… but when they hold power, then we must speak truth to that power. Or speak over it. Or vote them out of office.
It is like we are sitting in our seats in a crowded theater, we smell smoke, feel heat and see flames… but some CLODD tells us to stay seated and even buy more tickets in a theater that is about to burn… that is harmful language to everyone.
I know we are working out the answers here… thanks for all that you do.
Related Posts:
- The Psychology Of Naysayers On Global Warming
- A Wiser Voice Than Mine On Climate Deniers
- Best Antidote to Terrorism: Emotional Fitness
Alison, you are wonderfully gracious. Thank you.
Well said Richard. I saw the same issues arise when researching The Greening of the Australian University system. Every champion of sustainability was being sabotaged for a stack of reasons, all the bad Byzantine political reasons as well as the the CLODDs on sustainability reasons. None of the champions were really in a position to make “on-the-record” statements.
In the meantime, universities are turning out 95% of their graduates as part of the “global problem” of consumption and destroying the planet….. while a small few come out as part of the solution with a knowledge of the problems, the solutions and how to move people between the two.
If Al Capone was taken down for tax evasion, these CLODDs who are committing crimes against humanity and the biosphere need to go one legitimate and ethical way or another, as they are through ignorance, arrogance, greed and ODD misleading the people and heading civilisation towards oblivion.