When the data
is inconvenient, decry it as skewed. This has been the conservative mantra for
years – maybe starting way back in the 80s when Reagan announced that “facts
are stupid things.” Two recent examples demonstratre this adherence to blind
faith in their ideological commitments; as dangerous a fundamentalism as any in
existence.
The first
revolves around the growing success of Obamacare enrollments, which have now
topped 6 million on their way toward 7. Republicans have decided that these numbers
just can be true: TNR.
In fact, they went on the Sunday Talk Shows to sell this tale to their millions
of minions, claiming the Obama administration is "cooking
the books". Fox News, of course, embraces the claim of one
conservative Senator, without any foundation, that the numbers are exaggerated
but too many other news outlets also allow these lies to go largely
unchallenged.
The second
involves their continued, long absurd claim that global warming either doesn’t
exist or is not caused by human activity. A recent IPCC Assessment report (Slate)
showed the essentially universal consensus among scientists that not only is
the planet warming, and that this warming is based on human activity, but that
we are already starting to feel the effects. Even as population continues to
grow, food production rates are already dropping. Million of people will be
displaced as sea levels continue to rise and even more extreme weather events are
in the offing. But the climate-doubters are at it again, from WSJ’s
denier-in-residence Matt
Ridley to the silly Daily
Mail claim that it will benefit tourism in the arctic circle.
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