An advisor to Trump and member of the transition team just bare-faced asserted that the Earth is less than 6000 years old. This was after Anthony Scaramucci tried to invalidate modern science by arguing that scientists once argued that the Earth was flat and that the universe rotated about it. Never mind that those ideas preceded modern science and were relatively rapidly dispelled as evidence was acquired.
Watch those irony meters, gang.
Scaramucci wasn’t convinced. Later in the conversation, he said the Trump team simply wanted
common sense solutions. Non-ideological.
Some of the stuff that you’re reading and some of the stuff I’m reading is very ideologically-based about the climate. We don’t want it to be that way,he said.
This has become the latest insult from the deeply ignorant: “You’re ideological!” Always said as they espouse some stupid ideological position of their own.
Rebecca Watson addresses this latest Trumpery more entertainingly.
“common sense” is neither. ?
Whatever they don’t like is ‘ideological’. More like ‘idiotillogical’. What a cowardly way to go through life. Instead of facing hard facts, just reject them.
I’d rather be “ideological” than “no idea at-all-ical”
I might add how ironic it is that they are the experts at dispensing ‘fake news’ too.
Loved the “Clinton wasn’t coming for your guns, but Trump is coming for your brains”.
Good thing I’m no longer in the work force. Except, by his definition, I am unemployed, not retired. What an idjit.
Too bad Leonard Nimoy is gone. The search for Trump’s brain should take years of skeptical inquiry.
It’s almost fascinating, in a morbid sort of way:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/15/breitbart-fake-news-right-trump
You mean the same round earth that Emperor Hadrian put on his coins? Yeah that’s something Columbus invented all right.
I know; we’re parsing it wrong.
instead of our interp of 5,500 year old planet
use 5,500 year old history our planet possesses.
This way neither side is incorrect.
pffft
M ideology holds that facts matter, evidence matters, and that testable hypotheses should be based on evidence, and then tested.
Or, as one of my refrigerator magnets says….
We need a moment of SCIENCE
in the schools.
re @8
meaning, the 5,500 years may refer to the length of the history record, and not to the earth itself. It uses “earth” as the object on which the history occurred.
The 5,500 years is a political/religious dog-whistle for a young Earth. His meaning is not be misinterpreted. He is that ignorant/obtuse as to scientific facts.
Scaramouche.
The full interview is here. To be fair to Scaramucci, after his comment about 5,500 years of human history, he immediately qualifies it by saying “Human history, I should say.” So I don’t think he’s coming out as a young earth creationist.
He says a lot of other stupid shit (all those poor little rich men having eggs and tomatoes thrown at them) (and kudos to Cuomo for holding his feet to the fire); no reason to invent more.
ouch. I forgot to include the /s tag on #10 I guess I assumed it was obvious. *shucks*
I think he may not be so good at keeping the pandering straight. That attempt at equivocation by saying Human history is feeble where does he think that 5500 years number comes from there are cities that are older than that some are being bombarded by the great Putin’s military even today.
it is a dog whistle to the religious plain and simple. You have to wonder though just how they will cope with the level of scrutiny they will receive there will be little respite I am afraid .
uncle frogy
I’m more annoyed by the general argument that he’s making with regards to scientific consensus. It’s common for science denialists to pretend that scientific consensus doesn’t matter because (insert outdated theory here) was wrong in the past. Because scientific theories are constantly revised and occasionally replaced, denialists think that they’re free to disregard any scientific theory that they don’t like.
Most of the time, when a particular scientific theory has a massive body of research supporting it and is widely accepted in the scientific community, it’s because the theory is correct and deserving of such status. Many scientific theories have been shown to be wrong before, but just as many if not more have been shown to be right. If you look around online enough, you can find people who reject pretty much any scientific theory you can think of. That includes people who still think that the sun revolves around the earth and the earth is flat. Just because someone somewhere rejects a scientific theory does not mean that said theory should be cast into doubt.
National security advisor Flynn Tries to Disappear Fake News Tweet Down the Memory Hole http://www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatches/2016/12/15/flynn-tries-disappear-fake-news-tweet-memory-hole/
He assumed Hillary Clinton’s involvement in sex crimes with minors must be true because the internet is always right. Next up: Iran forms alliance with the Klingons to destroy the West. Flynn will argue for a nuclear first strike to pre-emt the extraterrestrial threat.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/guerrilla-archiving-scientists-copy-climate-data-fearing-trump-purge-192716160.html
I think these scientists are quite smart: always keep the data safe from some “disastrous government intervention” (aka censorship).
The ancient Greeks knew that the earth was spherical and even measured its diameter pretty accurately. Just sayin’.
“Trump is coming for your brains” – I want this as my e-mail signature, the images it conjures up are amazing….
To make it clear: “preceded modern science” in this case means “more than 2500 years ago”. Pythagoras in Greece c. 500 BCE and Shi Shen in Wei c. 400 BCE – among many others – knew quite well that the Earth is round. I suggest that we imitate Eratosthenes of Cyrene c. 220 BCE and have Scaramucci go on a long walk as he considers his mistake.
Nor is climate science new.
1824: Joseph Fourier describes the greenhouse effect.
1856: Eunice Foote measures the IR absorption properties of CO2 ( John Tyndall did the same in 1859, and was long given the credit that should go to Foote).
1958: Charles David Keeling starts monitoring human CO2 emissions.
1980s: reliable climate models widely available.
1988: IPCC established.
Climate change denialism denies an entire world of observed facts, which have been understood for almost 200 years.
And Scaramucci tries to defend that by promoting lies about 2500+ years of science. [ headdesk ]
No, no, no, no. I will admit that there were a *few* philosophers pre 6th century B.C. who argued this, but the “overwhelming” belief of anything that can be called “science” (even 6th-century B.C. science) has always, ever since there has been any method to discuss or conceptualize the idea, been that the earth is spherical. Always.
Could someone please explain what ideology would benefit from climate change?
@rietpluim #23:
One that’s bought and paid for?
Time to re-read “The Relativity of Wrong,” the essay by Isaac Asimov. on why “People thought the Earth was flat” is a stupid, stupid way to view science.
@Trip Space-Parasite #24 – That’s a good one, but it’s not what people mean when they call it “ideologically driven”.
I mean, can you imagine Marx and Lenin have a meeting and say: “What would really boost communism? Let’s think for a minute… I know! Global warming!”
So what ideology are these people talking about in the first place?
@nomuse #25 – Good tip, thanks!
@26
it could be a godless ideology that they mean additionally a godless science ideology, an ideology that wants to control everyone that makes all kinds of rules and laws and taxes all the money as opposed to an ideology that wants only rules about babies and sexual relations, and against people organizing into groups to protect their rights or regulate business in any way at all or something.
uncle frogy