I've been battling these online armchair scientists for going on 20 years now, Irina, and while they wouldn't brook dissent even back then, their zeal for censorship has reached a fever-pitch.
I posit it's because they realize that the sun and seas are refusing to cooperate with their carefully crafted computer models, and they realize that we rubes just might see beyond the green curtain of the Wizard of Gaia.
And their method of ridicule? Straight out of the works or 1960's American leftist radical Saul Alinsky, whose "Rules for Radicals", if you're unaware of them, have become the playbook of the American left. See if you recognize any of these from your dealings with the online infants you so aptly described:
1. “Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.” Power is derived from 2 main sources – money and people. “Have-Nots” must build power from flesh and blood.
2. “Never go outside the expertise of your people.” It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone.
3. “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.” Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty.
4. “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.
5. “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.
6. “A good tactic is one your people enjoy.” They’ll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They’re doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones.
7. “A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.” Don’t become old news.
8. “Keep the pressure on. Never let up.” Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new.
9. “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.” Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist.
10. “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.” It is this unceasing pressure that results in the reactions from the opposition that are essential for the success of the campaign.
11. “If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.” Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog.
12. “The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.” Never let the enemy score points because you’re caught without a solution to the problem.
13. “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.
I see rules # 4,5,8,10,11 and 13 hurled my way almost daily.
Alas, I do not find their babbling inanities hilarious, but incredibly dangerous. While we who read your letter understand reality, there are hundreds of millions, if not billions of people who bathe in ignorance on a daily basis and are proud of it. That said, thank you for highlighting the ongoing stupidity.
“the social media world appears to be bursting with people with severe developmental problems in the rational thinking and emotional intelligence departments” excellent observation!
Irina, well said and truthful today. This stands out,
“ All this sounds like a joke but it’s not. Because the whole transition frenzy is accelerating if a frenzy can even accelerate but whatever. The pendulum, already pushed far in the direction of “We’re all going to die unless we do something right now this minute”, is being pushed harder still in the same direction.
That means that when it starts coming back, it will come back hard, fast, and maybe bloody. Not because people are stupid and they don’t know hat’s good for them so they need to be told what’s good for them.”
When the people do start realizing that the elites and so called experts are wrong and their lives are adversely affected the pushback will be epic. As you note when decisions that affect lives are based on “feelings” with truth or disagreement cancelled I see riots and political pushback that goes far.
And I say this from one deeply involved in Renewables but mainly from the utility side of substations, collector systems and transmission lines. In my market New Construction is going so fast it’s not sustainable. We are suffering from a severe shortage of skilled people and parts and pieces and it’s hard to believe that all the schemes and dreams can be accomplished. Costs are also going up and these costs are being passed onto consumers which is not sustainable.
Irina - I like this statement of yours "fact that evil always contains the seeds of its own destruction" but unfortunately it causes tragedy for millions of people! Yes, the rent-seeking guardians of knowledge and wisdom cannot be questioned!
Remember that it all began with the University of East Anglia and the organized effort to ban the publication of contrary scientific climate research. And it has extended to attacks on scientists such as Roger Pielke. Jr. and Judith Currey to name just a couple.
Irina, great article as usual. It may be wishful thinking on my part but I sense some pushback recently on the alarmist approach to controlling the narrative. To highlight and add to one of the many salient points you’ve made, big oil is accused of buying scientific work to support their positions, my question is how much did the latest and all previous ipcc reports cost? Let’s hope the pushback and questioning extends to the no name scientist and experts that no one has ever heard of before we cede more money, power, and control to this attempt to establish a one world government.
So as soon as they stop repressing people’s opinions online, they are surprised that the previous position that was the only allowed one to hold is not more popular? I would think this would be self evident and predictable?
Seems like a nice dataset for a future social scientist to study the phenomenon of mass moral panics.
Beautiful and spot on. We‘re all fascists now.
I've been battling these online armchair scientists for going on 20 years now, Irina, and while they wouldn't brook dissent even back then, their zeal for censorship has reached a fever-pitch.
I posit it's because they realize that the sun and seas are refusing to cooperate with their carefully crafted computer models, and they realize that we rubes just might see beyond the green curtain of the Wizard of Gaia.
And their method of ridicule? Straight out of the works or 1960's American leftist radical Saul Alinsky, whose "Rules for Radicals", if you're unaware of them, have become the playbook of the American left. See if you recognize any of these from your dealings with the online infants you so aptly described:
1. “Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.” Power is derived from 2 main sources – money and people. “Have-Nots” must build power from flesh and blood.
2. “Never go outside the expertise of your people.” It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone.
3. “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.” Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty.
4. “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.
5. “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.
6. “A good tactic is one your people enjoy.” They’ll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They’re doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones.
7. “A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.” Don’t become old news.
8. “Keep the pressure on. Never let up.” Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new.
9. “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.” Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist.
10. “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.” It is this unceasing pressure that results in the reactions from the opposition that are essential for the success of the campaign.
11. “If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive.” Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog.
12. “The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.” Never let the enemy score points because you’re caught without a solution to the problem.
13. “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.
I see rules # 4,5,8,10,11 and 13 hurled my way almost daily.
When the world doesn't bake in a couple of decades I wonder if anyone will remember these behaviors?
What would sane energy people do without your standup comedy writings, Irina?
Alas, I do not find their babbling inanities hilarious, but incredibly dangerous. While we who read your letter understand reality, there are hundreds of millions, if not billions of people who bathe in ignorance on a daily basis and are proud of it. That said, thank you for highlighting the ongoing stupidity.
“If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.” Eldredge Cleaver
What are We the People going to do about the likely consequences of this untoward development?
If you are saying that new battlefields include the minds and hearts of the Rising Generation, are we going to fight or not?
Hells Bells! I’m in for a fight but these are new times that demand far more enlightened tactics.
Dramatic. Fast. Positive. Sensible. Peacemakers.
All of this is going to result in the moving of cheeses, yes?
Nonetheless, This is a winnable battle!
“the social media world appears to be bursting with people with severe developmental problems in the rational thinking and emotional intelligence departments” excellent observation!
Irina, well said and truthful today. This stands out,
“ All this sounds like a joke but it’s not. Because the whole transition frenzy is accelerating if a frenzy can even accelerate but whatever. The pendulum, already pushed far in the direction of “We’re all going to die unless we do something right now this minute”, is being pushed harder still in the same direction.
That means that when it starts coming back, it will come back hard, fast, and maybe bloody. Not because people are stupid and they don’t know hat’s good for them so they need to be told what’s good for them.”
When the people do start realizing that the elites and so called experts are wrong and their lives are adversely affected the pushback will be epic. As you note when decisions that affect lives are based on “feelings” with truth or disagreement cancelled I see riots and political pushback that goes far.
And I say this from one deeply involved in Renewables but mainly from the utility side of substations, collector systems and transmission lines. In my market New Construction is going so fast it’s not sustainable. We are suffering from a severe shortage of skilled people and parts and pieces and it’s hard to believe that all the schemes and dreams can be accomplished. Costs are also going up and these costs are being passed onto consumers which is not sustainable.
Irina - I like this statement of yours "fact that evil always contains the seeds of its own destruction" but unfortunately it causes tragedy for millions of people! Yes, the rent-seeking guardians of knowledge and wisdom cannot be questioned!
Remember that it all began with the University of East Anglia and the organized effort to ban the publication of contrary scientific climate research. And it has extended to attacks on scientists such as Roger Pielke. Jr. and Judith Currey to name just a couple.
Irina, great article as usual. It may be wishful thinking on my part but I sense some pushback recently on the alarmist approach to controlling the narrative. To highlight and add to one of the many salient points you’ve made, big oil is accused of buying scientific work to support their positions, my question is how much did the latest and all previous ipcc reports cost? Let’s hope the pushback and questioning extends to the no name scientist and experts that no one has ever heard of before we cede more money, power, and control to this attempt to establish a one world government.
So as soon as they stop repressing people’s opinions online, they are surprised that the previous position that was the only allowed one to hold is not more popular? I would think this would be self evident and predictable?
Seems like a nice dataset for a future social scientist to study the phenomenon of mass moral panics.
I do love your writing, Irina, and your insights. Thank you. Reading your articles is a distinct pleasure!
Here's another serious and frightening aspect of eco-activism: scroll on down to #10 on the list.
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230402-8-of-the-best-films-of-2023-so-far
"How to Blow Up a Pipeline" is the name of the movie. Based on a book, no less. The idiocy is leeching into (so called) entertainment.