Why do you think extreme conservatives dismiss global warming?

[pepperbear]

I have read so many freepy posts on the net, and the only conclusion I can draw is that because liberal are for it, that's enough reason to be against it. I have seen posts that indicate that it's nothing but a lobbyists money-making industry, yet the same people that say this turn a blind eye to their own wingnut agenda and how much money is raised because of it.

Anyone who has ever stood too close to a running bus should know that tailpipe exhaust can't be a good thing. I just don't get why this isn't the ONE THING the whole world can agree on.

Then I remember who's in charge of information.

[Cabcere]

1. Because they're idiots?

:shrug: Why do most of these "extreme conservatives" also hate peace and justice? Who knows why they hold any of the views they do. I really don't understand their way of thinking... :shrug:

[ClassWarrior]

5. Most aren't idiots. Which is even more perplexing.

I think the best explanation is that they're authoritarians. Read John Dean's "Conservatives Without Conscience."

NGU.

[Iris]

2. it gets in the way of "free enterprise"

of course, they would never understand the concept of "there is no free lunch" because they think that applies to first graders who's parents are too "unmotivated to make more than minimum wage."

[bbgrunt]

6. and if they admitted that it might be real they

would be allowing for the fact that "the market" isn't perfect and there might be some role for the devil government besides military after all.

[Iris]

18. hee! hee! Finally someone around here gets me!

:hi:

[unpossibles]

10. exactly! They hate regulations and rules when it comes to them being able to make money

then again, most of them won't hesitate to declare bankruptcy, take advantage of social infrastructure, or use other forms of assistance when they need to, but that's different... </sarcasm>

I look at it this way: much like with the war effort and paying taxes, they want to throw a party but no one wants to clean the house, so to speak. They have the right to destroy the planet (which someone apparently died defending...), and someone else can clean up after them. In other words, they are spoiled little princesses with no idea how society works.

[Telly Savalas]

23. But most run of the mill "free enterprise" conservatives acknowledge

that it is a serious issue.

The right-leaning business press, most notably The Economist, has been pushing for the U.S. to do more for quite a while, and you're hearing CEO's of major corporations calling for governmental action on the issue all the time. One might disagree with their approach or think their proposals are too timid, but they at least agree that it's a problem.

It's only far far right extremist ideologues who are still in denial about the anthropogenic nature of climate change. But for some reason this tiny minority is vastly over-represented in Congress and the Senate. I predict this will change quickly though, and these folks who are supposed to represent us will start to catch up with the rest of the world. I'd bet that by the end of the 110th Congress, the debate on Capitol Hill will no longer be about the reality of climate change, but rather what the best approach for dealing with it is.

[electprogdems]

3. becasues it threatens thier ideas on who and how the

universe was created

[rainy]

4. Because Rush tells them to so corporations can keep on polluting and Rush

can keep making money.

[Lerkfish]

7. oil companies paid millions in PR propaganda money to claim there was no

global warming.

look no further than that.

[Miss Chybil]

8. They believe global warming is a natural phenomenon accredited to God,

not vehicle emissions, and they don't want to interrupt the rapture.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/paynter/300443_paynt22.html

Others just don't want to have to spend any of their precious profits to keep the rest of us and themselves alive.

[Auggie]

9. Clean air cuts into their profits.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. They're basically the same as creationists.

[Vogon_Glory]

12. Ultra-Rightists Fear Losing Their Freedoms

The reason that ultra-rightists deny global warming is that they think that doing something about it would impinge on their freedom to use big, gas-guzzling cars and burn all the firewood they want. They don't bother to think that the sorts of regulations, restrictions and rationing implemented societies coping to survive runaway global warming would make even the stricter measures advocated by some to restrict global warming look like a Libertarian paradise by comparison.

FOOLS!

[CrispyQ]

13. Many of them no longer deny "climate change"

but they continue to deny that human activity has anything to do with it. It is a very convenient world view, because you don't have to change anything about your over-consumptive life style or ask your big business buddies to implement clean air standards, because the world is going to melt into a puddle anyway.

[ananda]

14. One word: FEAR

They see the world through a very narrow lens of fear, a lens that is so distorted that it no longer accurately portrays reality as it really is.

They will look for any excuse to dis science, the UN, Gore, or anyone or anything that speaks the truth on this issue.
It's sick, it's sad, and even more sadly.. they're the ones in power. That hurts, and humanity is going to pay for it bigtime.

Sue

[Toucano]

15. Casual conversatives v. Extreme Conservatives.

The casual, or garden-variety conservative opposes acknowledging man-made global warming because acknowledgement would demand that they change the way they live, and they fear change above all other things. They would also have to admit responsibility, another of their great loathings.

The other, extreme conservatives, are just plain greedy.

[sakabatou]

16. I've seen ones where they think it's the second coming.

[Yavin4]

17. They Think of Themselves As Modern-Day Aristocrats

They're better than anyone else, and they can do whatever they want, whenever they want. Sacrifice and struggle are for the disadvantage, the not-so intelligent, and the weak. Hence, they can start a war in Iraq and never have to send their own children. They can pay sub-standard wages. They can pollute all that they want. It's okay for their children to be homosexual and have full citizenship rights, but not yours.

All government instrusions, taxation or regulation, no matter how mild, is seen as an affront to their status. It's seen as stealing or preventing their god-given right to pursue their happiness at any cost.

They want their wealth and status to enslave everyone else. We all have to serve them in order to even exist, and they want their wealth and status ensured for generations.

[sendero]

19. It is a tangled web.,..

.. of cultural and religious beliefs that make them very suspect of science in general.

They cannot trust science because to trust it would be to renounce one of the more laughable tenets of their faith, that the earth is only a few thousand years old.

So, once you put your fingers in your ear and yell la la la about the age of the earth and about evolution, it is a small and easy step to dismiss global warming.

[XemaSab]

20. They're assholes

and when they hear that global warming will kill 300 million people in Africa, they think "Fuck 'em."

I know this is not the whole answer, but I think it's part of the answer.

[roseBudd]

21. They think it's like protecting the stock of RJ Reynolds, only its brand capitalism

[Greyhound]

22. The whole world does agree on this.

Or to be more accurate about 98% agree, the only dissent comes from paid shills and their brain-dead followers.

[Telly Savalas]

24. Precisely. It's only fringe elements, mostly located in the U.S.

who are still in denial.

This isn't a left-right issue any more than the flat earth theory is.