Scientist exposes anti-wind groups as oil-funded, now they want to silence him

The disgust this article invokes is overwhelming.

I n my ideal world these people would be prosecuted.

But we live in their ideal world, not yours

So let's vote them out

I would love to obtain a handbook on how to convince moronic far-right leaning neighbors to change or at least soften their stance. I usually just tell them to fuck off, which apparently is not that much effective.

> love to obtain a handbook on how to convince moronic far-right leaning neighbors to change or at least soften their stance

Real answer? Pick a battle and commit to it. That means allying with folks who agree with you—or have an incentive to agree—on your one issue with whom you may strongly disagree on other policy or even moral positions. This doesn’t need to be a permanent alliance, after all, just a transactional one to achieve a goal.

Dont call them moronic. Don't tell them to fuck off.

If you HONESTLY want to try to convince people that these politicians and industries are a net negative you can not just sit there and call people fucking idiots. It makes a person retreat into their view that much more. You have to just calmly explain things. Sometimes you have to explain that thing a lot.

A lot of people who voted right wing are looking for reasons to re-evaluate their decisions. Dont give them a reason to double down by calling them fucking mornons. Soft language will win this fight.

step one, stop calling them "moronic far-right leaning neighbors" ;)

If your only advice is to not insult people then this really isn't helpful.

> I usually just tell them to fuck off

and then everyone clapped

That implies you don't believe the story? There is zero reason to disbelieve something as mundane as telling someone to fuck off.

> A lot of people who voted right wing are looking for reasons to re-evaluate their decisions

i dont believe this to be the case. If they have such a reason, then surely they would've already examined it much earlier and came to a conclusion under which they won't have been a right wing voter in the first place.

So there's something else at play, such as preconceived notions, or the inability to sort out facts from fiction (being presented as fact on TV), that makes them behave the way they did.

> A lot of people who voted right wing are looking for reasons to re-evaluate their decisions

If only

> Sometimes you have to explain that thing a lot.

This.

Sometimes I think I want people to change their minds extremely and instantaneously. When I look at the micro-changes they make, and have the endurance to see these changes over time, they can actually make extreme changes and in a short period of time. It's just rarely instantaneously extreme.

Cute that you think there will be an election. Why do you think have all controlling and independent agencies that are part of the election process or cybersecurity been removed in the first week via executive orders?

Also write them a very stern letter, That'll show'em.

The only way to stop those people is boots-on-the-ground political, social, and cultural activism. No, writing mean tweets and just taking part to that fancy "guess your next leader" powerball variant you do once every four years is not remotely enough.

This can be… risky.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_German_National...

This is a systematic problem, the exact same thing happened with leaded gas already (industry sponsored scientists spreading misinformation on toxicity, lawfare against scientists that uncover/publish inconvenient truths) but there were zero consequences.

Our current system makes it much too easy to hold on to profits even when direct negative externalitites cost millions of human life-years.

The problem is, what you're talking about is essentially cult deprogramming. And (AFAIK) that's a) very, very hard, b) something one does one person or small family group at a time, and c) a process that requires some kind of personal bond with the people you're deprogramming (so if you don't have one going in, you have to be willing and able to form one).

The far, far easier (at that end of things) way to solve our problems would be to shift our economic policies to favor the poor at the expense of the very wealthy, because a huge share of the cause of their stubborn stances is economic insecurity. But unfortunately, that...probably requires getting them on board, at least to some extent. (Not to mention actually having a free and fair election again, which...looks pretty dodgy at the moment.)

Just be careful not to turn into a 1-issue voter. There's a lot of people out there that vote for the candidate that agrees with them on the one issue they consider the most important... and they ignore the substantial amount of evil that candidate does that's _not_ that one issue.