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

Conservatives did something kind of incredible.

I'm in the PNW so I'll use timber and logging as my example but one can find similar stories in coal and oil.

Conservatives used environmental causes as a means to distract workers. What do I mean? Back in the 70s and 80s loggers were looking to unionize and get more pay. So what happened? The spotted owl, land rights, environmentalists, etc. Now we have campaigns like Timber Unity which resulted in more gates on lands, less loggers in general(automation) and lower pay/benefits for those workers.

Now, rural Americans fly banners of campaigns that have stripped them of money. They eagerly proclaim their timber unity while they lose their jobs, acting as if they're battling this environmentalist boogieman.

While the low paid workers hit their chests and declare unity against environmentalists, their employers lower their pay, cut benefits, etc while blaming an owl.

It's mind boggling how hoodwinked they let them selves be. You can see this repeated in other industries that use environmentalists as scapegoats.

You’re basically right. It wasn’t a one-off trick so much as a playbook: take a niche label and stretch it into a catch-all (CRT -> DEI/antiracism) [1], flood the zone so it feels way bigger than it is [2], wrap it in “silent majority” vibes so supporters feel counter-culture [3, 4].

1 - https://x.com/realchrisrufo/status/1396961964190961665

2 - https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-obsession-cri...

3 - https://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/nixon-silent-majority-spee...

4 - https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/05/19/americans-an...