Gary, you asked a question and I failed to answer it. Sorry, let me fix that
“The problem with getting your fellow consensusites to follow your advice, is their disdain for the “customer.”
Which do you think most accurately describes the attitude of the consensus leaders toward their audience (or at least who their audience should be – the voters):
A) The voters are too dumb to understand the science anyway.
B) They (the consensus) are so much more intelligent, better educated and better informed, that the public should just do as their told, say thank you, and then shut up.
C) The truth as they know it to be is so obvious that anyone who does not agree with them is either stupid, dishonest, or mentally unbalanced.
D) All of the above.”
I can only speak for myself and I can say that I have had those feelings and thoughts, so answer D.
Lets start:
A) my customer is too dumb.
when I think you are too dumb I will just give you a pile of references and say ” read the damn manual moron” you see a lot of people do that. Ive done it. This really doesnt work too well.
B. Hmm, I have experience doing B, . mostly the “shut up” tactic. I will say that the more work I did in the field the more intolerant I became of Keyboard Jockeys.. So, if I tell you to shut up its not because I think Im smarter or better educated. Its cause I did the work. So, over the years I have become much more sympathic toward people who tell keyboard jockeys to shut up and do their own damn science. That said, “shut up” doesnt work. they own keyboards.
C. I try to avoid the mentally imbalanced attacks. the wholesale diagnosing your opponents with mental illness is perhaps the most offensive move I have seen folks on my side perform. Lets say my experience with loved ones , friends and the random vet who sleeps on the sidewalk outside my building makes these kind of wholesale attacks especially offensive to me. Still, I bet that I’ve stooped to that tactic on more than one occasion on an individual basis. The internet made me do it.
Im almost of the opinion that any mass marketing of climate science is damn near impossible. Maybe we should go door to door like the witnesses or do missions like LDS.
