Right-wing Fear Mongering?

I have read and seen much as of late suggesting the negative effects of everything from right-wing hate, right-wing fear mongering, etcetera. A good example can be found on this blog that I ran across last week (and whose author has now refused to allow me to comment further on). Shall I remind such journalists of possibly the greatest exploitation of public fear and ignorance in recent decades? You know of course, I will. Global Warming; oh wait, I forgot, global temperatures have leveled out this decade, so they have to call it climate change now, my mistake. Anyway, climate change has been drummed into the minds of children from the earliest points of almost all public elementary schools, much the same way that religion is taught very early on in almost all catholic schools. I can still remember from practically kindergarten on, having the old “reduce, reuse, and recycle” line forced down my throat. Of course, back then it was still global warming, and about 3-5 years before my birth it was actually global cooling. So, I guess climate change, by any other name, is still just as bitter. Later on, in the higher grades, the fear really starts to set in, where climate change (by the way, the text books still say global warming. Someone should really get on that el quicko) is taught as established, irrefutable fact, and that there is no debate on its validity; as oppose to the fact that climate change is a non-working theory which is heavily debated, and the more research goes into it, the more surprising, and unexpected findings arise; an example being the fact that every single climate model estimated a temperature increase in the past decade, and they were all wrong. Now, we’ve graduated, and are out of school; now we’re being told by our leaders and public figures that we should feel badly for driving cars, flying out to vacation spots, turning on lights in our homes, and yes, even for breathing (all of the above, I should point out, are things that our leaders and public figures do exponentially more than we average citizens). This brings me to my next point, if the theory of climate change has such a scientific consensus; why does so much of what it entails hinge on how people feel? First off, scientific consensus counts for nothing. 400 years ago, the scientific consensus was that the earth was flat, and the sun revolved around the earth. It was an unproven theory that was debated until Columbus tested it by sailing across the ocean to find land that no one knew existed. Fear was used even back then to perpetuate that theory. Now we are being made to believe that by every breath we take, we are bringing our planet closer to an extreme, uncontrollable, catastrophic change in climate. Anyone who wants to talk about political fear mongering cannot ignore climate change as the proverbial whopper of fear mongering, and that is the product of ultra-left wing, anti-capitalist groups. But this is hardly news; next time you talk to someone on the left, observe. You will find that more often than not, the debate becomes about how you should ‘feel’ about the topic. The right-wing “fear mongering” more often than not consists of substance and logic than of feeling.

So next time you turn on the news, or read something on “right-wing fear mongering” just make sure you remember which side has, for decades, used fear tactics to push an agenda to make you afraid of driving your car, flying airplanes, and even some things as simple as turning on lights in your own house and breathing.