In the article Platt mentions is a key point, "After all, who puts money into science--whether for AIDS, or space, or climate--where there is nothing really alarming?".
Science? Why stop there! As I've referred to many times in the past, the rise of the Nightmare Politician is not a "leftist phenomenon", nor is it a "rightist phenomenon". Since the fifties, and the general collapse of western liberalism, politicians (read, republican AND democrat) in the US and many other western countries, have moved their rhetoric into one based on "we can protect you", whether it be from global warming, immigration, multi-linguality, Iranians, terrorism, poverty or joblessness (or any other number of bugaboos). One would hope that rather than simply parrot the fear-mongering of one party while condemning the other side for fear-mongering, we could see a way out without relying on fear. Climatology research should continue unabated and unrestricted or unpromoted by alarmist politicians. And both sides are as guilty of this as sin. You can't turn on the news, whether "mainstream" like CNN or "alternative" like Sean Hannity, without being bombarded by the fear du jour, something that Americans should be afraid of that only the decent, honest, noble folk of Party X can save us from. Only until we stop pandering to the fear of one party, while condemning the fear of the other, will we move anywhere close to change in this country. "After all, who puts money into science--whether for AIDS, or space, or climate--where there is nothing really alarming?" The War on Drugs, Mexicans coming over every hill, the collapse of our economy, and global climate change... all issues that should occur in the bounds of reason and observation, and we should all be prepared to go where the evidence takes us, regardless of whether or not that direction conforms to the ideology of the Nightmare Politicans that define BOTH US political parties. "In the past, politicians promised to create a better world. They had different ways of achieving this. But their power and authority came from the optimistic visions they offered to their people. Those dreams failed. And today, people have lost faith in ideologies. Increasingly, politicians are seen simply as managers of public life. But now, they have discovered a new role that restores their power and authority. Instead of delivering dreams, politicians now promise to protect us from nightmares. They say that they will rescue us from dreadful dangers that we cannot see and do not understand. And the greatest danger of all is international terrorism. A powerful and sinister network, with sleeper cells in countries across the world. A threat that needs to be fought by a war on terror. But much of this threat is a fantasy, which has been exaggerated and distorted by politicians. It's a dark illusion that has spread unquestioned through governments around the world, the security services, and the international media." (The Power of Nightmare, BBC) Fear, it's what's for dinner. Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
