On Feb 21, 2018 9:17 AM, <silkl...@bobf.frankston.com> wrote: https://www.facebook.com/lynn.wheeler/posts/10214578899241825
(which points to http://www.atimes.com/indias-war-science/) Please join the discussion and add comments if you know more about this? I don't use Facebook, I'm even hesitant to click on links that point to it, so my comments here. -- Left or Right wing politics, or any idea for that matter, can be sold scientifically, if one so desires and possesses the necessary intelligence and eloquence to selectively examine facts. For object lessons please watch Yes minister. If people want to feel good about their evening drink sooner or later there will be two studies published everyday in leading journals arguing the benefits of alcohol. Times of India never fails to tell me about both of them. Paying respect to science is good form, but doesn't always mean it's an indication of quality. Neither is questioning science inherently a bad idea. Unfortunately, most see it as some kind of tribal identity - the world is more complex than a binary state. Like tobacco, beef can be taxed heavily with a very "secular" argument for it - Scandinavian countries are already proposing such a beef tax (links below). It's a pity that the Bjp's preference is for lynch mobs and mad rhetoric, but again there's a lot of internal logic to it. Mob violence sends a louder message in politics than a hundred press releases. I see stupidity/intelligence and violence/calm as being equally present across the entire political spectrum - in the long run. It's clear the BJP, being relatively new to power, lacks savvy political and PR advisors like the fictional Sir Humphrey Appleby who can teach them to have their cake and eat it too. It's also true that they relish authoritarian displays that boldly announce that a new sheriff is in town. Congress is a party that has ruled India for decades, and in its last days had developed a gentle, even lazy "benevolent dictator" quality about it. The BJP, is not an old hand at power, and so it is eager to cement the status quo and make its mark - hence the bloody politics. Lest we forget, during the insecure days of Indira's India there was a lot of bloodshed and nonsense too. There's a Goldilocks period where the political leadership is neither insecure nor complacent, neither too young, nor senile, but golden ages are fated to be stuck in between the two extremes of being too hot and too cold. The article by Shashi Tharoor, as far as I can tell, is just a rhetorical club he's chosen to beat his political opponent with. He's not impartially examined all the facts available to him, instead, like a good debater, or politician, he has sketched a convenient narrative. The electric car policy, the phenomenal growth in renewable energy all point to a real fear of global warming. It's hard to feel otherwise sitting in smog cooked Delhi. When the Mughals invaded India they were nothing more than savages on horseback, unlettered and unrefined. A mere hundred years later they were building the Taj Mahal during their Goldilocks period. Insecurity and stupidity often look alike. It's a season of madness, but that's just politics. India and the world is only as mad or sane as it ever was. --- Secular case for taxing or banning beef: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/21/eat- less-meat-vegetarianism-dangerous-global-warming "Adhering to health guidelines on meat consumption could cut global food-related emissions by nearly a third by 2050, the study found, while widespread adoption of a vegetarian diet would bring down emissions by 63%." https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/11/meat- tax-inevitable-to-beat-climate-and-health-crises-says-report --
