I’m afraid it’s really true: climate change deniers are traitors. They are traitors to all that is best in humanity and to the earth Herself. And they are traitors to the future.
Why do I say this? Consider: What IS a traitor? According to the usual definition, a traitor is someone who, in a time of war, sides with a declared enemy or deliberately undermines his/her nation’s military or defense efforts.
So now, when humanity is embroiled in its greatest challenge — defending against intensifying climate change and disruption — it is not far-fetched to say we are locked in a major ‘war’ to combat climate change.
It’s not a military matter, obviously — since there’s no national ‘enemy’ to fight and defeat — but it’s an escalating ‘war’ nonetheless. It’s a critical, time-sensitive battle to defeat humanity’s and the Earth’s greatest common enemy, climate change.
Yet, what do we see happening all across the globe? Instead of humanity joining together to fight the scourge of climate change — which I’ll refer to, more accurately, as ‘climate disruption’ going forward — we’ve got a vast contingent of ‘climate change deniers’ who are busily and loudly undermining or even halting our efforts to deal with the problem(s)!
Instead of assisting in this critical battle, we’ve got many millions of people around the world doing the exact opposite: they are deliberately impeding any meaningful progress on climate issues… and are thus ensuring humanity’s (and millions of other species’) defeat and downfall.
I know it sounds harsh, and I’m sorry for that — but these deluded and dangerous people should be seen for what they are: traitors to humanity and the Earth.
A bit of recent history
After the environmental movement was born in the late 1960s and 70s, it became apparent that our industrialized ‘consumer culture’ was out of control and was creating horrific ecological effects. And our global dependence on fossil fuels and combustion engines led the pack of problematic technologies and processes.
By the late 80s, scientists were already sounding the alarm about ‘global warming’ and our need to rein in CO2 emissions. And by the mid-90s, most scientists around the world had come to a consensus that such warming was, indeed, happening — and accelerating.
That’s when a dedicated cadre of traitors and conspirators initiated a long-term campaign to oppose and undermine climate science and overturn national efforts to combat climate change. This was the initial group of traitors to humanity and the earth.
There’s been a concerted ‘bad faith’ effort — a conspiracy, really — on the part of right-wing groups and think tanks, pro-capitalism ideologues, and fossil fuel producers and refiners to cast doubt on and destroy the credibility of global warming/climate science. They knew they were lying and twisting the truth beyond all recognition — but opted to do it anyway. Short-term profits and partisan politics trumped long-term planning and preparation.
Their ongoing efforts — over the past 30+ years — have been so successful that the U.S. lags behind other Western nations in its (weak) commitment to combat climate change, while all large nations consistently fail to meet agreed-on ‘climate goals.’ As planned (by the conspirators), fossil fuel companies and their supporters still run the show and have an oversized influence on our national agenda regarding fossil fuels and climate issues.
That is, they succeeded in defaming and undermining climate science and turning the situation to their (temporary) advantage.
The *other* Big Lie
Meanwhile, millions of gullible Americans — and millions more people around the world — have bought their Big Lie that climate change and global warming are myths or ‘hoaxes,’ and are part of a devious ‘liberal plot’ to upend our economy and destroy the fossil fuel industry.
Right-wing media, of course, have been instrumental in pushing this Big Lie.
The brainwashing around the issue of ‘climate change’ has been so effective and complete that it spawned a new breed of partisan activists: ‘Climate change deniers,’ or ‘climate deniers’ for short. Many of these right-wing deniers are active on both state and federal levels and are working tirelessly to defeat local, state, and national initiatives to combat climate change.
That’s exactly how we got to this present (insane) moment. We’re facing the most horrific ecological crisis in human history — one that’s been endlessly verified by scientists and is constantly proving itself in real time as the parade of disastrous climatic and weather events speeds up and intensifies.
Yet the active brainwashing behind ‘climate denial’ is still ongoing, and the forces that are keeping our nation(s) from adequately combating climate change are unrelenting.
That’s why I call these folks ‘traitors to humanity.’
Science denial is running amok
But it gets worse. Not content to undermine just climate science, many of these same ‘deniers’ are attacking science in general, public health measures, vaccines, and other scientifically-proven — and crucial — processes and procedures. The general ‘drift’ of these efforts seems to be this: anytime something vital to the larger public good interferes with or diminishes our individual ‘freedom’ in any way, it is deemed ‘too liberal’ or ‘too oppressive.’
During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, science deniers rose to prominence by resisting masks, social distancing, so-called ‘mandates,’ and other vital public health measures. Then right-wing media expanded the fierce drumbeat of opposition and began demonizing the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), Dr. Fauci — the head of the National Institutes of Health — and other well-known public health figures.
Previously, the CDC was one of the most admired American institutions and was the bedrock of global public health efforts. But no more. After the ‘deniers’ were finished with their ferocious smear campaign, the CDC’s reputation was almost destroyed and Dr. Fauci — who helped guide us through the worst pandemic in 100 years — was labeled a ‘traitor’ who deserved to be hung!
What was the final result of all this denial and ongoing hateful public attacks? Our public health efforts were severely undermined, and the U.S. became the only nation to suffer over a million deaths in the pandemic. And our death tally was almost double that of the second-ranked nation, Brazil!
Denial of science is no laughing matter. Denial destroys and kills.
Plus, the loud drumbeat of denial has turned many millions of Americans against proven science and public health measures, and now these delusional ‘patriots’ resist any and all attempts to get them to protect themselves and others via masking, vaccines, and other ordinary, vital public health options. Heaven help us when we have another pandemic! (Notice I said ‘when,’ not ‘if.’)
Denial KILLS
The point is eminently clear: denial and anti-science attitudes and activism are horribly destructive and dangerous — and denial can, and often does, kill.
Whether we’re talking about long-term, slowly-accelerating processes like climate disruption, or rapid-fire disasters and emergencies like a pandemic or the vast, ongoing L.A. conflagration, denial ends up destroying, maiming, and killing. The only difference lies in how long it takes for the maiming and killing to take place.
The point is, denial is always destructive — and the vast tsunami of denial now swamping our world is bringing mass destruction on every possible time scale: current, imminent, near-future, and a few decades down the line.
That’s why, after much consideration, I chose to call these deniers ‘traitors.’ They are deliberately and delusionally driving us to ruin, social collapse, and the intensifying collapse of our climate and ecological systems. They are traitors to reason, science, and social progress, and may well drive humanity and many other species to — or over — the brink of extinction.
Why collapse is now inevitable
However, the ‘denier’ problem we face today may be insurmountable, for this reason: in a time of actual war, a nation may be faced with a few or perhaps a few dozen traitors — and it’s then possible, after a public trial or court-martial, to imprison, silence, or even execute these traitors.
But today we’re faced with many millions of traitors, all across the globe, so there’s simply no way we can ever ‘deal with them’ effectively — especially because we’re still civilized and don’t condone mass execution or mass incarceration (except in the case of illegal immigrants, that is).
Horrifyingly, there is NO publicly available or pragmatic method to rid ourselves of this multitude of despicable traitors.
The result? They continue to wreak havoc, and are free to continue their relentless campaign of innuendo, paranoia, and anti-science bullshit — and to continue successfully undermining and destroying many of the social and public health structures built by liberal democracy.
The anti-science, anti-climate-change, and anti-public-health movements have been astoundingly effective — to the point that they may have doomed the entire human race and our lovely planet to accelerating disaster. In truth, their astounding ‘success’ is leading straight to massive, horrendous failure for humankind.
These deluded ‘deniers’ are, indeed, traitors to humanity, the Earth, and all we hold dear.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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