I have been fascinated by the recent comments on Fox news. This has led to a push back from left leaning commentators like Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow. Even though these media battles are to be expected. They cause some issues in right leaning ideology to come to light.
The most obvious point is that you get a clear picture of how the right wing propaganda machine works. A single element of an argument is taken out of the context of the big picture and used to disprove the entire argument. In the climate change debate the weather on a single day is used to discredit the the climate over 10 years. It is a tried and tested method but it is an embarrassing approach to the climate debate. If it were so simple to win this way would it not already have been done and accepted by the entire scientific community?
This is a perfect way to just muddy the waters. There seems to be some joy in not knowing anything but just frustrating someone with the facts. The battle is being lost and shall be lost until the day everyone is put in a position to fight for their lives and on this day it will be too late. America cannot avert the apocalypse in real life in the way they do it in the movies. This is a global scale situation.
Unfortunately the fact that it is an issue that is global in proportion, makes it more difficult to deal with. One cannot help but sympathies with the sacrifices less developed counties are being asked to make. As a person from a developing country I feel how complicated it is. I know how it could hinder development and cause even more suffering in the short term. I can also the potential wars due to a lack of natural resources cause by the changes in climate. This will not all change from one day to the next. Which is funny because that's another right wing tactic. If it doesn't change tomorrow it didn't work even if it took 8 years to happen. I guess this is why the appreciate the effects of a bomb so much.
The most interesting exposure is in how obvious right wing consumers will repeat anything right wing media says. I can confidently say most of these folks believe the world is 5-6 thousand years old. The climate change debate is the only time you will hear them say millions of years ago. Even more interesting is the face that they will pick out evidence that is related to the existence of dinosaurs even thought they don't believe in them or that they existed millions of years ago.
If this does not expose them for what they are I don't know what will.