Most conservatives actually acknowledge global warming. The reasonable ones even use it to establish their credibility: "I'm not a denialist." That talk comes from wonks and private citizens though. Conservative talking heads and politicians can't keep their careers with such apostasy.
Paul Ryan uses acknowledgement of poverty to build his own credibility.
Rand Paul builds credibility by acknowledging racial disparities in criminal justice.
And when I see these individuals lauded for challenging conservative orthodoxy, it bothers me. Sure, I'm glad to see a gram of independence and intelligence on display by Republicans, but why stop at a sliver of daylight? Why don't the headlines read like the Onion and say: "Senator Acknowledges Reality!"?
The global warming debate is over: it's happening, it's our fault, and we're doing major damage to the planet. There's controversy, but no debate. The controversy is not whether there's global warming; the controversy is how can we allow these short-sighted denialists to steer us faster into oblivion. The conversation that we avoid, when talking about global warming, is mass extinction. It's happened, it's happening - and it could happen to us.
Take a look at todays New York Times headline:
Ocean Life Faces Mass Extinction, Broad Study Says
According to this study . . .
There are clear signs already that humans are harming the oceans to a remarkable degree, the scientists found. Some ocean species are certainly overharvested, but even greater damage results from large-scale habitat loss, which is likely to accelerate as technology advances the human footprint, the scientists reported.
And there's headlines like that all over the place:
Earth has lost half of its wildlife in the past 40 years, says WWF.
Salt-Water Fish Extinction Seen By 2048, says CBS News.
Vital invertebrates decline by 45%, says the UK Independent.
Basically, while we're dicking around, trying to convince the Confederacy that science is real, species are going extinct in record numbers. At least five major extinction events have happened in the history of Earth, with ~70% of all species disappearing in each event. Dozens of lesser extinction events have happened along the way too, and we are creating one right now. This isn't minor though: "
it's pretty widely accepted now that we're living through the sixth massive extinction."
The denialism isn't even confined to science either: we routinely witness our republican legislators deny history, mathematics, economics - and even any religion that doesn't support America's militant corporatocracy. Their entire philosophy is built on the blind assumption that it's morally imperative that we ignore "externalities" - those inconvenient consequences to corporate activity that are imposed on the public (or nature, or other countries). That's the core of their belief system, and they protect that core with armors of God, American exceptionalism, and sophomoric Ayn Rand bullshit. This denialism - infantile, tribalistic, nihilistic posturing - comes at a bigger price than a poor functioning government.
The mass extinction could take us with it if we let them. Let's find a better way.