Disinformation

This one will be short but hopefully very much to the point: The rampant disinformation regarding science really needs to stop.

This may be true when we’re talking about climate change (or maybe not), but disinformation is especially horrific when the lives of residents (a.k.a. voters) in the USA are at risk. A couple recent examples may be in order. (Forgive me for not providing more, but, really, additional samples are all over the internet and most especially social media — feel free to browse to your heart’s content.)

Last week, Hurricane Helene absolutely devastated the southeast, extending into western North Carolina with torrential rain that led to historic flooding. Also affected were Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, and — wait for it — Georgia.

Marjorie Taylor Green — surely one of the brilliant scientific minds in the House — had some important information to share that really made an splash across the news (this synopsis is paraphrased from the Independent, but there are others):

The Republican from Georgia claimed last week that “they” can control the weather after Hurricane Helene killed more than two dozen people in her state and more than 230 across the US. While she did not clarify who “they” was at the time, she did say that “Yes they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”

And now, a week later, here comes Hurricane Milton, taking aim on the western Florida coast somewhat south of Tampa Bay, with landfall by midnight tonight (9 October 2024). Never one to shy from the truth, MTG had this to add yesterday:

Everyone keeps asking, ‘who is they?’ Well some of them are listed on NOAA, as well as most of the ways weather can be modified…If your home or business or property is damaged or a loved one is killed by their weather modifications shouldn’t you be eligible for compensation?

Don’t you just love championing the concept of weather modification, not to mention financial compensation, by an elected Representative supposedly opposed to big government and federal spending?

Control of the weather has surely been suggested by various members of the federal government for many years, including a former president in 2019 who proposed dropping nuclear bombs into the eye of a storm while it was still in the Atlantic to kill it before it could reach the United States. From Axios (25 August 2019):

During one hurricane briefing at the White House, (the president) said, “I got it. I got it. Why don’t we nuke them?” according to one source who was there. “They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they’re moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can’t we do that?”

Oh yeah, good ideas all around.

But I am forced to ask the following: If we are so skilled that we can control the weather and even stop an approaching hurricane dead in its track, why then is it out of the question that human activities may be contributing to climate change?

Just asking…