I read the first article when you posted it but who knew it would shake up the world so much over a bunch of chimney filters. Goes to show you that main stream news is so bent on jumping on everything to out-scoop the others, that very few actually fact check stuff anymore. Good follow -up. I want to mention it to my handful of listeners next week on An Crann Bethadh Podcast. I push out an episode once a week about silly stuff like this, along with other meaningful climate articles that most people might not notice.
It's not just pizza. Stoking outrage over some perceived loss of "freedom" has become the industry and right-wing playbook, and mainstream media is increasingly just going along with it because outrage and conflict make news. I wrote about it here: https://open.substack.com/pub/johnlovie/p/denial-and-the-lizard-brain
Crushed it on Piers! Funny that even Paulie Gee agreed it was a good idea...not sure there was actually a debate at all, haha. I'm shocked to my core that portnoy has no idea what he's talking about...
It is annoying, troubling and worse to see how the right wing media (broadcast, print, social...) can drive a narrative that "mainstream" media feels compelled to report. And then a lot of their research just digs up that BS, repeats it, and can't seem to debunk it effectively. E.g. reporting of statements at hysterical public meetings on solar and wind farms.
Thanks for wading into fray!
So far, Eric Adams is holding the line; I was worried he'd crater to some "populist" reflex. He didn't fully help by saying “Every toxic entity that we remove from our air is adding up to the overall desire to deal with shrinking our carbon footprint." I don't think GHG emissions reductions measures are at the top of his interest list.
Some in the climate movement might be a bit to blame by conflating any air pollution from any combustion with significant GHG pollution. In any case, I think I'll ride my bike to get a slice of NY style pie, from a gas oven that will probably be around for while. And a pint of local brew.
"Misinformation" is a sterilized euphemism for "bullshit." A few years back, Harry Frankfurt, a professor emeritus of philosophy from Princeton University, published a small tome describing what bullshit is and how it permeates our society (https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691122946/on-bullshit). One significant point the professor made is that, while a lie pays homage to the truth by knowing it to be its opposite, bullshit doesn't care what's true or not - only what promotes its interests. Hence, BS can often be true. Because of this, society tends to be much more tolerant of BS than it is of lies - which is unfortunate, because BS is infinitely more destructive.
Today's "main stream media" are focused on profits, and no one understands profit better than drug dealers. So, the media have become drug dealers and the drug they are selling is outrage. The reason so many outlets have picked up this story is it is more potent than the newest version of heroin to hit the streets: there are precious few people who don't love the taste of wood-fired pizza, and so "when those namby-pamby, liberal (the word must be expressed, of course, with a heartfelt sneer) climate do-gooders start screwing with my favorite Friday night meal, it's time for war!!"
That delicious feeling of righteous indignation is no doubt very similar to the high one gets from injecting heroin - brain receptors fill up with all those juicy little feel-good chemicals and woo-hoo! Joe Q Pizza-loving Public can't WAIT to tune in to the next episode of "Those stupid goddamn liberals" to get another high like that one! Media outlets swell up with profits, the mayor's edict is nullified so Paulie Gee's competitors don't have to spend the $25K to install the scrubbers, another thousand New Yorkers die from emphysema, progress toward climate change is stymied once again, and of course fossil fuel profits soar - what's not to love?
“Mainstream” and other media should educate their viewers about feedback loops. Any musician knows what it is, and most pop/rock audience members have heard it. It’s not hard to grasp that melting permafrost emits methane, which causes more warming, which melts more permafrost, which emits more methane which…. Same with forest fires releasing the carbon which was locked up inside the trees, which causes more warming, which…. What’s happening now is accelerating and if we think these weather extremes are bad just wait. We ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
I read the first article when you posted it but who knew it would shake up the world so much over a bunch of chimney filters. Goes to show you that main stream news is so bent on jumping on everything to out-scoop the others, that very few actually fact check stuff anymore. Good follow -up. I want to mention it to my handful of listeners next week on An Crann Bethadh Podcast. I push out an episode once a week about silly stuff like this, along with other meaningful climate articles that most people might not notice.
It's not just pizza. Stoking outrage over some perceived loss of "freedom" has become the industry and right-wing playbook, and mainstream media is increasingly just going along with it because outrage and conflict make news. I wrote about it here: https://open.substack.com/pub/johnlovie/p/denial-and-the-lizard-brain
Crushed it on Piers! Funny that even Paulie Gee agreed it was a good idea...not sure there was actually a debate at all, haha. I'm shocked to my core that portnoy has no idea what he's talking about...
Great job on Piers Morgan! Were you at all nervous? You looked super calm.
Fish looks like he is nothing but trouble! Ha!
It is annoying, troubling and worse to see how the right wing media (broadcast, print, social...) can drive a narrative that "mainstream" media feels compelled to report. And then a lot of their research just digs up that BS, repeats it, and can't seem to debunk it effectively. E.g. reporting of statements at hysterical public meetings on solar and wind farms.
Thanks for wading into fray!
So far, Eric Adams is holding the line; I was worried he'd crater to some "populist" reflex. He didn't fully help by saying “Every toxic entity that we remove from our air is adding up to the overall desire to deal with shrinking our carbon footprint." I don't think GHG emissions reductions measures are at the top of his interest list.
Some in the climate movement might be a bit to blame by conflating any air pollution from any combustion with significant GHG pollution. In any case, I think I'll ride my bike to get a slice of NY style pie, from a gas oven that will probably be around for while. And a pint of local brew.
"Misinformation" is a sterilized euphemism for "bullshit." A few years back, Harry Frankfurt, a professor emeritus of philosophy from Princeton University, published a small tome describing what bullshit is and how it permeates our society (https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691122946/on-bullshit). One significant point the professor made is that, while a lie pays homage to the truth by knowing it to be its opposite, bullshit doesn't care what's true or not - only what promotes its interests. Hence, BS can often be true. Because of this, society tends to be much more tolerant of BS than it is of lies - which is unfortunate, because BS is infinitely more destructive.
Today's "main stream media" are focused on profits, and no one understands profit better than drug dealers. So, the media have become drug dealers and the drug they are selling is outrage. The reason so many outlets have picked up this story is it is more potent than the newest version of heroin to hit the streets: there are precious few people who don't love the taste of wood-fired pizza, and so "when those namby-pamby, liberal (the word must be expressed, of course, with a heartfelt sneer) climate do-gooders start screwing with my favorite Friday night meal, it's time for war!!"
That delicious feeling of righteous indignation is no doubt very similar to the high one gets from injecting heroin - brain receptors fill up with all those juicy little feel-good chemicals and woo-hoo! Joe Q Pizza-loving Public can't WAIT to tune in to the next episode of "Those stupid goddamn liberals" to get another high like that one! Media outlets swell up with profits, the mayor's edict is nullified so Paulie Gee's competitors don't have to spend the $25K to install the scrubbers, another thousand New Yorkers die from emphysema, progress toward climate change is stymied once again, and of course fossil fuel profits soar - what's not to love?
“Mainstream” and other media should educate their viewers about feedback loops. Any musician knows what it is, and most pop/rock audience members have heard it. It’s not hard to grasp that melting permafrost emits methane, which causes more warming, which melts more permafrost, which emits more methane which…. Same with forest fires releasing the carbon which was locked up inside the trees, which causes more warming, which…. What’s happening now is accelerating and if we think these weather extremes are bad just wait. We ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
TFW when Piers Morgan agrees with you.