The New York Times published an Opinion article by Benjamin Y. Fong, a faculty fellow at Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University, entitled The Climate Crisis? It's Capitalism, Stupid. He calls for the end of Capitalism because Capitalism will inevitably bring about a mass extinction of life on Earth. He says the mass extinction of life will be caused by a continuation of our current political systems. By 2100, even with the USA in the Paris Accord, we were well on the way to a 7.2⁰F temperature increase by 2100 according to Fong. He claims that a 7.2⁰F increase in the temperature of the Earth has previously melted all of the ice at either pole and may do so again. Consequently, socialism, even communism, has no need to justify itself, because they cannot be as bad as the death warrant stupid Capitalism guarantees us.
Let us examine stupid. A 7.2⁰F temperature increase is a 4⁰C temperature increase. Ice melts at 0⁰C. The highest temperature ever recorded at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station was -12.3⁰C. The warmest month at the South Pole is January and the average highest daily temperature in that month is -26.0⁰C. It will be a most interesting trick when a 4⁰C temperature increase melts all of the ice in Antarctica. This would increase the warmest temperature ever recorded there to only -8.3⁰C and the warmest monthly average temperature to -22⁰C. Yes, an average temperature increase of 4⁰C would probably be the result of a greater temperature increase at the poles than in the equatorial region, but there is plenty of margin at the South Pole to allow for that.
Before you kill Capitalism because you claim it will bring on a mass extinction of life, please show me that a continuation of our current political institutions will actually cause:
- an average temperature increase of 4⁰C
- a temperature increase at the South Pole of at least 12.3⁰C, or more realistically, an increase of 26⁰C
- that the melting of all the ice at the poles will bring on a mass extinction of life
- that an average temperature increase of 4⁰C, which must be much less in the equatorial regions in order to be 12.3⁰C or more at the South Pole and also more at the North Pole, will bring on the extinction of all life
- that my chance of surviving Communist or other authoritarian socialist societies, with their history of killing over 160 million people, is greater than my chance of surviving a mass extinction
- that a life under Communism is a life worth living
It is amazing what people with a political or religious agenda will claim for a 1.4% (4K/288K) increase in the average Earth temperature. Or, consider the mass extinction that occurs in Denver every September when the temperature rises an average of 30⁰F (16.7⁰C) from the daily average low temperature to the daily average high temperature. The stupid hat does not go on the Capitalist. It belongs as anyone committed to reason knows on the head of those who embrace Communism and on those who embrace Catastrophic Man-Made Global Warming. These people seem to never learn the errors of their thinking, which must be the definition of stupid. Intelligent people have some ability to identify their mistakes and to learn from them. Intelligence does not guarantee that onw will not make mistakes in a complex world and universe, but it does require a constant concern that one's beliefs are consistent with reality.
It is apparent that intelligence is not a requirement for a faculty position in the Honors College at Arizona State University. Unfortunately, it is no more required in many other universities either. Conformity of belief to the Progressive Elitist beliefs in socialism and the essentially evil nature of man is much more important at most universities than is intelligence.
It is apparent that intelligence is not a requirement for a faculty position in the Honors College at Arizona State University. Unfortunately, it is no more required in many other universities either. Conformity of belief to the Progressive Elitist beliefs in socialism and the essentially evil nature of man is much more important at most universities than is intelligence.
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