It's not that policymakers are unaware. It's that some of them are allergic to true things that they find inconvenient, and have made false premises a pillar of their platform. Calling that "unaware" is giving them too much credit and understanding.

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fc417fc802 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I think it's both. That large shifts on a global scale of everyday things that we take for granted as well as historical differences on a geological time scale are genuinely difficult for non-experts to wrap their heads around.

And also as you say that many politicians are disincentivized to try in the first place.

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jandrewrogers 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> It's that some of them are allergic to true things that they find inconvenient, and have made false premises a pillar of their platform.

Sure, if by "some" you mean "virtually all".

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JoshTriplett 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Nope, attempted bothsidesing rejected. By "some" I mean "some". Not everyone in politics treats truth as optional. Those who don't should be lauded.

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jandrewrogers 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Thinking this is "bothsidesing" is you contributing to the problem. The Democrats and Republicans have both abandoned scientific rigor on this topic. When either talks about it, it is almost purely an excuse to smuggle in unrelated policy objectives.

A group of politicians can have strong disagreements where none has a grasp on reality. That is where we are with climate change. It is one of the reasons I stopped working on it at a policy level.

	▲	JoshTriplett 32 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I am not suggesting that all politicians on one side are good. I am suggesting that ignoring truth and reality as things that matter is a trait with very strong correlations with political party, and shouldn't be generically chalked up to "politicians" in general. As Asimov said: "When people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the Earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together."

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eptcyka 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Most policy makers will not live to bear the fruit of their labor.

	▲	JoshTriplett 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Many may also believe that they and the only parts of their con$tituency they care about will be able to avoid the consequences. And some may have come to believe the party line; if you repeat a falsehood often enough as a loyalty test, you may forget that it's a falsehood.

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xgulfie 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary (power, class) depends upon his not understanding it