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May 22, 2013
Meteorology, Denial, and the Drug War
I’ve long been puzzled by the tendency of our media to deny any connection between the planet’s swollen human population and obvious evidence of extreme change in its weather patterns. That denial is often expressed passively; a failure to mention either "climate change" or "global warming" when reporting on the latest weather disaster; Monday's huge tornado, for instance. I've been paying increased attention to television news for such omissions and can’t remember any mention of climate change; even when reporters were citing the extraordinary coincidence of powerful tornadoes hitting the suburban town of Moore, Oklahoma, on May, 3 1999 and again on May, 21 this year. Nor for that matter, have I heard Joplin mentioned in discussions of the Moore disaster.Shifting from tornadoes to hurricanes, I can’t remember any mention of extreme weather after two water-laden monsters- Irene and Sandy- struck the Northeastern United States in successive years.
Thus, out of curiosity, I googled the subject of extreme weather denial and was rewarded by a top hit from Germany, of all places.
My interest in denial was prompted by the frequency with which I experience it when I try to engage relative strangers in a discussion of our failing drug war: "I don't want to talk that about that now," is often their blunt response if I persist. A less personal form is the failure of reporters to question why "marijuana" is now our most popular "drug of abuse," and commands so much popular support.
I will try to connect those dots between denial and the drug war's expensive failures in future posts. There's more than enough time remaining; provided we are not drowned or blown away in the meantime.
Doctor Tom
Posted by tjeffo at May 22, 2013 06:44 PM