Yep, I am still around. Just don’t have much to say at the moment.
I am somewhat bothered/puzzled/intrigued by what I am coming to see as something I call a divorcement from reality by a lot of poeple. Not just in the realm of CAGW, but over a great number of topics. I see it in regards to Islam, immigration, the raping of european women by immigrants, the inclination by Obama and his followers wanting to bury their heads in the sand on any number of issues from national security to global warming, and much, much more. I am trying to get my head wrapped around what I am seeing where ever I go.
Eventually I will be doing some posting on it, but first I sort of need to understand what I am seeing and if what I am seeing amounts to anything or is just my odd view point.
I got started by, of all things, a simple comment that “A grizzly bear does not come equipped with an off switch.” I began thinking about that in relation to Islamic terrorism and the fact that if you are out in the wilds and come face to face with a grizzly bear, what happens to you is going to depend more on the bear’s attitude and what the bear does than anything you might believe or do, the same as if you are confronted by an extreme believer in Islam. I mean what is the difference between saying, “Gee Mr Grizzly bear, I respect you, I respect your beliefs and would never, never do or say anything to upset you?” and saying that same thing to a Islamic Terrorist with an AK 47? You cannot appease a pissed off Grizzly bear one bit better than you can appease a lifelong long fully indoctrinated religious fanatic; trying does zero good and puts you and everyone around you at risk.
Yet there are those who fully believe that this is the approach that should be taken. That is where I have started seeing the separation from reality. I think a lot of people just simply do not see reality. They see only their version of what is their apparent reality. I do not want to call it virtual reality, (not with all the connotations and connections to computers that term brings up,) but perhaps one could call it conceptual reality. These people truly only see things in the light of their concepts about what reality is, not what reality actually consists of. They see the overlay of reality, not the underlying true and real reality. And that is where the danger lies.
The same is true, I think, among some of the most hard and fast CAGW believers. Logic will never sway them, because logic based on true reality is not based on the conceptual reality they see and thereby they literally cannot see they are wrong. They cannot see what is really there and can only see what they believe to be reality, or as I am framing it, actual reality versus conceptual reality.
I see this inability to view reality show up in many, many ways. For example, the astrophysicist who is so, so into his (or her) theory about cosmology that they literally cannot see how their data is telling them something else entirely different, the climate scientist who so believes in warming that he (or she) cannot understand why the data is saying something different, the socialist who believes the government can and should pay for everything and literally cannot see why that won’t work and can never understand the fact that the government has no money except that which is taken from the people. And so on and so on.
OK. A long winded (and complicated) way of saying I am still around but spending more time looking and listening than saying anything.
I do not know how to punch through this veil of conceptual reality, to reach those who are so affected. I fear that unless true honest actual reality comes along and gives them a very unpleasant boot in the ass, they will never see anything but what they have around them as conceptual reality and so long as that is all they see, they will never see the truth.
You may not be able to make the horse drink, but you can always give him a bath.
Grizzlies … bathing not recommended.
Warming alarmists … can’t stand to listen to ’em, can’t shut ’em up and the law frowns if you drown ’em … Grin.
wyoskeptic 
Howdy, and a belated Merry Christmas to you.
I haven’t seen you commenting on other blogs recently. Do you still “visit the slums”?
🙂
LikeLike
Hi Geran. Hope you had a good Christmas.
Yep, I am still around. Just don’t have much to say at the moment.
I am somewhat bothered/puzzled/intrigued by what I am coming to see as something I call a divorcement from reality by a lot of poeple. Not just in the realm of CAGW, but over a great number of topics. I see it in regards to Islam, immigration, the raping of european women by immigrants, the inclination by Obama and his followers wanting to bury their heads in the sand on any number of issues from national security to global warming, and much, much more. I am trying to get my head wrapped around what I am seeing where ever I go.
Eventually I will be doing some posting on it, but first I sort of need to understand what I am seeing and if what I am seeing amounts to anything or is just my odd view point.
I got started by, of all things, a simple comment that “A grizzly bear does not come equipped with an off switch.” I began thinking about that in relation to Islamic terrorism and the fact that if you are out in the wilds and come face to face with a grizzly bear, what happens to you is going to depend more on the bear’s attitude and what the bear does than anything you might believe or do, the same as if you are confronted by an extreme believer in Islam. I mean what is the difference between saying, “Gee Mr Grizzly bear, I respect you, I respect your beliefs and would never, never do or say anything to upset you?” and saying that same thing to a Islamic Terrorist with an AK 47? You cannot appease a pissed off Grizzly bear one bit better than you can appease a lifelong long fully indoctrinated religious fanatic; trying does zero good and puts you and everyone around you at risk.
Yet there are those who fully believe that this is the approach that should be taken. That is where I have started seeing the separation from reality. I think a lot of people just simply do not see reality. They see only their version of what is their apparent reality. I do not want to call it virtual reality, (not with all the connotations and connections to computers that term brings up,) but perhaps one could call it conceptual reality. These people truly only see things in the light of their concepts about what reality is, not what reality actually consists of. They see the overlay of reality, not the underlying true and real reality. And that is where the danger lies.
The same is true, I think, among some of the most hard and fast CAGW believers. Logic will never sway them, because logic based on true reality is not based on the conceptual reality they see and thereby they literally cannot see they are wrong. They cannot see what is really there and can only see what they believe to be reality, or as I am framing it, actual reality versus conceptual reality.
I see this inability to view reality show up in many, many ways. For example, the astrophysicist who is so, so into his (or her) theory about cosmology that they literally cannot see how their data is telling them something else entirely different, the climate scientist who so believes in warming that he (or she) cannot understand why the data is saying something different, the socialist who believes the government can and should pay for everything and literally cannot see why that won’t work and can never understand the fact that the government has no money except that which is taken from the people. And so on and so on.
OK. A long winded (and complicated) way of saying I am still around but spending more time looking and listening than saying anything.
I do not know how to punch through this veil of conceptual reality, to reach those who are so affected. I fear that unless true honest actual reality comes along and gives them a very unpleasant boot in the ass, they will never see anything but what they have around them as conceptual reality and so long as that is all they see, they will never see the truth.
LikeLike
Your “grizzly bear” analogy is a good one. Just as a grizzly is not going to listen to facts and logic, the various misguided ones will not either.
Which brings to a much older analogy–“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink”.
So, probably your efforts are “preaching to the choir”, but please don’t stop!
LikeLike
Hey Geran.
You may not be able to make the horse drink, but you can always give him a bath.
Grizzlies … bathing not recommended.
Warming alarmists … can’t stand to listen to ’em, can’t shut ’em up and the law frowns if you drown ’em … Grin.
LikeLike
Exactly why I say “please don’t stop!”
LikeLike