Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Obama is the Man; Global Warming is Getting Hot
Received notions are so powerful because they require so little. You just go along to get along. Right now the meme is that Hillary has lost and she should cash out. Why won't she is the question, or when will she. Well, it could be stubbornness, could be denial, could be all sorts of stuff. But she hasn't lost as yet. Basing it all on the current rumor becomes self-fulfilling and it looks like that is what is going to happen — critical mass probably has been reached and Obama is the man. But it would have been better if the media stood aside and let things play out. Obama seems fine really. In fact, this is the first election in a long time that, even with the caveats you might reasonably apply, is an election in which any of above would probably be okay.
Speaking of received notions, the meme mind has established global warming as accomplished fact, with the sole discussion of interest in the media circling how quickly and drastically to act. You would never know that there were a large group of scientists and honorable intellectuals who question the easy assertions.
Denis Dutton, the man who made Arts and Letters Daily into the intellectual hub on the net has started a site called Climate Debate Daily in which the battle is more fairly engaged.