Doomed to a fatal delusion over climate change

American · 07-09-08, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Andrew Bolt
July 09, 2008 12:00am

PSYCHIATRISTS have detected the first case of "climate change delusion" - and they haven't even yet got to Kevin Rudd and his global warming guru.

Writing in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, Joshua Wolf and Robert Salo of our Royal Children's Hospital say this delusion was a "previously unreported phenomenon".
"A 17-year-old man was referred to the inpatient psychiatric unit at Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne with an eight-month history of depressed mood . . . He also . . . had visions of apocalyptic events."
(So have Alarmist of the Year Tim Flannery, Profit of Doom Al Gore and Sir Richard Brazen, but I digress.)
"The patient had also developed the belief that, due to climate change, his own water consumption could lead within days to the deaths of millions of people through exhaustion of water supplies."
But never mind the poor boy, who became too terrified even to drink. What's scarier is that people in charge of our Government seem to suffer from this "climate change delusion", too.

Liberals are driving people crazy.

independent_thinker2002 · 07-09-08, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by American

Link

Liberals are driving people crazy.

Good luck with that.

Gladiator · 07-10-08, 04:13 AM

The cure for the Climate change delusion is for the Democrats to get into power, and then they will see how politically unpopular it is to do many of the things that could be done to reverse CO2, Methane, CFC and other Greenhouse gasses, or Ozone laye depleting gasses.

The US government used a bunch of CFC 11 cleaning space shuttles, and other uses. The US Goverment seems to be taking in more money just fine.

..

Scucca · 07-10-08, 04:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gladiator

The cure for the Climate change delusion is for the Democrats to get into power, and then they will see how politically unpopular it is to do many of the things that could be done to reverse CO2, Methane, CFC and other Greenhouse gasses, or Ozone laye depleting gasses.

Indeed! Psychologically, the problem is conservatism where losses are deemed to be more important than gains. Thus:

One can expect "green policies" to be relatively neutral. Whilst there will be losses for some industries, there will be gains in terms of technical progress (and therefore, ironically, economic growth effects). However, those losses are more visible and therefore receive a greater weight.

Political unpopularity then out-trumps optimal environmental policy.

Middleground · 07-11-08, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gladiator

The cure for the Climate change delusion is for the Democrats to get into power, and then they will see how politically unpopular it is to do many of the things that could be done to reverse CO2, Methane, CFC and other Greenhouse gasses, or Ozone laye depleting gasses.

The US government used a bunch of CFC 11 cleaning space shuttles, and other uses. The US Goverment seems to be taking in more money just fine.

..

Not here in Canada. Every poll suggests that Canadians thinks the environment in the most important issue today. Interesting, eh?

Scucca · 07-13-08, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Middleground

Not here in Canada. Every poll suggests that Canadians thinks the environment in the most important issue today. Interesting, eh?

Those polls can sometimes be misleading, given the complex nature of social attitudes reporting (e.g. refer to the need for increased public good expenditure, but vote according to tax minimisation). Have the Canadian authorities adopted any radical policies or are they sticking with the "we hope" international consensus?

Middleground · 07-13-08, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scucca

Those polls can sometimes be misleading, given the complex nature of social attitudes reporting (e.g. refer to the need for increased public good expenditure, but vote according to tax minimisation). Have the Canadian authorities adopted any radical policies or are they sticking with the "we hope" international consensus?

Not these polls. They have been pretty accurate for years. In fact, healthcare was the top issue for Canadians for many, many years until the environment knocked it from the top spot a few years back.

Our current government is Bush lite. A minority government who talks big about environment improvement, yet does little about it. Sad.

1069 · 07-13-08, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Andrew Bolt
July 09, 2008 12:00am

PSYCHIATRISTS have detected the first case of "climate change delusion" - and they haven't even yet got to Kevin Rudd and his global warming guru.

Writing in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, Joshua Wolf and Robert Salo of our Royal Children's Hospital say this delusion was a "previously unreported phenomenon".
"A 17-year-old man was referred to the inpatient psychiatric unit at Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne with an eight-month history of depressed mood . . . He also . . . had visions of apocalyptic events."
(So have Alarmist of the Year Tim Flannery, Profit of Doom Al Gore and Sir Richard Brazen, but I digress.)
"The patient had also developed the belief that, due to climate change, his own water consumption could lead within days to the deaths of millions of people through exhaustion of water supplies."
But never mind the poor boy, who became too terrified even to drink. What's scarier is that people in charge of our Government seem to suffer from this "climate change delusion", too.

That's not "new".
That's a classic manifestation of schizophrenia. The lad in question is just the right age for it, too.
Delusions of grandeur- believing that one holds the fate of millions in one's hands, or believing that powerful forces are conspiring against one- is a common presentation of this disorder. Schizophrenics are often very interested in the news, and in current affairs, and tend to weave national or global events into their delusions.

I'm sure the boy will be fine as soon as they get him stabilized. He just needs some medication. This has nothing to do with liberals or climate change.

Scucca · 07-13-08, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Middleground

Our current government is Bush lite. A minority government who talks big about environment improvement, yet does little about it. Sad.

Surely that is consistent with the polls overestimating opinion? Its easy to sneeze green; its a snipe more 'boot in the guts' to enforce radical change.