Stephen Barlow Profile picture
May 2 23 tweets 6 min read
It is generally accepted that people living in a coercive cult can have their thinking and perception distorted by the leaders of that cult. What makes people think we are not living in a death cult run by fossil fuel addicted wealth addicts?
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It is a serious point. We accept otherwise intelligent people can have their thinking and perception distorted to the extent that they will accept stupid irrational ideas and beliefs, that those outside the cult are baffled by.
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We are on route to making large parts of our planet uninhabitable by humans and other life. Threatening both our civilization, the lives of a large proportion of humanity and much life on Earth. We could stop this suicidal trajectory - if we took action now to change things.
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People who are fearful of the consequences of the avoidable path to climate catastrophe humanity is on, or who protest against it, are treated as if there is something wrong with them by the mainstream media.
bbc.co.uk/news/science-e…
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Surely only in a cult, would protestors who were trying to bring attention to what the best science available to humanity says, and what the UN Secretary General says, be called "lunatics" in the mainstream media, and treated as such.
dailymail.co.uk/debate/article…
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We recognise that people caught up in a cult can think very strangely. Where they fail to recognise how irrational their beliefs and their outlook is, simply because most other people in that cult, and who accept its doctrine, see things similarly.
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Apparently, the only reason people don't recognise we're living in a coercive cult, is that it is everywhere, and so many people are caught up in it. To most people, cults are minority things, that only "other" people are caught up in.
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It is usual in cults, that people who speak out against that cult from within it, are ostracised and given some sort of pejorative label, so others in the cult will ignore them and treat them with derision.
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Of course, media commentators, especially those of the right, but in this instance also ordinary mainstream media commentators, will say, that it is those concerned about the climate crisis who are in a cult.

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The best determinate of who has the weird cult like beliefs about the climate crisis is science. The @IPCC_CH 's latest report, was crystal clear, we have to drastically reduce GHG emissions by 2030 to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis.
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Climate activists who are simply asking for what the science recommends, to be acted on, are being treated like those with irrational beliefs, and those who are not heeding the science, believe themselves to be the sensible and rational ones. They call themselves realists.
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I think it is crystal clear who has the deluded cult like beliefs, and who has the rational views about the climate crisis described by science.
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Once again, the profound mistake is to act as if because the irrational denial of the crisis is mainstream, then this must be the sensible and correct view of the situation. #DontLookUp

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It really is a classical cult like belief, that even though this cult's view of the world is contrary to science and evidence, that somehow the science must be wrong, exaggerated, or there is some sort of scientific conspiracy afoot.
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By any objective standards, denial that there is a climate crisis, which needs urgent action, is an irrational cult like belief. Yet this is the view imposed on our societies by our government, by big business, by the media, by the most powerful people in our societies.
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Where our governments, big business, billionaires, the media, and other powerful and influential people, claim to accept the science, but act in a way, which strongly suggests they are in total irrational denial of the science and evidence.
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I'm sure what I'm saying will get me labelled as an extremist, part of some eco-cult. But my position is entirely consistent with the scientific evidence. Whereas those who dispute this is a crisis in need of urgent action, are actually the ones in denial of the evidence.
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This is the bizarre situation we're in. The mainstream have been manipulated by our coercive cult leaders into thinking that there is no climate and ecological crisis, that needs urgent action now! That we can address it with Not Zero by 2050 i.e. there's no need to act now.
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We need to snap out of this cult like belief that everything is fine and only weird people think we need to take urgent action now to address the climate crisis. Once again, listen to what the UN Secretary General says, don't take my word for it.

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Yes, I am being deliberately provocative when I say mainstream views on the climate crisis are cult like, and our leaders are acting like the coercive leaders of a cult. The problem is, whilst provocative, what I say is objectively true. Try contradicting my assertion?
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That's the real provocative part. It is impossible to contradict my assertion, without engaging in some sort of irrational denial of the situation or using false argument.
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More from @SteB777

May 4
It is vital that environmentalist and climate activists put their thinking caps on to harness the public anger at cost of living price rises, energy costs etc. The toxic right are opportunistically using the moment to try and turn people against so called "green measures".
1/🧵
I often use the term big picture views or thinking. What I mean by this, is an overview of how everything is linked. Part of this is understanding that lots of thinking about our situation starts out from arbitrary assumptions about how things are.
2/
One prime example of this are "costs". Arguments like addressing the climate and ecological crisis will cost too much. The aforementioned "green measures" adding too much cost to energy etc.
3/
Read 22 tweets
May 3
@ClimateDad77 I started to look at how this system worked a long time ago, to try and understand what we needed to do to get out of this situation. It's a real down the rabbit hole experience. The closer you look, the more you realise what a huge mess it is to untangle.
1/🧵
@ClimateDad77 The most important thing to grasp is that none of what we take for granted about the system was inevitable. The system and how things are is very arbitrary. It was shaped by a few powerful and wealthy people just to make themselves much richer and more powerful.
2/
@ClimateDad77 I try to get across the arbitrary and contrived nature of the system, because what can be created by design can be undone. Where we are at was not an obvious point in human society, but a designed system.
3/
Read 12 tweets
May 2
Can I clarify one important point. I am not saying those with anxiety or depression in response to the climate ecological crisis, should not be given help or support. What I am saying is that it should not be taken as if there is something wrong with them.
1/
Nowhere does the article properly acknowledge that the current situation is bound to produce normal anxiety, and fear in anyone viewing the situation in an informed way. Where our governments, the media, big business and powerful people are acting irrationally to a crisis.
2/
The nearest the article comes to acknowledging the adversity of the situation is when it makes this assertion.

"Political inaction and negative news stories contribute to feelings of despair, some said."

That description is just dishonest, it is outright sophistry.
3/
Read 17 tweets
May 2
Let me briefly explain my thinking behind this thread. It is my contention that our leaders, the system never intended to take action. I call the tactics they use, political rope-a-dope. See below for an explanation.
1/
Rope-a-dope, was the strategy that Muhammad Ali used to defeat George Foreman in the famous heavyweight boxing match, the rumble in the jungle. Where Ali soaked up all Foreman's legendary power and came back to defeat him.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rope-a-do…
2/
The leaders of our society, which are not just political leaders, but the very rich, the billionaires, the big corporations, the media etc, use a simple method to defeat public concern.
3/
Read 44 tweets
May 1
This is media gaslighting. If students are suffering from "eco/climate-anxiety", it's not because there is anything wrong with these students, but because we live in an insane world where our leadership is refusing to address the crisis.
1/🧵
bbc.co.uk/news/science-e…
By coincidence, I started my degree in ecology in 1992, in the direct aftermath of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, but had been environmentally aware for over 20 years. At the start of my degree a seminar was held about addressing the crisis.
2/
The chair of the panel, probably the world's leading expert on air pollution at the time, stood up, and said, now we understand what the problem is, we can set about solving it.
independent.co.uk/arts-entertain…
3/
Read 29 tweets
May 1
This is the problem in a nutshell and @ClimateHuman is very wise. It's not about demanding other climate activists and climate scientists/professionals stop flying. It's about them acknowledging the reality and not unwisely justifying flying etc.
1/🧵
Yesterday, on witnessing the insane number of planes, airliners in the sky, it triggered a whole lot of insight and thinking about this. One of which was about the movie Don't Look Up (I've still not seen it).
2/
One of these insights was how I was grateful this movie drew attention to the absurdity of our current situation. Of course its stars like @LeoDiCaprio who's been criticised for his hypocrisy i.e. leading a high emissions lifestyle whilst campaigning on the climate crisis.
3/
Read 11 tweets

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