Friday, February 3, 2023

History as Snake-oil



Earth is biophilic only somewhat (volcanoes, earthquakes, viruses, etc.), and only briefly, as measured by the cosmos’s clock. But what distinguishes us from trees and trout and every known (so far) thing in the universe is what Webb exists solely to satisfy. The Webb Space Telescope speaks well of us precisely because it has, and needs, no justification beyond the purity of its service to curiosity.--will

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A recent investigation into the world’s largest carbon standard found that 94 percent of its rainforest offset credits did not actually contribute to carbon reduction. Worse still, it exaggerated the threat to forests included in its projects, while its conservation activities – which yielded some of these credits – involved serious human rights violations, including forced evictions and home demolitions of local people.

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In Washington, laws governing doctor/patient confidentiality and school-based health centers combine to mean a Washington-based 13-year-old girl can get testosterone injections at school, without any need for her parents to consent — or even know it’s happening. In Oregon, too, minors can access transgender interventions at taxpayers’ expense — and without their parents’ consent.

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History as Snake-oil

Here is part of an article by Magness:

"Welp, the 1619 Project Hulu series, is already a dumpster fire.

They filmed the part about the American Revolution on the grounds of the colonial governor’s mansion in Williamsburg. Nikole Hannah-Jones interviews Woody Holton, where they jointly make the case that Lord Dunmore’s proclamation of November 1775 was an “Emancipation Proclamation” of the slaves that roused the colonists to rebellion.

Throughout the scene, they give the impression that Dunmore issued his order from Williamsburg, with Holton even pointing at the building as he speaks. But this is an egregious factual error. In reality, the rebellion had already been underway in Virginia for almost 6 months. Dunmore fled Williamsburg on June 8, 1775 and had already lost control of the colony. He was sheltering in exile aboard the British navy ship William off the coast of Norfolk, and issued his order from there as a desperate attempt to regain power."

But accuracy and precision are not values of the Left. Instead, the Left's solutions are sort of over-the-counter responses to problems, cynically created with shrugging generalities rather than scrutiny, which at best are placebos, at worst poisons, some having a history of appalling failure.

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