Re: Good climate change skeptics

Posted by Steve Smith on Sep 24, 2015; 12:14am
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Good-climate-change-skeptics-tp7586673p7586707.html

On 9/23/15 1:40 PM, Marcus Daniels wrote:
> In practice, the tactic of creating doubt tends to be more about creating fear, and decreasing the resolve of the opponent, than it is about increasing the prevalence of skeptical thinking.   I think flip-flopping is not that hard of a skill to master, it's whether one wants to devote the needed attention to segue between today's lie and tomorrow's in a sufficiently smooth way.    At some level, any competence can be self-reinforcing and even enjoyable.

I would suggest that the act of lying for a compulsive liar *is* a flow
state that keeps the endorphins kicking in...

Similarly for "professional" Skeptics or Cynics or Critics... the act of
poking holes in "the other" is it's own reward independent of the actual
semantics of the argument being poked or the poking itself.

I could say that Rhetoric in general can be it's own reward (possibly
speaking from experience here!)

- Steve

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