Everybody, including me, was all gaga on April 8 for the "Great American Eclipse."
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| No, my dear Sunny Hostin of "The View," the April 8 eclipse had nothing to do with climate change. |
Until things go off the rails. So it was on "The View" during the midst or eclipse day.
Co-host Sunny Hostin at first seemed sane, joking about the wacko conspiracy theorists who told us the eclipse would bring on the Rapture. Spoiler: It didn't. Apparently, it's been postponed until April 23, so stay tuned. Of course, it was originally supposed to arrive on April 23, 2018.
I guess God has had a lot of scheduling conflicts.
Anyway, back to "The View"
Hostin noted the earthquake that hit New Jersey the Friday before, and said she just learned cicadas about to emerge, which apparently freaks her out a little bit. (Cicadas on 17 and 13-year cycles are scheduled to appear this year, scientists have known this since, like, forever).
The Hostin dropped this gem: "Let's say, all those things coming together maybe lead one to believe that either climate change exists, or something is really going on."
Ooookay!
For the record, the eclipse, the earthquake and the cicadas have absolutely nothing to do with climate change. But you knew that already, if you have half a brain.
Sad that another co-host, Joy Behar had to remind Hostin that earthquakes happen underground so climate change doesn't influence them. And eclipses are celestial events, in no way influenced by Earth's climate.
Of course, our friend Sunny set off a lot of commentary, mostly about the sad state of political and social discourse in our fine nation. Since I'm a cranky old man, I'll pile on.
Everything is about frightening people or mocking them.
"Politics unfortunately is a lot about fear," said Cenk Uygur on his "Young Turks" show after he and co-host Ana Kasparian cringed at Hostin's remarks. People will use anything to gin up fear, from migrants to drag queens reading books to children.
I don't know what Hostin's motivation was but geez.
You see that fear mongering all the time, and it gets taken to ridiculous levels by all sorts of people. It's why the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene was telling us to repent because the earthquake and eclipse were signs from God. I doubt she believes that crap, but she's hoping the people who she surely considers "the rubes" will fall for it and fearfully gravitate toward Donald Trump. Or something.
I also think Greene might be smarter in some ways than we think. Some of the stupid things she says are probably attempts to connect with those "rubes"she likely has contempt for.
Plus, Greene might have know in advance she'd get mocked for that stupid social media post about eclipses and repenting. She had to know that would keep her in the news - she's an attention whore after all - and she had to know the mocking she'd receive would help unify people of a certain ilk behind her.
Politics is also all about mocking. Dumb statements like Hostin's are fodder for the types that try to deny something much bigger. Greene is only too eager to help with her silliness.
It's all about pecking at the credibility of people who actually know a thing or two about climate change. The talking points among the right wing are that Hostin said a dumb thing about climate change, so anybody who says anything about the dangers of climate change is also dumb.
It's a way to get people to stop trusting people like mentally balanced scientists and instead embracing demagogues.
This method probably works better than you'd think. Which is why authoritarianism is on the march around the world, including here in the United States. Find enough ways to make people fearful, and that's what you get
This is Authoritarianism 101, and you'd better pay attention. Before people like Hostin and Greene end up in charge of us all.
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