bill nye, the former so-called “science guy,” has a strange approach to the subject with which he associates himself. On the one hand, he has actually gotten an Emmy nomination for a segment on his Netflix series called “My Sex Junk”, as explicit song and dance routine about gender and sexual “fluidity.” On the other hand, he is pretty sure that human caused climate change is real and that bad things should happen to people who deny this truth. Previously, he had advocated putting “climate deniers” in jail. In a recent interview with the LA Times, Nye seemed to go a step further.
‘Climate deniers’ are all old, and they need to die
Nye said, “Climate change deniers, by way of example, are older. It’s generational. So we’re just going to have to wait for those people to ‘age out,’ as they say." "Age out" is a euphemism for "die." One can hope that Nye is willing to wait until all of these geezer "deniers" shuffle off this mortal coil naturally. Considering the theocratic nature of the climate change community, perhaps some clarification would be in order.
Generational attitudes toward climate change
Implicit in Nye’s disturbing statement is that young millennials are more accepting of the concept of human caused climate change and of the need to make drastic actions to avert the consequences.
The assumption is mostly correct. Millennials have not been taught critical thought to the extent that prior generations have. They have been taught that human caused climate change is “settled science” and that anyone who disagrees is a “denier” similar to people who deny the Nazi Holocaust. They have also been raised in an era of economic privation, some having never experienced an era of robust economic growth.
The theory is that they will put up with more of the same as fossil fuels are gotten rid of.
Attitudes could change however
Generational attitudes are not fixed, however, and tend to change as members of a particular generation grow older. The stereotype of a baby boomer is someone who took drugs and protested the Vietnam War in the 1960s but then cut their hair, put on suits, and got jobs and mortgages by the 1980s.
The process was driven by the assumption of adult responsibilities as the hippies grew older and became yuppies (young urban professionals.)
Could the millennial generation undergo a similar process? To be sure, it doesn’t look like that now with young men playing video games instead of getting jobs. However, age and experience should teach even that most despised generation to be skeptical of the pronouncements of people like Bill Nye and to start thinking for themselves.
