Like many, I did buy into the idea that big catastrophes would do something to politics,” said Luisa Neubauer from Fridays for Future Germany. “I bought into that – and I’m glad about it – because I was naively believing there was a democratic responsibility that would live through coalition changes and climate changes.”

The 28-year-old activist, who spent three months in the US before the presidential election, said she had been shocked to see the destruction from Hurricane Helene “play into the cards of those denying climate disasters”.

Far-right influencers and conspiracy theorists used the wildfires that ravaged California this month to attack efforts to stop the planet from heating. Similar disinformation was seen in Spain after deadly floods struck Valencia in October.

  • Alexander@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    7 hours ago

    There you go, now we know the answer for “what was thinking that person who chopped the very last tree on Easter island?”

  • solarvector@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    8 hours ago

    We knew that would be the case. It’ll be try in 50 years.

    Reality isn’t convincing. Repeated messaging and indoctrination is convincing, partly because it determines how you perceive reality.

    • in4apenny@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      8 hours ago

      A stable paycheck to believe otherwise is the most convincing. “I would do something, but I can’t risk losing my job” is the most common excuse for allowing tyranny.

      • rah@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        7 hours ago

        allowing tyranny

        Tyranny isn’t “allowed” by those who suffer under it. That’s a really terrible thing to say.

        • in4apenny@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          7 hours ago

          Those who choose the paycheck to comply with it vs suffering under it are the ones who allow it. “I only worked with the fascists so I would survive” is what a fascist is.

          • rah@feddit.uk
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            7 hours ago

            Those who choose the paycheck to comply with it vs suffering under it are the ones who allow it.

            I don’t understand this sentence.

            “I only worked with the fascists so I would survive” is what a fascist is.

            That’s not what a fascist is.

            • in4apenny@lemmy.dbzer0.com
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              7 hours ago

              “I was just following orders.” Those who’s comforts are maintained by tyranny, and don’t want to lose the comfort provided by tyranny to stand up against it, are directly enabling tyranny. Tyrants wouldn’t last if not for the complacent “enlightened” centrist who thinks the balanced and sensible perspective is to “Keep Calm and Carry On.” “At least they’re not going after me!” says those who’s loyalty has been bought by tyrants out of fear. The same kind of people who think the ones who fight tyrants are “terrorists.”

              • rah@feddit.uk
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                arrow-down
                2
                ·
                7 hours ago

                I’m glad you haven’t used the word “allow”.

                loyalty has been bought by tyrants out of fear

                Paralysis due to fear does not imply loyalty.

                • in4apenny@lemmy.dbzer0.com
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  7 hours ago

                  “First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Communist Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist Then they came for the trade unionists And I did not speak out Because I was not a trade unionist Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew Then they came for me And there was no one left To speak out for me”

                  • Pastor Martin Niemöller - Initially an antisemitic Nazi supporter, his views changed when he was imprisoned in a concentration camp for speaking out against Nazi control of churches.
        • grue@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          6 hours ago

          Tyranny is absolutely allowed by the “moderates” who don’t consider themselves aligned with the tyrants but also don’t actively work to resist them. Go read “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” if you need an explanation.

          • rah@feddit.uk
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            6 hours ago

            the “moderates”

            I don’t know what you’re referring to with this new term you’ve introduced.

            • grue@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              edit-2
              6 hours ago

              the “moderates”

              I don’t know what you’re referring to with this new term you’ve introduced.

              What part of

              Go read “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” if you need an explanation.

              did you not understand?

              Here’s the link; go read it: https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

              …and if you won’t do that, fine, I’ll spoon-feed you the relevant quote:

              We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.” It was “illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country’s antireligious laws.

              I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

              • rah@feddit.uk
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                5 hours ago

                I don’t understand why you’re telling me this. I said that tyranny isn’t “allowed” by those who suffer under it. Nothing you’ve said contradicts what I said.

                • grue@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  arrow-down
                  2
                  ·
                  5 hours ago

                  Do you really think the Venn diagram of “those who suffer under it” and “moderates who comply with the regime” has zero overlap?