Let's Talk BS

How many times do our betters need to tell us the science is settled before we will stop questioning their harebrained net zero emission schemes?

Rugby player turned politician David Pocock could hardly contain his entirely understandable frustration this week when he lamented that climate science was still being debated. 

“It seems like a pretty sad day in Australia when in 2022 we’re hearing arguments about climate science after however long of the bulls$#t that Australians have had to ….” 

Mr Pocock’s moan was cut short when he was pulled up for using inappropriate language in the Senate.

Poor senator. It’s a very sad day in Australia indeed when you can’t propose to completely reorder society and just have people automatically fall in line.

They wouldn’t tolerate that sort of “bulls$#t” in China. Or in North Korea.

How many times must Al Gore, or King Charles, or Greta Thunberg incorrectly predict the end of the world before people are finally convinced?

How much wildly inaccurate computer modelling must the IPCC publish before people are fully persuaded?

I jest of course.

The sad thing is not that people are still debating the science. The sad thing is that our political class have so politicised the science that MPs wave away debate, discussion and disagreement as “bulls$#t”.

Stop pondering the policy detail, and just get excited that we’re going to be a renewable energy superpower.

Stop asking questions, and just whack those solar panels on your roof.

Stop worrying about a lack of charging stations or battery concerns, and just buy that damned electric vehicle.

Stop watching the energy crisis in Europe, and just trust that our parliament contains the sharpest minds on earth.

Besides, the science is settled!

Did I just hear you mumble “bulls$#t”?

All great scientists became great scientists by overturning the prevailing wisdom of the scientific community.

The science was settled that the earth was flat, until Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigated the world in the 1500s.

The science was settled that the universe had always existed, until 1964 when Robert Wilson discovered cosmic microwave background radiation, proving the universe did have a beginning. 

My point is that science has always been about curiosity, and investigation, and testing the prevailing wisdom. It has never been about consensus. And it has most certainly never been about silencing debate. 

When politicians insist that “the science is settled” what they really mean is “shut up”. Or, as Mr Pocock so eloquently put it, that ideas to the contrary are just “bulls$#t”.

If Mr Pocock wants to talk about “bulls$#t” he might like to discuss the government’s pre-election promise of falling energy bills, or the massive difference between reality and the climate models being used to inform our energy policy.

He might like to talk about how renewables are working out for people in Germany, or Switzerland, or the UK, or in California. Or about how net zero is helping farmers in the Netherlands, or Belgium or Sri Lanka.

It seems to me like a pretty sad day in Australia when in 2022 we’re hearing politicians, hypnotised by climate catastrophists, walking trance like off a net zero cliff all the while dismissing any dissent as “bulls$#t”.