How to respond?

I occasionally run into people who deride Gore on the global warming issue...some using the South Park "manbearpig" thing.

I usually don't argue with wingnuts. But these younger people seem to be sort of living in a bubble of idiocy...where if you can ridicule something...then it goes away.

Wondering if there is an easy way to burst the idiocy bubble?

Put them in the middle of a hurricane and say...."joke this away"? Fly them into the Alaskan back country and let them deal with some grizzlies on the ground?

Though it might be easier to just say something? What would that be?

Although, I agree with some stuff that Matt and Trey have done, they have become so rich and distanced that they have truly lost touch with the common man.

Just ask them to get some evidence to support their side. They will find themselves woefully shy...

Tell them you are interested in how they have developed their thoughts on the subject. When they say - "rush said" you will have your answer. Ask them if they know what intellectuall curiousity is. Look em in the eye, poke em in the chest, kick em in the ass. "Conservatives" don't understand much else.

Put them on the defensive and they don't do well at all. They don't have facts on their side just what they listen to on Fox news.

They can't. Or at best, they'll say Limbaugh or O'Reilley. :eyes:

Most of what they spout are right wing sound bites with absolutely no knowledge of the true facts of the issue, whether it's global warming, election fraud, immigration & the list goes on. They are willfully ignorant & intellectually lazy.

young people who think that if you can ridicule something then it goes away. Or isn't very important. People such as Jon Stewart bear a high burden of blame for this. I'm constantly frustrated when trying to have a serious conversation with people, even those who are on my political wavelength, who insist on making a joke about everything.

I stopped watching the show when it started to reflect Parker and Stone's "libertarian" philosophy. I don't find it unusual that they would bash on Gore (after all, so do the left-hipsters at Counterpunch), but I never heard of the "manbearpig thing". (Since it's South Park, my first assumption is that it has something to do with being gay.)

--p!

and I've had to use the info and analysis many times on another board where (for whatever reason) seemingly intelligent people simply refuse to face up to facts.

This resource is great, because it looks at the types of people who deny- and targets its material by category, anticipating the "arguments."

How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic

Below is a complete listing of the articles in "How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic," a series by Coby Beck containing responses to the most common skeptical arguments on global warming. There are four separate taxonomies; arguments are divided by:

* Stages of Denial,
* Scientific Topics,
* Types of Argument, and
* Levels of Sophistication.

http://gristmill.grist.org/skeptics