[OFB Cafe] Climatology vs. Climatism

[Donald R Spoon]

Derek Broughton wrote:
>
> It's funny how any time somebody disagrees with anybody else's science, they 
> say their opinions are scientific, and the opponent's are just dogmatism.
>
> The quote from Gregory is of course completely unrelated to either climatology 
> or climatism, as he - like many Christians before and since - believed the 
> end of the world was nigh for completely different reasons...
>   
Probably true about Gregory, and countless others throughout history 
that have predicted "the end it near".  One day one of them will be 
right.  The bigger point here, I think, is that we will seize upon 
biggest, most un-controllable scary "thing" we can think of, and use it 
to predict the end... usually in some horrible way.  In the end some 
"hero" rides up to save the day.  The tale of Beowulf is a good example.

I keep flashing back to a Gary Hart "Far Out" cartoon I saw when I was 
younger.  It showed two Cavemen whispering to each other with another 
one in the background obviously working on something.  One of the 
whispering Cavemen said to the other "Have you noticed how strange the 
weather has been since Ogg started experimenting with the bow and arrow?"

Some of the arguments I hear today have about as much causal relationship.

-Don Spoon-