Anybody can play the Climate Denier game
Our neighbors are not bad people, but they watch Fox News all day and eventually they acquire all their beliefs from propaganda osmosis. The lady has had MS for years, although she does pretty well and is still able to ski about 30 days a year. Recently she told my wife that climate change was "bullshit". My wife left it at that.
I had an opportunity this weekend to get her to mention her MS. I said "MS is bullshit". She was stunned. I said, think about it, we all have aches and pains, good days and bad days. Some doctors and researchers figured out they could make a boatload of money from a made-up disease. Then when the SSA started paying benefits, people got on the MS bandwagon. It is a vicious cycle of doctors making money to treat a fake disease so people can get government hand-outs - a global conspiracy based on money. Then I pointed out sarcastically that she is so crippled by this fake disease, taking a government handout, that she can only ski 30 days a year. She is part of the conspiracy and while basically healthy, is happy to take the money and do things that her supposed disease wouldn't permit.
After a pregnant pause, I said (neighbor name), I just did to you what climate deniers have done to global warming. You accuse people of inventing global warming to make money when in fact there is clear scientific evidence to the contrary. You insist it is a global conspiracy. You know that global warming is happening, but you choose to deny based on what you hear on your political beliefs. It was too much for her to take in and she walked away. Might be an interesting week.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Overview
RRMS – the most common disease course – is characterized by clearly defined attacks of new or increasing neurologic symptoms. These attacks – also called relapses or exacerbations – are followed by periods of partial or complete recovery (remissions). During remissions, all symptoms may disappear, or some symptoms may continue and become permanent. However, there is no apparent progression of the disease during the periods of remission.
At different points in time, RRMS can be further characterized as either active (with relapses and/or evidence of new MRI activity) or not active, as well as worsening (a confirmed increase in disability over a specified period of time following a relapse) or not worsening. An increase in disability is confirmed when the person exhibits the same level of disability at the next scheduled neurological evaluation, typically 6 to 12 months later.
Approximately 85 percent of people with MS are initially diagnosed with RRMS.
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(I know 2 people with RRMS.)
With an administration full of climate science deniers, grassroots education programs are more important than ever.
Katie Valentine
Aug 24, 2017, 8:00 am
CREDIT: Emily Schoerning, NCSE
The key to explaining the science behind climate change might start with blowing bubbles into cups.
Or measuring carbon dioxide in a greenhouse, or using Alka-Seltzer tablets to blow up balloons, for that matter. As the increasingly dire warnings about climate change clash with the distortion of science for political ends, one Iowa group has helped cut through the confusion by going back to basics.
The Science Booster Club, a science outreach initiative founded by the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), has been active in Iowa City since 2015 and has since begun to spread both within the state and throughout the country. The initiative serves as a way of bringing the science behind climate change and evolution to regular citizens. And, according to its organizers, it’s working.
“In most places in the country, people can tell that something is going on, and they want to talk about it,” said Emily Schoerning, who heads up the Science Booster Club program for NCSE.
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