FRIGHTENING - AT 7:58 A.M. ET:  One of the techniques used by the old Soviet Union was to label dissenters as psychologically impaired.  So this story produced an immediate chill when I read it:

If you ever wondered what is to blame for the world's sluggish reaction to climate change, wonder no longer. The American Psychological Assn. has concluded in a 225-page report that the culprit is...

...human behavior.

That's right! Human behavior. Read all about it here. The panel of eight psychologists is slated to present its findings at a meeting of the American Psychological Assn. on Friday.

It may seem a tad ridiculous to have to even say that human behavior is responsible for the failure of humans to act, let alone take 225 pages to say it.

And...

The task force was convened because the APA wanted to involve psychologists in crafting a solution to climate change and in predicting how people are likely to react to it.

COMMENT:  It's all our fault.  We're not psychologically ready to deal with "climate change."  And we must be made psychologically ready.

These people call themselves scientists.  Yet there is not a single suggestion in this "research" that the "data" on climate change may be wrong.  There is not a single suggestion that all those psychologically impaired members of the proletariat out there might actually be reacting with appropriate, mature skepticism.  To the practitioners of trendy science, no questions are permitted.  And psychology can be very trendy.

What is chilling here is that this nonsense may get into the mainstream through equally trendy journalists.  Those who even raise a doubt about "global warming" can be labeled as psychologically impaired.  It happened in the old Soviet Union, and there are people who have no problem with the practice.

August 6, 2009