If We Don't Talk About It, It Doesn't Exist, Right?

        So I don’t know if you guys have heard the buzz this week but Florida’s government had “banned” the use of the words ‘climate change’ in their reports and meetings. Of course this claim has been disputed by officials (Governor Rick Scott seems to be taking most of the heat for it) but whether or not there was any official decree, there is definitely something happening here.
                                                                       

        
On Huffington Post they actually had a video accompanying their report that was extremely humorous to me. They have a compilation of representatives from various states saying “I’m not a scientist but…”¹ or trying to mitigate knowledge about the issue of global warming or climate change through claiming lack of expertise. This points right back to my previous post about expertise in politics and this idea of a technocracy. Clearly these representatives are not doing their due diligence in becoming experts about processes that affect their constituents.
        So why is there censorship of ‘climate change’ or ‘global warming’? Well it takes to me a flashback of something that still upsets me that you can read about here².
        It’s this prevailing practice or maybe it’s an ideology that if we refuse to acknowledge or talk about something, it doesn’t exist and will magically go away. For a state like Florida, ignoring the reality of the matter is going to have serious consequences for the people living there. Whether you choose to call it climate change or not, dismissing the science or claiming ignorance of the science is also irresponsible. It makes me wonder as I always do who these representatives are trying to serve, because if they were truly trying to serve their people (i.e. protect or improve their way of life, protect their homes, keep them safe, etc.) then events this like this shouldn’t be happening. I don’t see denial as a way out and I never will. It may be annoying or painful to take about these issues with these volatile word choices but change can’t happen without the spark or momentum needed to light it. True or not, Florida can serve as an example of what not to do.




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¹ The structure is very reminiscent of phrases like “I’m not racist but…” or “I’m not sexist but…” as if making a disclaimer gives the speaker the right to say something horribly offensive. As far as I’m concerned, no amount of disclaimers can make the following statement any less disgusting. In this case, if we were to hear what they say next, it wouldn’t make their statements appear any less, shall we say, naive and uninformed.
²It involves Morgan Freeman advocating for a “color blind” approach to social issues