@Clark – Einstein thought the universe showed intelligent design; the Big Bang theory was originated by a priest. And so on. We don’t come at this from the same place. But we can agree 100% that to deny that species’ eating habits influence their environment is certainly to deny facts and to show a truly jaw-dropping level of ignorance. I wonder what kind of notion of “possible” evolution Pence can have in his head if he denies that a life-necessary activity such as eating influences the environment? Perhaps he accepts this influence for other species than our own, believing that human beings are totally different because “man is made in God’s image”? Or perhaps smoke comes out of his ears whenever he hears the word “environment”. I thought he looked insane in that video.
Another video, this time from Republican Voters Against Trump, features Elizabeth Neumann, formerly of the Department for Homeland Security.
@Chepup – You shouldn’t be amazed at “progressive” folks welcoming this kind of thing. It is called a popular front against fascism. Often that’s the wrong approach, but in this case it’s correct.
Trump is genuinely deranged. But to judge from the optics that have been prepared for his fourth-day convention speech from the White House lawn – due in a few hours’ time – he and his campaign are deliberately baiting his opponents to … well, to tell the truth about him … to use the word “fascist” to describe the Trumpian prospect. Then he can say everyone in the “popular front” is “extreme left”, pro rioting and anarchy and mindless vandalism, etc. The fight is on for the “middle ground” and it’s polarising ever more.
Meanwhile in Britain, today’s dose of propaganda features a) a dogwhistle about how “those on low incomes who get quarantined” will be (shock horror!) given money by the state, and b) a story about how physical attacks on “emergency workers” including both healthworkers and the police have increased since the end of lockdown.
a) is a classic Daily Mailism that ratchets up the low-frequency but ever louder sound of the chant “kill kill kill the disease-ridden parasitic lower orders and All Hail Malthus”. It’s a sad fact that in present society people need money to live.
b) is from the same hymnbook. It doesn’t simply conflate resistance to the police officers who break up street parties and other unauthorised peaceful gatherings with violent crime against, say, nurses. It also prepares the way for Daily Mail readers to think “how degenerate” and “how disgusting” about food rioting former Aldi shoppers (when there was food on the shelves in Aldi) who act as if they have a right to eat… Dirt, disease, moral degeneracy – this is exactly how Malthus portrayed the lower orders.