Start with false premises, add traditional values and stir.
From Mother Jones:
… Here was the “purity” message—which also contained a hefty infusion of “tradition” by invoking Benjamin Franklin:
“Carbon pollution is fouling our air and our water, and harming our health. We should take steps to maintain the purity of our air and water. As Benjamin Franklin said, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Which best describes your feelings about this?”
After reading this conservative argument, 64 percent of respondents agreed that the US should take action on climate change. Within that group, 25 percent said the US “absolutely” should do something, and 39 percent said it “probably” should.
And then there was the free marketeer frame:
“Our free-enterprise economy only works properly when individuals and companies are held accountable for harm that their actions cause to unconsenting people or the country as a whole. Companies that release heat-trapping pollution into the air should be accountable for those costs. Which best describes your feelings about this?”
After reading this argument, 60 percent of the respondents supported climate action—22 percent saying steps should “absolutely” be taken, and 38 percent saying something “probably” ought to be done…
The Yale climate program was created with an endowment from Al Gore.
I was interested to see that the study relied on very recent research (last year) which found that conservatives most liked environmental messages which appeal to purity, individualism, and a free market.
Dang if it didn’t work. Other, similar, recent research has found that a green-colored nutrition label on candy bars makes consumers think they are healthier, and that an ‘organic’ label on food makes it taste better.
The age of ‘packaging’ ideas is truly upon us.
I agree–Republicans just want to be loved. They have bought into the “it’s more important to be happy than right” mantra.
Republicans just want to be loved.
The poll is as false as the science supporting climate change.
They are certified idiots if they fell for it.
Thank an “educator.”