Chemtrails Aren't Real. So Why Are Politicians Passing Laws About Them?
www.rollingstone.com
The history and politics of so-called weather weapons.

Archived copies of the article:

  • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.netEnglish
    52·
    6 days ago

    it’s less important for the far right who currently holds control to do things than it is to be seen as doing things. i have an ur-conspiracy theory that every outlandish conspiracy theory is a distraction from a believable conspiracy. this does a few things:

    1. makes people who talk about conspiracies sound like nuts
    2. creates a legion of true believers who will dismiss the true conspiracies as lies
    3. normalizes the audacity of the worst of the conspiracy theories so that when someone starts conducting the framework for the false conspiracy everyone just kinda rolls with it

    chemtrails are, ultimately, a distraction from that what’s poisoning our air and water isn’t additives in jet exhaust, but instead the byproducts of burning fossil fuels like jet fuel. by addressing chemtrails without addressing fossil fuels, the ruling class performed a bit of trickery. for the people who believe in chemtrails and are worried about the poisoning of our air and water, this is now a solved problem. for the people who aren’t keyed in hardly at all, this seems like a compromise between the right and the left, and like some progress is being made to protect our natural habitats.

    if we want to survive our most powerful weapon is to continue speaking truth into the world

    • tauisgod@lemmy.world
      26·
      6 days ago

      Your theory is completely provable. Remember how loud the pizza-gate nut jobs were? And now that some of the Epstein documents are starting to come out, it’s all crickets.

      • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.netEnglish
        9·
        6 days ago

        for sure. i didn’t come about this theory with zero thought haha. see also how many people will tell you the world is controlled by a secret cabal of yiddish speaking aliens manipulating lizard people billionaires and then the panama papers come out and NOTHING

      • reallykindasorta@slrpnk.net
        5·
        6 days ago

        I’ve peeped 8chan a couple times over the last year and the conspirators are still conspiracying re Epstein but the mainstream right has abandoned them because it’s not politically convenient to bring raging right wing antisemitism into the narrative right now. I learned a new slur every time I visited.

    • rayyy@piefed.socialEnglish
      2·
      6 days ago

      I would like to think that speaking the truth is the solution but it only works with those who actually have the capacity to think and reason. In contrast, big money has the luxury of buying and promoting the media view points that they want us to believe. Most people take the easy route that doesn’t involve the work of thinking. Discerning truth is work - believing bullshit is the easy route. It has been my experience that both those on the left, and right, fall for the “chemtrail” crap.
      As climate change kills folks off, some will survive by learning.
      When people begin to starve or become homeless they will be forced to confront survival rather than conspiracy nonsense.

  • lolola@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    31·
    6 days ago

    Several weeks ago I overheard two of my neighbors making small talk about the weather, and how it would be perfect if it weren’t for all those gosh-darned chemtrails everywhere.

    That is the view of reality that is guiding public policy today.

  • SpiceDealer@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    3·
    5 days ago

    Chemtrails; now that’s an ancient conspiracy theory that I didn’t expect to see making a comeback. Can’t wait to see laws against GMOs. /s

    • Hirom@beehaw.org
      2·
      4 days ago

      We COULD see fewer contrails.

      It require voting for leaders and lawmakers who will give airlines insentives to reduce their environmental impact. It could be regulation, taxes, tax breaks, wharever works best to reduce harm from aviation.

      • bss03@infosec.pub
        1·
        4 days ago

        I remember the video saying that the airline they engaged with for the study and one other airline were already implementing the changes voluntarily.

        While I agree that the right leaders and policies continue to be important, even on this very specific issue, I believe we’ll see an improvement without another round of voting.

  • despite_velasquez@lemmy.world
    61·
    6 days ago

    Aren’t contrails like, really bad for climate? And it would be really easy to divert some routes to shave off a significant part of contrail-caused warming?

    • grinde@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      112·
      6 days ago

      You’ve got it backwards. Contrails have a very minor cooling effect caused by reflecting incoming sunlight. It’s just small in relation to the warming caused by planes burning fuel.

    • Ben Matthews@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      4·
      5 days ago

      Yes. Persistent contrails - i.e. aviation-induced cirrus clouds which spread in supersaturated air layers - are indeed bad for the climate, but often their effect is ignored as hard to quantify, while the simpler small effect of short-lived contrails is conveniently cited instead.
      Also, while all high clouds have a warming effect by reflecting infra-red radiation back to earth, there can also be a cooling effect due to reflecting solar radiation, which is greater when the angle of the sun is low. So the net effect is warming in the middle of the day and at night, but cooling in morning and evening.

    • explodicle@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      41·
      6 days ago

      Yes. Kinda, just a little regulation could reduce them a lot.

      But here’s the thing. Congress does not give a shit about the climate. They will never pass anything like you’re suggesting because they’re for sale. Only a major structural change that eliminates coercion/bribery from regulatory votes will work.

      Congress as we know it fighting climate change is about as realistic as unicorns and Bigfoot.

  • No1@aussie.zone
    5·
    6 days ago

    Good. Next we need to get laws passed banning big pharma from putting 5G chips in vaccines.

    Then we can pass a law banning autism in vaccines.

    Or just ban vaccines. I don’t know, I’m not a doctor. Whatever Dr Oz and RFK Jr says.

    • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
      10·
      6 days ago

      It all seems harmless until some nutbar prosecutor drags you to court in Provo on charges of whale poaching (or more likely sues your airline for making chemtrails).