We’ve Hit Peak Denial. Here’s Why We Can’t Turn Away From Reality

[RE]

Regular readers of the Diner know how pervasive Denialism is when it comes to collapse.  Denial of Peak Oil, denial of the systemic failure of Capitalism, denial of Climate Change, denial that Collapse tself is ongoing and real have all been expressed by one contrarian or another on these pages for as long as the Diner has been in existence.

At this point, we appear to have past Denial and moved on to Resignation & Capitulation as the dominant sentiment.  This article in Scientific American does a good job packaging it up, but simply saying

We need to demand that our leaders give the full truth and hold them to account. We must stand up for the silenced and stand with the silence-breakers.

To counter the new normal's assault on normalcy, we must double down on our duty to know, to speak up, and to remember.

does not address the psychological makeup of Homo Sap that accepts things they have no power to change as normal.  It encourages people in positions of responsibility to lie and shift the blame from themselves to the powerless. Politicians, scientists, engineers and the ultra rich are the worst offenders, most notably those involved in either the energy or medical industries.  More than just knowing about the true nature of our problems, the guilty must be held accountable with punishment commensurate with their crimes.  Denial should be considered a Capital Crime Against Humanity, and Justice should be soon and swift.  The only good Denier is a Dead Denier. 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/weve-hit-peak-denial-heres-why-we-cant-turn-away-from-reality/

[K-Dog]

I had to use a proxy to read it.

In the short term, living in a state of peak denial helps us cope. In the long run, it will be our undoing. Because the danger here is desensitization: that we meet this unprecedented litany of "wicked problems," from climate change to the rise of fascism, with passive acceptance rather than urgent collective action.

Key Points.

• A common strategy to neutralize a social problem is to make knowing about it hard.
• Another tactic is minimization. How we describe and measure things shapes how we feel about them. Which is why it's important to notice when neutralizing language enters the chat.
• Shoring up collective denial, we often do more than revise the present.  We rewrite the past.
• Truth tellers are the Achilles heel of collective denial because they call attention to what's swept under the rug. A playbook tactic is to hush them up.  Painting them as subversives or deviants.

[Tonyprep]

Denial, though, is a consequence of being a living organism. Humans are no different from other species which go through resources as quickly as they can (with humans having so much more capability than other species at accessing resources). Even though we seem to know what's going on in reality, we can't let that stop our primal drive, so denial is a way of rationalising our actions, or lack of action. We're all guilty of denial, to some extent. As Sapolsky showed, we have no free will, anyway. Punishing some people for their denial will have no overall impact, even if others in denial could force themselves to mete out that punishment.

[RE]

Punishing some people for their denial will have no overall impact, even if others in denial could force themselves to mete out that punishment.

How do you know until you try?  I think it might take a while and a lot of heads would have to roll, but eventually everyone still in Denial would have the survival response take over.  If Denial meant an instant ticket to the Guillotine, they would accept reality. 

RE

[Tonyprep]

How do you know until you try?  I think it might take a while and a lot of heads would have to roll, but eventually everyone still in Denial would have the survival response take over.  If Denial meant an instant ticket to the Guillotine, they would accept reality. 

My point is, it won't be tried because we're all in denial, in some way. If all denialists were topped, then there would be no-one left. Heck, most people vote for the party they think will provide the best economic performance and jobs. The environment be damned.

[RE]

My point is, it won't be tried because we're all in denial, in some way. If all denialists were topped, then there would be no-one left. Heck, most people vote for the party they think will provide the best economic performance and jobs. The environment be damned.

We are?  How are you in Denial?  How is K-Dog in Denial?  How am I in Denial?

RE

[RE]

More grist for the mill about how hopelessly trapped Homo Saps are by Denial.  While Iagree that collectively it's a pretty insurmountable obstacle  to change, I don't buy the argument that everyone is in Denial.  Just because you still drive your car to work or the grocery store doesn't mean you deny that you know it's part of the problem; you do it because you HAVE to do it.  In most cases there simply is no effective alternative.  Maybe you can bike it in good weather, but not show up for work soaked from a thunderstorm.  Plus individually such actions make little difference.

The author also exposes his own Capitalist bias halfway through the article:

But it's a "comforting fantasy", he writes, which rests on believing that "education and passion will get the job done without mucking up free markets with regulation or central planning".

Apparently nobody has informed him that "free markets" are a myth and Capitalism and the profit motive are an even bigger problem than denial.  His problem is being in denial that capitalism is the problem.

It remains true however that collectively the trajectory won't change willingly.  It will change though because it will be forced into it.  That's the function of collapse.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/20/what-if-there-just-is-no-solution-how-we-are-all-in-denial-about-the-climate-crisis

RE