In it, he/she claims that climate change is having “a disproportionate effect on the physical and mental health of black communities.”
Therefore, his/her Office of Climate Change and Health Equity, and also the Office of Environment Justice, are studying ways to work with partners and community leaders to address this grave problem.
There we go with what is being called the woke trifecta: gender fluidity, climate change, and anti-racism, all in a one-minute video!
I know what you are thinking. It’s not possible to make this stuff up, much less write a parody of it. It is itself a parody. The spooky aspect of this is that there is no regular person who could possibly take this video seriously. But it’s worse: one suspects that they know this. This is simply a method by which they let you know that they are in charge and can believe, say, and do whatever they want.
Also, who knew there was an Office of Climate Change and Health Equity at the Department of Health and Human Services? And another Office of Environment Justice?
As a side note, it is devastating to consider how people in other lands around the world respond to such displays. Quite frankly, this is a disgrace to the United States, and the kind of thing that makes America a laughingstock globally. It’s simply humiliating. And perhaps that’s the point.
In any case, I became curious about the particular empirical claim that forms the basis of this video. He/she says that 65 percent of black Americans report feeling anxious about the impact of climate change. You hear that and think: this stretches the bounds of plausibility.
The only people I’ve ever known who feel anxiety about what is called “climate change”—which used to be called “global warming” until they realized that this slogan was too falsifiable—are urban white progressives among the professional managerial class.
These are people who whip themselves up in wild frenzies of fret over ideological issues that may or may not exist. They are “activists” and their frenzies are mostly psychological.
Are we really supposed to believe that two-thirds of black Americans are sitting around fretting about the polar ice caps or whatever? That’s what he/she is saying.
It does indeed show that two-thirds of blacks, more so than whites, are concerned about climate change. Well, it sort of shows that. You have to dig pretty deeply into the study to discover the strange way in which it was constructed. It was a poll of 1,000 people—phone perhaps? The question asked was as follows:
“To what degree, if any, are you concerned about climate change?”
As it turns out, the dominant answer is “somewhat concerned.” That’s pretty noncommittal, a nice and safe answer. Something you say to get someone off the phone.
Let’s pretend you are not an NPR-listening progressive with an Ivy degree. You are a normal person, for example. Someone calls from a polling firm and asks if you are concerned about the climate. You look out the window or check your weather app and say, yeah, sure.
The magic words “climate change” to a tiny cohort of left-wing activists means the end of industrial civilization thanks to Donald Trump and the radical right wing. Or something like that. But to normal people, it simply means stuff going on outside.
In other words, this poll is utterly meaningless. But, hey, it’s enough to justify the creation of new federal bureaus and busywork for bureaucrats to concoct solutions to nonexistent problems, and put on display weirdo unelected bureaucrats to lecture the American people about how their gas-powered car is really quite racist.
And don’t you dare question the spokesperson’s gender of choice!
One really does wonder how long this can go on and how deep is the bottom of the barrel.
Again, it’s hard to believe that Rachel Levine or his/her handlers truly believe that this is persuasive. Nor do they really believe that they are busy brainstorming solutions to these supposed problems. Nor do they really believe that these problems are real.
What this really is: a display of power. It’s the Biden administration’s way of saying that they are in charge and you are not, period, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Such conspicuous displays of woke absurdities are likely intended as exercises in demoralization. To that extent, it really does work. It causes every regular person to wonder what in the world has gone wrong with the system that would produce such inanity.
How is that to the advantage of the Biden administration? It’s an aggressive display of just how captured the government is at this point.
Jeffrey A. Tucker is Founder and President of the Brownstone Institute and the author of many thousands of articles in the scholarly and popular press and ten books in 5 languages, most recently Liberty or Lockdown.
Related Items:
Jeffrey A.Tucker’s interview with David Leis on Leaders on the Frontier can be seen here.
His testimony at the National Citizens Inquiry (Winnipeg) may be viewed here.
