[_uy6i]

Honestly if it weren’t so depressing I’d enjoy the schadenfreude of watching Californians sacrifice one sacred cow - science (economics), for another - their social mores.

I’m constantly amazed by my friends who can get into the minutiae of Covid epidemiology or climate science, can’t or won’t embrace the most rudimentary economic concepts and principles because it conflicts with their social beliefs

[ZeroGravitas]

I generally find that when I look into it the 'crazy, communist, californians' are doing stuff that even right-wing parties in Europe take for granted as being a basic part of modern civilization, because its what the relevant experts in the field recommend, so I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for California to collapse into anarchy.

This is just a slightly less fanciful trope than the "being nice to gays causes hurricanes" thing. You can tell its not actually believed for similar reasons.

If being nice to gay people actually caused hurricanes there's all sorts of useful information we could glean from that and use to make the world better, to fix droughts for example.

But the meteorologists weren't the one that noticed this surprising link, were they? It was the people who don't like gay people who spotted it.

Similarly, if there was actual useful information about how progressive policy X was bad for progressive goal Z, then people would want to know that information and use it. But weirdly, it's the non-progressives who have all these reasons why progressive stuff is bad for progressives.

So you're left in a climate change denial type situation where you need to believe that the whole of academia and government around the world is in cahoots to cover up the truth for unclear reasons.

"They're killing all the birds to make expensive unreliable energy and climate change isn't even real!" Well the bird experts, economists, climate and energy folk all think you're wrong but don't let that stop you.

[_uy6i]

Wow kind of a making my case here - you’ve assumed that I have some anti-science position (and why are we talking about gay gay people?) and have said nothing of the sort. when in fact it’s really just that seemingly numerate and intelligent people lose their minds when you point out that any of their pet social goals are in conflict with each other.

Like for example, when rich towns have a home sale tax to fund “community preservation” (buying vacant land- decreasing supply), strict zoning codes (no multi-family for example - decrease supply) then also feel the need to have an affordable housing effort (building homes, increase supply). You literally have people in the same town government working at cross purposes!

If my local tarot card reader with a healing crystal store doesn’t believe in basic economic theory, not exactly a big shock! But they also don’t exactly purport to be “data driven”