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Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

Samizdata cobbled together quote of the day

It’s official: every cyclone or hurricane these days is the worst, strongest, most powerful [insert hyperbolic untruth of your choice] EVER!

Hurricane Irma has been no different.

Of course, the reality is far less sexy…

…when it comes to 1-minute sustained wind speed, Irma ranks tied for second place (with four others) when it comes to North Atlantic hurricanes. In terms of intensity (the lower the air pressure the higher the intensity), Irma doesn’t even crack the top 10 in the North Atlantic (it’s 12th).

How does the mainstream media get away with this?

– Marcus over on Catallaxy Files.

27 comments to Samizdata cobbled together quote of the day

  • rxc

    It is part of the narrative. They are careful to include “strongest ever recorded“, as if hurricanes and storms and other natural disasters did not exist before we were able to record them. Which is very convenient for the narrative. There is even a movement now to stop referring to these events as “natural disasters”, because the impact is, in part, determined by a human component. So, ergo, they are not really “natural events”. They want us to feel guilty about EVERYTHING, so that they can control our behavior. Very religious strategy, with the elite as the priests who tell us how to repent for our sins.

  • Laird

    Excellent article. Thanks for posting it. (And this from someone in a state [South Carolina] which is already under a state of emergency because of Irma.)

  • Paul Marks

    I am not just bald – I am the baldest man who ever lived!

    That is the attitude of the media to every story – it is the biggest, the worst, the……

    Partly this is natural “puffing” of a story – to get attention. But wait for the link to the “Climate Change” theory.

    So rxc is correct – if there is terrible loss of life the media will spin it as “our fault”. We must not say “natural disaster” or (still less) “Act of God” – I wonder if insurance companies in South Carolina still use the old wording Laird?

  • James Strong

    An interviewer on Radio 4 asked the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda if he thought that ‘climate change’ caused this ‘strongest ever ‘ hurricane.

    This was a clear case of an agenda-driven question, the BBC interviewer wanted the answer to be ‘Yes.’That fits their agenda and the propaganda they want to push at us.

    In fact it was a stupid question. The Prime Minister’s opinion on the contribution of ‘climate change’ to the hurricane is worth the same as the opinion of my postman, since neither my postman nor the PM have studied nor gained post-graduate qualifications in the relevant scientific field.

  • pete

    It isn’t just climate change which causes this kind of behaviour.

    ‘Liberals’ and ‘progressives’ in the MSM operate at the extremes of rhetoric and emotion on everything.

    They praise their political heroes like teenagers praise their favourite pop stars. Their political opponents are always fascist, racist, sexist or stupid, and threats to democracy.

    They behave like overexcited students and have no sense of proportion or perspective on anything.

  • rfichoke

    I had no idea you were in South Carolina. What part of the state? I’m in the Charleston area.

  • Mr Ed

    The Prime Minister’s opinion on the contribution of ‘climate change’ to the hurricane is worth the same as the opinion of my postman, since neither my postman nor the PM have studied nor gained post-graduate qualifications in the relevant scientific field.

    Well there’s an appeal to authority fallacy if ever I saw one. The only thing out standing in this field is a scarecrow.

  • Laird

    rfichoke, I’m up in Greenville, so I’m pretty safe here. (We’re expecting high winds and some rain, but that’s about it). Good luck to you. The governor has already ordered the evacuation of medical facilities in all the coastal counties, and is expecting to issue a general evacuation order at 10 AM Saturday (when the lanes on I-26 and other roads will all be switched to west-bound). It’s going to be a mess.

  • Umbriel

    Well, it is quite likely to be record-breaking in terms of economic damage caused, because it will be hitting a coastline with 21st century levels of development and inflated value.

  • bobby b

    Irma is likely to be the strongest storm to hit the USA since I began paying attention to storms last week. Here on the cold northern border of the USA, we’ve been feeding our cattle with special BMM* feed for several years now in order to boost the greenhouse effect and intensify AGW, and our evil plan to bring on global warming is beginning to bear fruit.

    (Maniacal laughter.)

    – – –

    (*Bovine Methane Multiplier)

  • Julie near Chicago

    Mr Ed: That’s a crafty way to put it. My compliments to the crafter. :>)

  • Julie near Chicago

    bobby, you mean the fruity result of the BMM? –She said doubtfully, thinking that she might pass up that particular edible, if it is of course since not all are, the horse chestnut, for instance, although said to be likely less harmful to her than to horses.

    😆

  • ed in texas

    Returning to the original post, the error here is to assume that the media is in the ‘truth’ business.
    Basically, anything is OK with them as long as they can sell ads for Subarus and cell phones. (Or Toyotas. Whatever)

  • bobby b

    Yes, Julie, we saw that one-third of New Zealand’s total contribution of greenhouse gases come from (excuse the overly technical term) cow farts – really! – and that became our goal. By messing with the microbe ratio in the cows’ rumens through grain selection, we can almost double the methane output of the average heifer. The downside is that the quiet prairie setting always sounds like the bean dinner scene in Blazing Saddles, plus after a lightning storm it can take days to find all of your animals.

    It’s a long, hard struggle, but one day, Minnesota will have palm trees!

  • Julie near Chicago

    bobby, I can but encourage you in your efforts to create the AGW Paradise for which my most favoritest EVAH! (yes even more than the Russian Army Men’s Choir) men’s chorale so enthusiastically yearns. And this one I think I haven’t heard/watched before. :>)))

    Do you notice that they are absolutely the ONLY folks I know of who are so non-anthropogenically-centered, i.e. non-speciesist (ugh, what a word! though not in the same league with “blog”), so concerned about liberty for all, including cast-iron lawn flamingos — Er. Well, yes, they are a little rough on those cute, cuddly polar bears. I like polar bears, at least when they’re 3000 miles away. One of my online pals is an outdoorsy type with a LOT of real-world experience in exploring various parts of the back-country, and he advises me that I ought to be safe at this distance.

    Meanwhile, I do have a few bags of dried beans that are getting old. Should I ship them up there to you?

  • James Strong

    @ Mr. Ed.
    Not all opinions are of equal value.
    Un-informed opinions are not worth as much as informed opinions.

    I am not an engineer, an acquaintance of mine is. My opinion on the safety of a new bridge design is not worth the same as hers.

    The opinion of a non-scientific politician or a BBC Radio 4 presenter or my postman as to whether or not ‘climate change’ has caused ‘strongest ever’ hurricanes is not worth much.

  • Y. Knott

    How does the mainstream media get away with this?

    How do Michael Mann and the IPCC get away with touting the utterly-discredited Hockey Stick Graph?

    How did Cook et al get away with the ‘97% Consensus’ nonsense, much less create yet another GWA plank the media flogs us with unendingly?

    As WSG put it so definitively, “…and interested motives I’m DELIGHTED to detect!” Follow the money.

  • The Codfather

    Time to scrub this post, I’m afraid. The God Emperor has spoken, yet again revealing the truth as only He can:
    https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/906133573400481792

  • Fraser Orr

    FWIW, with regards to Bobby’s methane plan, it won’t work. The methane comes from somewhere, namely the digestion of grass. The grass comes from somewhere, namely the conversion of water, sunlight and carbon dioxide into cellulose and other structures.

    Which is to say your grass makes more cow farts which makes more grass which makes more cow farts to infinity and beyond.

    Which, btw is why I think a lot of landfill stuff is nonsense. If you really want to get rid of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere one way to do it is to use a LOT of paper, and then bury the trash in the ground. And whatever you do don’t compost it, that just brings the carbon back to haunt us.

  • bobby b

    Fraser Orr
    September 8, 2017 at 4:11 pm

    “FWIW, with regards to Bobby’s methane plan, it won’t work.”

    I agree that it won’t work simply because there’s no real problem to be fixed (i.e., CAGW.)

    But, as far as the chemical processes involved and their impact on methane production, all I can say is that New Zealand and Australia and California are all investing significant dollars into the the converse proposition – that minimizing bovine methane production will slow the AGW process.

    (Anyway, even if my plan won’t boost AGW, it still heightens the fun of standing behind cows at night with your cigarette lighter. To infinity and beyond, indeed!)

  • Fraser Orr

    Bobby B, is your argument that because a government project is working on something that it is therefore not stupid and pointless?

    FWIW, I don’t agree that there is no real problem regarding CAGW. The truth is that I am not really sure, the evidence is so politicized that it is impossible to tell. What I am sure of is that believing governments, never mind an international committee of governments who couldn’t even solve a problem like cow farts, can solve something like this is insane. It is to elevate vain hope over bitter experience.

  • bobby b

    Ha! No. But the pure question of whether cows produce prodigious amounts of methane is a settled issue – check out the cow backpacks used to gather bovine methane. The time-lapse photos are . . . startling.

    As to CAGW, I doubt any of us (who are not scientists in a relevant field) could be anything more than agnostic on the issue. There’s no proof that it isn’t happening – but there’s also no proof that it is. It’s much like believing in a god – I’d want at least some scintilla of proof before I could swing that way. And when you get the chance to peer into the “secret” ruminations of the CAGW proponents and discover the pure venality of their efforts to sway opinion and massage “data”, it makes it even easier to discount.

  • James Elam

    As I live in Southwest Florida (SWF) I’ve been subjected to a really incredible stream of hurricane pr0n and have come to realize that natural disasters are like the Olympics.

    People become experts in the arcane and can discuss nuance as if lifelong aficionados.

    I guess 12 hours of high wind beats 8 hours of ESPN coverage of curling.

    -XC

    PS – @rfichoke, good NeXTSTEP icon. Takes me back.

  • Laird

    Careful, James; some of us like curling! 😆

  • I’d rather they cover a sport in which they don’t have a rooting interest. Some of the tennis coverage this week has been unbearable.

  • Thailover

    The MSM is essentially Pravda if Pravda was fascistic rather than communist. (That is, the Legacy Media is state controlled corporations even if not state owned, but there comes a time where owned and controlled becomes blurred lines.)

    Everything is a crisis…or should be in their view. If it bleeds, it leads. And crisis and victimhood is their and the state’s currency. It’s their lifeblood.

  • Jed Clampett

    State controlled eh?
    I guess that would explain why the MSM are so enamoured of the Trump administration
    Or did you men the Deep State and the Men in Black?