User:Woozle/LwaC/2016-03-24

So, to highlight the #lunchWithAConservative aspects of this (and continue the sub-discussion almost-started in the comments):

We started off with Donald Trump, as we often do lately, because it's one thing we can agree on. He hates Trump (as many Republicans do), and is mystified that Trump is so popular.

I reluctantly noted that Trump is just doing what the Republicans have been doing for decades, but doing it better and without restraint.

He made the usual "both sides are out of touch with reality" claim, citing some publication with "Nation[al]" in the title -- I think it must have been The Nation, because that's apparently progressive while The National Review hews to the [dys]conservative -- as an example of left-wingers being just as out of touch and/or extreme as those on the Right. (He couldn't cite any specific fallacious claims, however.)

He also suggested I should read more right-wing media; he couldn't suggest a specific blog, but did suggest The Weekly Standard as worth reading in its entirety (or as much as you can access without a subscription, anyway).

In retrospect, I thought it was interesting that he nicely converted my attack on Republicans into an attack on right-leaning media, which is much spongier ground upon which I never would have attempted to take a stand (at least, not while eating).

Also, we returned to the "there really is no way to tell if global warming is real well okay the warming is happening I guess maybe but who knows for sure if we're causing it" trope, combined with a side-claim that he knows more about modelling than I do -- which is certainly true for certain kinds of models, though I don't know if it's true in general... and do AGW theories really depend on modelling? I know overall GW doesn't...

...and I guess that's it from Lake Facebepalm...