{"id":329472,"date":"2024-05-20T08:39:13","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T06:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=329472"},"modified":"2024-05-20T08:39:15","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T06:39:15","slug":"what-is-the-most-pernicious-example-of-misinformation-currently-circulating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=329472","title":{"rendered":"What Is The Most Pernicious Example Of “Misinformation” Currently Circulating?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From Manhattan Contrarian<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Francis Menton<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMisinformation\u201d \u2014 It has been one of the most-used buzzwords of the past few years. The \u201cmisinformation\u201d label has been applied by advocates on both sides of the political divide in the attempt to discredit their opponents. Numerous assertions that have dominated the news cycle for months or even years have ultimately proven to be completely false, that is, \u201cmisinformation.\u201d Examples of such assertions that have been established as \u201cmisinformation\u201d include the assertion that Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election; the assertion that the Hunter Biden laptop was a Russian plant; and the assertion that the Covid virus originated in a wet market in Wuhan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the thorough discrediting of so many false narratives during these years, there remain plenty of narratives still out there that richly deserve the \u201cmisinformation\u201d label. But of those, which is the very worst, the very most pernicious? Here is my candidate: the assertion that the cheapest way to generate electricity today is with wind and solar generators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recognize that there are many candidates for the title of the worst of all misinformation, and we are dealing here with a very crowded field. Numerous other endlessly-repeated false assertions contend for the title, many of them having very large real-world consequences. For example, other serious contenders for the title of \u201cmost pernicious misinformation\u201d could include the assertion that emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases constitute a danger to human health and welfare; or the assertion that Israel is conducting a \u201cgenocide\u201d against Palestinians. Undoubtedly, you have other candidates to add to the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why do I say that the assertion of wind and solar being the cheapest ways to generate electricity is the very most pernicious of misinformation currently out there? Here are my three reasons: (1) the assertion is repeated endlessly and ubiquitously, (2) it is the basis for the misallocation of trillions of dollars of resources and for great impoverishment of billions of people around the world, and (3) it is false to the point of being preposterous, an insult to everyone\u2019s intelligence, yet rarely challenged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How ubiquitous is the assertion that wind and solar are the cheapest ways to generate electricity? Try Googling the question \u201cWhat is the cheapest way to produce electricity?\u201d<\/a> You will get multiple pages of results advocating for wind and solar electricity, with almost no mention of the problems or costs of intermittency. A few examples of what turns up:<\/p>\n\n\n\n