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people follow leaders. it's human nature. it used to be critically important that people picked good leaders. their life depended on it. literally. not so much anymore. which is too bad. cause now folks can get away with the crap i'm about to describe. here's a little tutorial on how to tell if the people whose word you accept without question, ie your leaders, are full of shit. in the old days such leaders would be likely to get you killed. sigh. natural selection at its finest. okay suppose someone publishes a chart that shows global temperatures going up. you scoff cause your chosen leader says it's natural variation. no problem so far, truly. then someone publishes a chart that shows global temperatures leveling off. see? natural variation. you scoff again. then someone publishes the
same chart with the well known natural effects subtracted out. and you're left with a chart showing a steady rise in global temperatures. your chosen leader says hey! you changed the data! you can't do that! you start to scoff. but then you think. hrm. my chosen leader scolded the scientists for *not* taking into account known natural effects. then scolded turned around and scolded them *because* they took into account known natural effects. hrm. when this happens, it's time to pick a new leader. your life used to depend on it. now something much much more important is at stake: your ego.