So there was a discussion over Ars Technica about how climate change hews along political lines. I posted the following, in answer to a guy who wanted to know how the article explained why people watch Fox News.

Original question:

So how does this explain Fox News? (And, as I’m hearing these days, CNN.)

(I know this is gonna get marked troll but I just had to.)

My response:

Actually, Fox News is easy to explain. There’s fricking shitloads of money to be made by catering to the basest, most antediluvian instincts of American conservatives.

Insisting that climate change is not real, is a liberal plot, etc. is one of those instincts.

They torched the original comment and marked my response as trolling, yet left the original quote visible for all to see. And the corker is that my comment has gotten a positive response, yet it’s still considered trolling.

I forget who I was talking to here, but they said they’re pretty much washing their hands of Ars. I really see why now. Ars commenters really get Magic Balance Fairy with political stuff at times, and the mods tend to reinforce that.