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Steve Nuzum's avatar

Thought I’d add here something I shared with a critic of this article on social media who felt the science content was appropriate for a state-approved resource:

Here’s an example of one “science video”: it’s a contrived narrative about a Polish girl who is “oppressed” by supporters of green energy (her family compares this oppression directly to historical actions by the Nazi Party and Polish Communist regime). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pneZc2_YCHw

It makes sense in a way that so many of the videos are focused on attacking renewable energy or responding to criticisms of nonrenewable energy, because much of the groups funding came from billionaires in the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) industry: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/04/us/politics/dennis-prager-university.html

I might have used this video in a rhetoric class when I was teaching English to discuss:

-emotional appeals and scare tactics

-slippery slope falacies

-cherry-picked data

But there isn’t a whole lot of science. It spends a few seconds with some contextless comparisons of specific renewables and coal power (something that could be interesting to get into detail about, but the video isn’t really interested) and over eight minutes on this narrative about Poland.

It also implies that it is anti-Ukrainian independence to support a reduction in coal, but again doesn’t give viewers really any context about the war in Ukraine. It reduces a complex issue to heroes and villains, and that’s what every other PragerU video I’ve watched so far does. I’m willing to see specific examples to show they’re not all like that, but don’t think the Department should have partnered with this resource.

Here’s a separate fact-check on several of the other climate-related articles: https://www.reuters.com/article/world/fact-check-video-presents-climate-change-statements-that-lack-key-context-idUSKBN2712BJ/

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Emily Taylor's avatar

Thanks for so clearly laying this out—Weaver has no concern for the teachers or students of this state and is a total zealot.

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