Dissident Politics: News bits: New global warming propaganda tactic; Irreparably broken GOP;

Media Matters reports about new propaganda tactics to reach young people online that oil companies are employing. Oil sector propaganda promotes acceptance of more carbon dioxide emissions and more global warming:

As young voters increasingly support phasing out fossil fuels, oil giant Shell is aiming to reach this demographic — not by cutting its oil and gas development, but via video game marketing. The company is working with Fortnite creators and sponsoring popular gamers to promote its premium gas on the streaming platform Twitch, as well as on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

The campaign comes as trade industry groups and energy companies have sought to use influencer marketing to humanize their products even though the impacts of these products are driving climate change, jeopardizing the future of its target audience. In a 2021 survey of young people between 16-25 years old from 10 countries, 75% said the future is frightening because of climate change.

Meanwhile, the company announced in June that it is planning to expand its natural gas business. According to Bloomberg, its business plan “puts oil and gas front and center while giving low-carbon efforts a smaller supporting role,” despite the International Energy Agency’s recent warning that, “no new long-lead-time upstream oil and gas projects are needed” for a global pathway to net zero emissions by 2050.

The campaign, dubbed “Shell Ultimate Road Trips,” encourages Fortnite players to use a new map made by six different Fortnite creators who were “invited” by Shell to participate in the project. To promote the map, Shell sponsored popular gamers to test it out. The campaign is meant to promote the company’s “new and improved” premium gasoline. In the game, players first fill up at a Shell gas station and are encouraged to take screenshots of the game and post them on social media using the hashtag #Shellroadtrips. The campaign also includes sweepstakes to win Shell e-gift cards or a “dream road trip.”

In part, the Ultimate Road Trips campaign reflects Shell’s continued efforts over the last few years to reach a younger audience using TikTok and Instagram.

An August DeSmog investigation described a Shell-sponsored video from one popular feel-good account as “part of a concerted push from oil and gas supermajors to improve their image among younger generations. Edelman, one of Shell’s principal PR agencies, said in relation to a 2017 campaign that the oil and gas giant set the task of ‘giving millennials a reason to connect emotionally with Shell’s commitment to a sustainable future.’” According to Twitch, in 2022, 70% of its users were between the ages of 18-34.

Un-freaking believable. Shell’s commitment to a sustainable future?? Shell is committed to profit, not a sustainable future.

The ruthlessness, gall and shameless lies and deceit of polluters is jaw dropping. Not only are we in an all-out war against democracy and civil liberties, we are also fighting to protect the environment against sophisticated mind manipulation campaigns by wealthy, powerful corporations.

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An opinion piece in The Messenger argues that the GOP is too broken to be fixed:

The Republican Party Cannot Be Fixed

There still are main-line Republicans who hope that if Trump loses the election next year, the de-Trumpification of the party can begin. Sorry, that train has left the station.

Trump's tenacles are deep into the GOP at the congressional level and in states around the country. Remarkably, Trumpism is more embedded than Reaganism ever was; in many GOP circles, the Bush presidencies should be expunged.

Not only is Trump dominating party polls, but the Republicans overwhelmingly believe his lie** that the 2020 election was fraudulently stolen from him; a significant portion of Republicans say the January 6 violent mob attack on the U.S. Capitol was primarily a peaceful protest, that any trouble was instigated by left-wingers. Both ideas are demonstrably false — but within the GOP, facts and truth no longer matter.

** CNN Poll: Percentage of Republicans who think Biden’s 2020 win was illegitimate ticks back up near 70% (August 2023 poll data)

This has antecedents: The slashing incivility of Newt Gingrich in the 1990s; in the decade before that, the intraparty struggle between the vision of Jack Kemp — inclusive, entrepreneurial, optimistic — versus that of Jesse Helms — dark, reactionary, racist.

President Reagan straddled those two elements, but was more Kemp. Trump is Helms-plus.

The Trump camp dismisses such critics within their Party as “RINOs” — Republican in name only.

It’s a term they’d certainly apply to Stu Spencer, who says: “This isn't my Party anymore.” Spencer was the political genius behind Ronald Reagan's initial election as governor of California in 1966, and he played a critical role in Reagan’s 1980 election as president.

Stu Spencer a RINO? Really?

That’s how badly the Republican Party has been broken.

Maybe the GOP isn't broken, but just different. At one time the Democratic Party was the home of racists. Now it's the GOP. Things change.

Qs: Is this an indication of how badly the Republican Party has been broken, or an indication of how radicalized and changed it has become? In other words, does the GOP now mostly reflect traditionalists or Trump cultists?

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Fun billionaire facts and logic flaws from Bored Panda. Our team here at Bored Panda has traveled all across Reddit to bring you some of the most mind-boggling facts about billionaires and the wealth gap: