A Moratorium on "Believe"

The problem with this billboard is not its equation of terrorists with people who understand the fact of global warming. The problem is the use of the word "believe" in reference to a scientific fact.

I don't "believe" in global warming because it's a non-sequitur. You can't "believe" in a fact. The fact exists in reality regardless of your "belief."

I know global warming is caused by human activity and is already drastically and perhaps irreversibly damaging the planet's ability to maintain a human-friendly climate. I know this because science - the same science that figured out the earth revolves around the sun - tells me so.

Do you "believe" in gravity? No? Tough shit. Gravity happens anyway. A zillion screaming prayers won't let you float off the surface of the earth.

The sun is going to rise in the east and set in the west no matter how fervently you "believe" the opposite.

Yet we nod or say nothing when people who know better say inexcusably stupid shit like "I believe in evolution." Guess what? Evolution doesn't "believe" in you. In fact, evolution doesn't give a flying fuck what you believe, or that you don't know the difference between believing and thinking.

This error is pervasive. A hundred times a day I read or hear people use the word "believe" when they really mean "think" or "know."

"I believe it's going to rain." Really? Shut up. You may think it's going to rain, but you don't "believe" any such thing.

Constantly substituting "believe" for "think" or "know" debases the meaning of thought and knowledge and reduces facts to the level of beliefs.

It gives an entirely unwarranted credibility to myths, superstitions, lies and other stupidity referenced by the verb "believe."

Even people who say "I believe in god" are lying. No, they don't "believe in god." They think an invisible wizard in the sky tells them what to do. Calling it religion doesn't make it any less a mental illness.

Stop "believing." Start thinking and knowing. You know better.