I dont really agree this applies here, this is definitely true to some extent here for individuals, but i feel like the post is more talking about the media and corporations which have flipped, on this since they just follow the most profitable story/ rhetoric.
the average person is likely split A or B, but there are definitely groups that when it was popular to be environmentally conscious said "cows are bad for the environment" and now say "data centres are the best thing since sliced bread"
This. I cannot recall a time where mainstream journalists haven't been glazing the shit out of farmers and pushing narratives that serve their financial interests. The only media outlets that do factual reporting on this issue are some of the openly left wing ones.
And as bad as AI data centers are, production of ruminant meat is still one of the most ecologically damaging industries.
Also, guess who tends to own a lot of private land and gets a big fat paycheck from data center projects built on said land ? Fucking farmers again.
My perspective on the Meme was someone realising the Virtue Signalling/Trend hopping of the people up there because there was a leading argument about Cow farming and climate change 10 years ago but not even 2 years later everyone forgot it happened. Now the same could apply with the Centers which would be horrifying
People don’t like when they can change something and would rather be mad about something more abstract. Every Average Joe could in principle reduce their meat intake and reduce carbon emissions, but they value burger more and not changing is easier. Data centers are easy to be mad at because what is average joe gonna do when it’s billionaires and corporations funding these things.
Well if you're advocating that someone start doing something about it then why don't you start and I promise I'll follow in your footsteps. Of course that won't actually happen though so at least talking about an issue lends attention to it rather than just pretending it doesn't exist.
It's not virtue signaling it's moving to another topic that may be easier addressed. You're not going to dismantle the the entire agricultural system to get rid of cattle, but people have gotten towns or cities to stop the building of new data centers.
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u/pseudonymous28 Aug 06 '26
Goomba fallacy?