It was a brave, if perhaps scientifically obvious, experiment – to convey messages about the unfolding climate crisis via the regular local TV weather forecasts seen by viewers in the conservative heartland of Iowa. It culminated in the meteorologist involved receiving death threats and exiting the state.
I think in part, they don’t want to accept any culpability for what’s happening. Even if they’re not in charge of the large corporations driving climate change, they’ve supported their actions for so long that they feel like any attack on “the way we’ve always done it” is an attack on them personally. So they’re very eager to find anything else to blame it on because it frees them from feeling any guilt.
And the other big part is plain old drinking the kool aid. They’ve been exposed to propaganda against climate change for a very long time. It’s extremely normalized, especially in certain locations (like the one this weather man was in).