We had to check the date on this piece to make sure it was current. After all, every single year about this time the mainstream media starts putting out pieces on how air conditioning is a bad thing and you shouldn't have it (although we're certain the Times' newsroom and CNN's studios are well-cooled).
John Kerry had flown his wife's private jet to Vienna in 2016 to claim that air conditioners and refrigerators pose as big a threat to “life on the planet” as the threat of terrorism. Yes, your AC is more dangerous than ISIS (spoken in an air-conditioned room, without a doubt). Actor and New York gubernatorial candidate (and pro-Hamas "hunger striker") Cynthia Nixon noted that air conditioning is "notoriously sexist."
Air conditioning has made Americans “greedy and silly,” wrote Karen Heller in the Washington Post. Just this summer, the Paris Olympic Games denied air conditioning in the athletes' village because of concerns over climate change.
We have a huge number of anti-air conditioning stories in our archives from The Atlantic, Bloomberg, CNN, and more. CNN tried to shame the U.S. using Europe as an example. "It is self-indulgent to insist on chilly temperatures in the middle of summer and rooms at t-shirt warmth in winter," wrote Paul Hockenos.
So that's why we had to check the date on this New York Times piece … to make sure it wasn't recycled from last year.
This is psychotic behavior pic.twitter.com/EgBFPqzJET
— Alec Stapp (@AlecStapp) September 2, 2024
When it gets too hot, we lightly spray water on our arms, legs and faces; the water helps dissipate a lot of heat. A quick, cold shower or a little time spent with the all-American favorite, the lawn sprinkler, also can bring relief.
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But is that a waste of water?
It's 2024, and the author describes the life l lived in Queens in the 70s: no AC, no dishwasher, hanging clothes on a line outside, spraying each other with a water hose. I'm 54, buddy. If you want to cosplay Little House On The Prairie, have fun. Leave the rest of us alone. https://t.co/TOshesX4xk
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) September 2, 2024
Exactly. Feel good about yourself for not using air conditioning. As Tim Walz would say, mind your own damn business.
🐊 😅 pic.twitter.com/iuAVlFvyhw
— Amygator 🐊 *not an actual alligator (@AmyA1A) September 2, 2024
— AI Notkilleveryoneism Memes ⏸️ (@AISafetyMemes) September 2, 2024
To each his own, but they are cutting into their own productivity and ability to make an impact.
— Melinda B. Chu (@MelindaBChu1) September 2, 2024
Lee Kuan Yew said that A/C was instrumental in the rise of Singapore from Third World to First World. Can be said for the most of Asia and MENA.
Innovation is the way to make the… https://t.co/rQQvysV9K6
Innovation is the way to make the biggest impact on climate change, not being a martyr spritzing yourself water from a spray bottle.
Where does this asshat live? I’m going to guess it’s somewhere temperate.
— BowTiedPumpJack 🌵 (@BowTiedPumpJack) September 2, 2024
Walking back A/C in a place like the American South or the US Gulf coast would be an astronomical step down in quality of life.
He must own a home and live in the suburbs or a rural area, because he says his family dries their clothes on a clothesline out in the backyard.
That NYT still thinks no one south of the Mason Dixon line reads their paper is of no surprise to me whatsoever
— Amy Nixon (@texasrunnerDFW) September 2, 2024
This is from the same author.
— Tim Höfer (@timhoefer) September 2, 2024
ACDS pic.twitter.com/4RmEYLSCqy
The @nytimes is written for a highly neurotic and fearful (of life) audience.
— Andrea E (@AAC0519) September 2, 2024
We all owe this writer a debt for helping stave off the climate change that was supposed to have made the world inhospitable to life by now. Maybe his not having a dishwater is what saved us.
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