Anything goes to spite GOP? Popular British historian draws fire by cheering on hurricanes about to batter ‘Trump voting states’
Two potentially devastating hurricanes hitting the United States may actually be a good thing, since they would disrupt next week’s Republican convention and stick it to Donald Trump, British historian Dan Snow said.
Tropical Storms Laura and Marco are moving through the Gulf of Mexico towards Texas and Louisiana and are projected to make landfall on Monday and Tuesday, less than 24 hours apart. One might think the destruction and loss of life they could cause is bad news, but not so for Dan Snow, a popular British media personality famous for his historical films.
Snow managed to find dark irony in the potentially deadly storms, saying they will smash “into Trump voting states the night before the climate crisis denying authoritarian’s acceptance speech” during the upcoming Republican National Convention.
Two hurricanes, for the first time, smashing into Trump voting states the night before the climate crisis denying authoritarian's acceptance speech is the weather's revenge for Ruskin's 'pathetic fallacy' dis, 150 years in the planning. It was worth the wait. pic.twitter.com/3fPm7xl3Dn
— Dan Snow (@thehistoryguy) August 22, 2020
He joked that this will also serve as “the weather’s revenge,” 150 years in the making, on 19th century British art critic John Ruskin, who didn’t approve of the personification of natural phenomena, like calling clouds ‘sullen’, which was widely used by contemporary poets. Ruskin’s term for it, the ‘pathetic fallacy,’ is still used today to combat confusing metaphorical descriptions in science.
The apparent callousness of the tweet was a tad too much for many people, who expressed their shock and wondered if Snow will change his mind if Laura and Marco claim any lives after arriving in the US.
I’m quite shocked by this. Always assumed you were one of the good guys even though you might hold different views! Extraordinary unbalanced adjectives!
— Naij25 (@Naij251) August 22, 2020
Crass, very crass...and what if, God forbid, 100's of people are killed due to these. Will that be sweet weather revenge in Trump too?Engage brain before engaging twitter for God's sake!!
— Tony Moore (@BigBaldTone) August 22, 2020
Others pointed out that even as a political takedown, it didn’t really work well. After all, attributing political preferences to hurricanes is a pathetic fallacy!
It's a scientific fact that woke weather systems hold a specific hatered of tyranical far-right Nazis.
— Clunge Fairy 🍯🧚🏽♂️ (@ConceptualMinge) August 22, 2020
They might be Biden voting states come November, would you revel in their destruction then Dan? Sicko
— BaffleRaffle (@balfralf) August 22, 2020
A few wondered why a historian would call the double landfall in the US a first-ever event, when in fact, Texas and Florida were battered by two tropical storms within 24 hours back in 1933.
"Two hurricanes, for the first time?"How can someone be so stupid in making such a claim without doing any research first?"this is not an unprecedented event. It occurred one other time on record in 1933"https://t.co/8f6wI9PMCf& HT to Chris Martz
— Gary Hall (@GaryWHall) August 22, 2020
Needless to say, Snow is no fan of President Trump, and is not too shy to embrace even some of the crazier things said about Trump to share a punchline with his 300,000+ followers.
Let's be clear. My opposition to Trump is not based on articles in the media but on his own words that come out of his actual mouth.
— Dan Snow (@thehistoryguy) February 20, 2017
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