Few things in life are as disconcerting as the
internet’s
power to fuel conflict.
Left-wingers are out this week promoting bans on gas stoves. Right-wingers are mounting a stiff resistance.
NEW STUDY OFFERS EVEN MORE PROOF LOCKDOWNS WERE DEADLY
Certain Democratic officials and their allies in the press,
relying entirely on a popular junk science “study,”
are experts now in all things stovetop, championing a position they adopted only this week with all the exhausted impatience of longtime activists. Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, have introduced a House resolution “prohibiting federal agencies from moving to ban gas stoves and similar gas-powered appliances.”
And on and on we go with this new chapter in the
culture wars
. The most disturbing thing isn’t that the Left and Right are engaged in yet another ideological skirmish, with the press riding to the Left’s aide. It’s that this heated national debate came from seemingly nowhere, powered and advanced by the internet’s godlike ability to birth conflict from practically nothing.
It begins with brief remarks made by Consumer Product Safety Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr., who suggested on Jan. 9 his agency may eventually ban gas stoves.
“This is a hidden hazard,” he told Bloomberg News. “Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.”
Later, after his comments were met with a chilly reception, Trumka attempted to amend his position.
“To be clear,” he said on social media, “CPSC isn’t coming for anyone’s gas stoves. Regulations apply to new products. For Americans who CHOOSE to switch from gas to electric, there is support available — Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act which includes a $840 rebate.”
Fun fact: A ban on new stoves is still a ban. Also, this was too little too late from Trumka. Even with his “clarification,” the press was already up and running, publishing breaking news reports based on a reasonable interpretation of his initial remarks.
“A US federal agency is considering a ban on gas stoves,” reads the headline to a Jan. 9 report published by CNN.
Mother Jones reported at around the same time, “Federal Agency to Consider Ban on Gas Stoves.”
“US Safety Agency to Consider Ban on Gas Stoves Amid Health Fears,” Bloomberg declared in a write-up of its own.
On Jan. 11, the CPSC chief himself sought to clean up his commissioner’s comments.
“Research indicates that emissions from gas stoves can be hazardous,” Chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric said in a statement, “and the CPSC is looking for ways to reduce related indoor air quality hazards. But to be clear, I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so.”
Thus far, Hoehn-Saric’s remarks have served only one purpose: to allow certain members of the press to allege right-wingers invented the gas stove controversy from thin air.
“Despite official insistence that fears of a ban are unfounded, conservatives are suddenly championing gas stoves in a new culture war,” Axios reported on Jan. 12 in a report titled, “Right’s new fight: Gas stoves.”
At the Washington Post, a headline that reads, “GOP thrusts gas stoves, Biden’s green agenda into the culture wars.”
What these headlines ignore is that the Right’s role in all of this has been reactionary. It’s a response to Trumka’s statements and the calls they have inspired for a national ban. The Right didn’t create the issue from nothing.
Secondly, the framing of these stories ignores that several cities, including
Los Angeles
, Seattle, and New York City, have already moved to ban gas stoves. In fact, Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul just this week quietly “snuck a proposal to outlaw new gas stoves into the New York Housing Compact she unveiled during her State of the State speech,” the New York Post reports. Couple this with Trumka’s remarks, and it’s clear the Right isn’t imagining things. To suggest otherwise is to, well, gaslight (Har! Har!).
But this all seems beside the point. What’s most fascinating is this: The speed with which this became a heated and acrimonious national debate, with no in-between for compromise or even polite disagreement. In the span of just a few days, we went from having a niche state-level regulatory argument to resolutions being introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.
A remark by a federal bureaucrat, a handful of city regulations, cheers from left-wing lawmakers and pundits, “boos” from right-wing politicians and commentators, and we now have a new front in the ongoing and increasingly toxic culture wars.
On the Left, scaremongering and an overbearing sense of moral and intellectual superiority reign supreme.
“Guys just so you know my induction stove boils water a trillion times faster than my gas stove. Also maybe doesn’t slowly kill me, but it’s really the hot water for me,” quipped MSNBC’s Alex Wagner.
Said Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, “Did you know that ongoing exposure to NO2 from gas stoves is linked to reduced cognitive performance?”
“All the conservatives have become emotionally attached to their gas stoves,” remarked senior HuffPo reporter Nathalie Bapiste.
In the middle is Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of
West Virginia
, who said on Jan. 10, “This is a recipe for disaster. The federal government has no business telling American families how to cook their dinner.”
On the right, there are reactionary histrionics.
“I’ll NEVER give up my gas stove,” declared Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas. “If the maniacs in the White House come for my stove, they can pry it from my cold dead hands. COME AND TAKE IT!!”
So much passion, so many strong opinions, and all from such a tiny spark. Thank you, era of instantaneous communication.
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Becket Adams is the program director of the National Journalism Center.
