Funny Thinking?

I sometimes think that a) sections of the populace are too easily seduced by lazy arguments and/or b) 'economic' claims have a disproportionate impact on decision making. The reasons for my concerns are, I think, displayed in three recent very different articles. First, we have the major petrochemical company, Shell, expressing concerns about the UK government's 'windfall tax' (or whatever they choose to call it). Shell claim this tax on their enormous, unearned profits is 'a threat to investment in North Sea oil and gas, as Britain attempts to ramp up domestic energy supplies' (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/may/27/shell-windfall-tax-north-sea-oil-gas-investment). It should, of course, be obvious, that ramping up North Sea oil and gas extraction would exacerbate global heating and climate change. Perhaps, 'leaving it in the ground' is a better option? Second, we have Hamilton Nolan (a writer in New York City), observing that a substantial number of Americans seem keener on gun ownership than people's lives. The basic argument (exploited by gun manufacturers) seems to be that Americans need guns to protect themselves from Americans with guns. This is in spite of the fact more Americans are killed by their own guns than by being shot by strangers. The Second Amendment was designed for times more than 200 years ago. Perhaps, it's fortunate that the atomic bomb hadn't been invented in 1776 (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/27/columbine-gun-violence-america-gun-control). Everyone appears convinced that massacres of primary school children will never lead to even the slightest of tightening of gun control laws (e.g. not selling just anyone semi-automatic rifles). The third example is an account by Harry Ferguson (University of Birmingham), commenting on the response to murders of 2 small children in the UK by their parents/and the parent's partners. Ferguson points out that new 'plans' to more effectively protect children from such attacks, take little account of the social worker's needs (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/27/social-workers-star-arthur-review-children-abusers). Ferguson notes that, after these 2 cases, some social workers have been attacked in the media for 'not doing their jobs'. Some have even, after physical attacks, had to change where they live. Ferguson also points out that a) UK social workers currently have very heavy case loads; b) they have difficulty dealing with aggressive 'parents' and c) the Covid19 pandemic made dealing with cases more difficult. I must admit that these widespread examples of illogicality don't fill me with optimism about the human ability to deal with serious problems.