A few stories have caught my eye of late, and both have not failed to make me laugh out loud and bring a swift hand to the forehead, striking it with such force as to try and knock what I’ve just read back out of my brain.
Unfortunately, they also haven’t failed to demonstrate the fundamentally ignorant and foolishly confident views of some big-mouthed American speakers on climate science and global change. No doubt you’ve heard of at least one of the offending characters, a certain Lord Monckton, but maybe not the other.
To start off with, I’m going to drive straight into the recent Heartland Institute stories, of which have made be both happy, and concerned for those who listened to such rubbish until now. In a recent Heartland convention, a ‘yearly’ event held by the foundation at which multiple infamous speakers comically attempt to derail climate science and laugh in the face of the literally millions who believe in it. I would love to attend one of these just to experience the inner bubble that these people cohabit, but alas they appear to be nearing their end.
This convention failed spectacularly at attracting the number of attendees as in past years, a combination of their poorly conceived and downright ludicrous billboard project, the dropping of over 35% of their annual funding and a crash in global public perception, all of which showed them for what they’re really worth. However, Lord Monckton, known as one of the most, if not the most outspoken climate denier in history, did not hesitate to rock up and joke about all things climate.
After opening with the a sentence along the lines of “it is hard for us people without any scientific qualifications to tackle these issues, but I thank you for trying”, addressing his loyal fans, before continuing to crack wise about Obama’s birth, and subsequently handing over to a speaker, who for all intents and purposes, stated that global warming is good for people; those old people who are killed by it, “are moribund anyway”. Classy stuff.
As I hope you are doing right now, both these quotes made me laugh aloud, but deeply worried at the same time. Their effective idol in Monckton had just applauded them for tackling something, so deeply rooted in scientific understanding and data, with no such science background whatsoever, it was as though they were the kings of a new age, and the crowd simply chuckled along, comfortable in their own little world. That is highly disturbing.
For these people to realise their own complete lack of credible opinion on this subject, but to continue stripping it down as best they can, is by my counts pure clinical insanity. That’s denial at its highest order, and there’s nothing us saner beings can do to fix it. If we have to deal with people like this, what hope do we have? Luckily, ‘these people’ have lost much of their reputation in a very short amount of time due to their own stupidity, but their words still carry force very amenable to other listener’s ears, and word of mouth is a powerful thing.
To move on from this face-palming summary to another, it also seems that these people have thought up a new way for us environmentalists to be negatively looked upon - as terrorists and satanists, I tell no lie.
James Dobson, well-known for his fear mongering over Islamic terrorism over US radio has joined hands with his guest Michael Youssef in a conversation to contend with Monckton as King of all that is utterly stupid. Whilst holding their interview, both come to the swift conclusion that environmentalists are actually the worshippers of a new god, Gaia, Mother Earth, and that this new ‘religion’ (yep, they use that word) is both a radical and Satanic one. We fight with militant desire to protect our planet, and hate those that oppose us. We are terrorists of the new world. ARE YOU SERIOUS?
Words cannot describe the feelings I experienced when first reading this, but it’s safe to say I was speechless, angry, shocked and in hysterics about it, all in one go. How could you possibly compare the protection of our planet, our nature, the very resources we so desperately require to live, a Satanic movement? Not just this, but go on to compare it to something as radical as terrorism and Islamist extremism?
This story made me laugh less so, although at the moment it seems like laughing is the only way to get over the sheer ridiculousness of the whole thing, and instead I felt fear. Americans don’t think twice when ‘terrorism’ is involved; they won’t take time to read the rest of the story or understand both sides, they’ll simply take action, in this case by turning on environmentalists as the next enemy of the state.
Fortunately at least, these two speakers aren’t exactly the most reputable of people, and I like to think (or is it pray?) that the majority of the public will see the ignorance this comment just oozes and weeps.
Anyway, apologies for the brief rant there, it did get a bit out of hand, but that’s what happens when I haven’t posted in a while. Thank Gaia that Heartland has taken a hefty stumble here, and here’s to a future with one less radical thinker in the mix.
http://grist.org/list/attention-renewable-energy-supporters-you-worship-satan/
http://grist.org/climate-skeptics/lord-monckton-delights-heartland-conference-with-birther-antics/
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