A couple of people have asked why we haven’t swallowed the notion of man-made climate change like a hungry fish—hook, line and sinker.
There are several reasons we aren’t doing more than nibbling at the bait. And one of them can be summed up in two words:
Al Gore.
The former U.S. vice president turned carbon credit profiteer has said a lot of outrageous things over the years—and not just about the “inconvenient truth” of global warming. His demagoguery seems to know no bounds.
Now he has reportedly compared “climate change deniers” with “an alcoholic father who flies into a rage every time a subject is mentioned.” And he likened them to the perpetrators of history’s most egregious events, including racism, apartheid, and slavery.
None of this is really surprising, of course, because he is following the same playbook that most so-called “progressives” use to push their often dubious desires on a confused and ill-informed world. Such tactics are not only dishonest, but patently offensive, and we long ago stopped listening to anyone who uses them.
Simply put, personal smears and the wholesale demonization of others are non-starters that poison civic debate, and keep us from collectively reaching concensus on issues as complex and politically charged as climate change.
We deserve a more genuine discussion about such consequential matters when we engage in the public square. And it’s up to each of us to make sure we have it.
Snake oil salesmen and self-absorbed prophets of global ecological disaster should be rejected in favor of clear thinking and verifiable facts—even if we’re tempted to bite hard on the frightening theory of man-made climate change.
When we allow ourselves to be manipulated by modern-day Elmer Gantrys, it’s truth and civility—more than the earth—that hang in the balance.
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