Posted by
Catmman on Monday, February 09, 2009 9:47:37 AM
What have the decades of climate alarmism wrought? What has the incessant demogoguery, cauterwauling about Armageddon and tales of climatological planetary destruction done to the minds of those susceptible to such inane babble?
For the answer take a
look at this story. As with other stories of climate catastrophe, it wraps relevant weather related conditions in further extremism and advocacy.
I personally have been through a number of climate and geological related natural disasters in my life. I lived through the 1991 volcanic eruptions of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines. I've been through a few tornados. My home was flooded after a sever thunderstorm and tornado outbreak in 1995. I also have been through a few tropical cyclones. Earthquakes? Been there, done that as well. Other that super severe winter weather, there isn't much on the climatological front I haven't been through. Other than my experiences with volcanos however what no one ever seems to mention is that almost everyone suffers through some kind of weather related "trauma" at some point in their life.
Weather and 'climate' is everywhere. It is raining, snowing, wet, dry, windy, sunny, cloudy, etc. everywhere on the planet, every day. Where there are people and weather, they experience it. If you live long enough you will have to deal with some type of weather or climate related emergency - it's a simple fact of life. If your house floods or you lose everything in a hurricane, who wouldn't feel depressed or feel that 'Life' is unfair or out to get them? People who lose a loved one unexpectedly through accident or lose a loved one to illness go through the same feelings. It's a natural process, not to mention human nature to see and feel the worst in things when we are going through the worst times.
What we are beginning to see now however is a manifestation of something a bit different. We are beginning to see people who are feeling depressed or are suffering through some type of anxiety or other psychological issue simply because of 'global warming'. People are suffering and causing themselves stress over a climatological event which can't even be proven and which isn't occuring to them at that very moment. A person who just lost their home in a tornado would understandibly feel despression and anxiety about the future. A person who feels the same thing about what hasn't happened, what may never happens, and which isn't happening at the moment is simply delusional. Where does that delusion come from? Quite simply - fear mongering.
Al Gore, James Hansen, the UN IPCC, ad nauseum never have a positive word to say about the climate. They never have a positive word to say about anything. Everything which occurs is a crises. The mantra is if we don't act, the planet faces 'inevitable' damage and 'unparralled' destruction. This fear-speak has even entered the current economic debate. Our own president has been telling the American public for weeks that if we don't act, the country is heading for a disaster "from which it may never recover". How's that for the picture of responsible leadership?
Those susceptible to such rhetoric, either through being ill-informed or other reasons, latch onto such irresponsible speech. It is further compounded by the speakers supposed authority on the subject. Al Gore is not a scientist. He has no scientific credentials. He flunked out of seminary school for goodness sake. Before he left politics in 2000, he had never run a business or held a private sector job. Gore's claim to fame starts with his authorship of the book Earth in the Balance in 1992. The main premise of this book is that the internal combustion engine is destroying the planet. Really? Is this the statement of a rational person? Until his 2005 movie An Inconvenient Truth, Gore had done nothing of note in the realm of climate other than demogogue the issue from a leftist perspective. Speaking of his movie, AIT was derided as chock full of inaccuracies, sins of omission and outright falsehoods. Even a British court chastised Gore and AIT for no less than nine pieces of BS portrayed in the movie. Yet Gore is continually given credibility by the US Congress when he testifies. His movie was given an Academy Award, even though most of the movie is BS. He was even given a Nobel Prize - why he was given a Nobel is still a mystery and contrary to common sense. Al Gore is the picture of a responsible, respected climate expert - though he has no more climatological credibility or expertise than I do.
Yet Gore (contrary to observational evidence and theory contrary to his own) still spouts his alarmism. The alarmism is picked up by leftist politicians and spun by a complicit media to the point where people respond hysterically by not wanting to drink water for fear that doing so will lead to the deaths of millions of other people. Yes, an Australian teen didn't want to drink water and eneded up hospitalized in a psychiatric unit for the fear of his personal contribution to global warming. Would Gore or any other climate alarmist take responsibility? Of course not. Those like Gore who are the first to "raise the flag" of alarmism would be the first to dismiss criticism by blaming the victim. Gore and his climatological acolytes cannot be responsible for the action of an 'extremist' after all.
The linked story is further evidence that the media just doesn't get it. There is no balance. There is no metion that global warming 'science', at best, is still an unproven theory. Yet the story pointing out peoples fears of climate catastrophe further encourages such belief by advocating people take action to mitigate global warming. Makes sense - write a story talking about the psychological trauma of climate change and then doing everything in their power to encourage and facilitate futher fear and uncertainty about the issue. This story is a prime example of today's definition of responsible journalism.
The irony is climate alarmists are currently in CYA mode since actual science and observational data is not correlating well with their much hyped and ballyhooed climate models. The planet is not warming; climate (global temps) are static with an overall drop in temps over the last few years. This hasn't stopped the fearmongering however. If anything it has increased the alarmism as the 'climate crusaders' see the possibility of massive government funding erode as global temperatures fall.
It is sad that those who suffer such hysteria induced psychological issues are dealing with the alarmism by shutting down mentally instead of addressing the climate fear-mongering with the appropriate amount of skepticism, caution and when needed, derision.