I have long been amazed at the lockstep conformity into which so many conservatives fall on global warming: What's in it for them? Why is it unthinkable to look at the plain evidence — trying really, really hard to forget about Al Gore's pasty face, bubble butt, Eurosocialist-ass Nobel Prize and general insufferability — and conclude that gosh, we're causing some seriously dangerous stuff to happen? No, it's impossible, because Al Gore is so awful, such a bad, lousy guy, that nothing he says can possibly be true.
Well, if we're going to win this thing — and we have to — we have some choices:
- We can use all the sweet reasonableness, patience, and persuasion we have with these folks. Somehow do a Gandhi/Bono with bloggers, columnists, members of Congress, and give them an opportunity to climb down gracefully;
- Or leave them out there on a limb, gleefully sawing away, trusting that as the real world continues to turn, they'll become ever more and more marginal to the national conversation, and therefore less of a nuisance.
I've said in the past that I'm done arguing about whether global warming is real … I don't know, maybe that's not the right tack. Maybe we should open up that topic of discussion again, hoping to keep people around long enough to actually listen. I have to say that sounds painful, but if I thought it would be helpful I'd do it.
Or we could just go with this much bolder and clearer solution:
Better yet, maybe Gore will make a major speech telling people to not stick their tongues in wall sockets in an effort to save electricity. Afterward, expect lots of flickering lights in your neighborhood and fewer right-wing bloggers on the internets.
I mean, that's pretty much what we're all doing, as a whole. Not a stretch.
*(PS: I hate South Park. The movie was kind of OK.)
is like me predicting the sun will rise tomorrow. Both are predictable and certain. When do I pick up my money and oscar?
This comment is proof of Gore’s success. I mean at this point even the lil trolls are certain of climatic change.
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If he can get through to their cinderblock noggins than anything is possible.
…I had been led to believe that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences hands out awards for work done on motion pictures. That’s why they call it the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. I have yet to hear of them handing out an award to anyone for merely making a prediction.
to share the Republican response of the Nobel award with the world. (Well. I suppose it’s an election year.)
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Nothing we haven’t heard before many times. Cheri brought up the British Magistrate’s negative comments on the movie, yet somehow forgot to mention that the same magistrate stated that the work was, in the main, scientifically sound. Cheri went on about a lack of concensus in the scientific community, but that didn’t go too far either.
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What was refreshing to see was the newsreader. She wasn’t buying any of it and after politely letting her speak, tore Ms. Jacobus’ position to shreds.
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A very healthy return of journalistic skepticism. It’s nice to see the Republicans being held to account for their lies for a change. (Come to think of it, it was very much like Jim Braude and Niki Tsongas holding Ogonowski up for his SCHIP lie.)
is quite commonly hijacked by a pompous and insufferable adolescent.
because Sullivan, whatever his many faults, has generally been better about climate change that most right-wingers. I think his commentary derives from a need to constantly suggest his superiority over anyone who is not as “enlightened” as he is.
…Andrew Sullivan. As far as I’m concerned, most of the posts on his blog more than make clear that he’s little more than a jackass.
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I guess that, to many Americans, his British accent suggests erudicity.
Funny how some righties slam anything not-American…until someone not-American plays into their rhetoric (or they can make it look that way). Like Sullivan or that British judge.
Sullivan is British?
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http://en.wikipedia….
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I believe, but cannot prove (and am not interested in researching the issue) that he is an American citizen.
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But that is a separate issue than the point that I was making: that he effects a British accent in his public appearances. More than a few Americans believe that effecting a British accent gives one an elevated level of erudicity.
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Cockney? Not so much.
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BTW, I slam Sully not because of his affection of a British accent, but because much of what I have read that had been written by him has led me to conclude that he’s nuts.
I remember watching a college classmate cultivate a sort of erudite, high-society-esque accent during freshman year. She originated from Nowhere-in-Particular, MI, and began life just as nasaly as me. I recently heard Angela Davis interviewed, and she had the same cultivated accent (although for all I know she grew up with hers). Yes, accent means a lot to many Americans – to the degree that many feel they need to acquire a new one to be taken seriously. Sadly, they’re sometimes right about that.
I recently picked up Women, Race & Class for a $1 at the Brattle Book Shop. I picked up The Autobiography of Malcolm X the same day also for a $1.
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Don’t sleep on this book shop, people. This gem might be the best used book store in the city.
… with a couple of British guys at an amusement park. I asked them jokingly, “So whats it like growing up in a country where your accent strongly influences your income potential?”. One of them laughed and the other made a sour face. You can guess why.
He types with a Cockney accent on the upper row.
Its so stupid that these guys are denying that global warming exists. I suppose they have to because once you accept the facts there’s no choice but to act and any policies against global warming are going to involve bigger government and more regulations. The reason its so stupid is because this issue isn’t really going to be debatable. The proof is all around us and will continue to show itself more and more as time goes on and the party that stood against it will take a big hit for sitting idly while Rome burns.