I think it was the Atheist Richard Dawkins who said "It's good to keep an open mind, but not so open that your brains drip out your ears". Maybe we Neo-Pagans can learn a thing or two from our Atheist friends.
I know WitchVox has a policy of not "taking sides" when publishing essays from its members. But do we really need 3 different essays from Global Warming deniers? (Heh, and I sure am not linking to them.) None of the essayists offer any proof of their claims. Sheesh, anyone willing to spend 3 minutes on 'the google' can make mince meat out of their arguments. I wish I had the time to waste taking them on point for point, but all they manage are oil industry talking points or sad displays of scientific illiteracy.
But if you want to check out an article which debunks such propaganda, read BEYOND THE IVORY TOWER:
The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change
Just a preview, in regards to the tired 'there's no consensus among the experts' ploy:
...For example, the National Academy of Sciences report, Climate Change Science: An Analysis of Some Key Questions, begins: "Greenhouse gases are accumulating in Earth's atmosphere as a result of human activities, causing surface air temperatures and subsurface ocean temperatures to rise"... The report explicitly asks whether the IPCC assessment is a fair summary of professional scientific thinking, and answers yes: "The IPCC's conclusion that most of the observed warming of the last 50 years is likely to have been due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations accurately reflects the current thinking of the scientific community on this issue"...Others agree. The American Meteorological Society..., the American Geophysical Union..., and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) all have issued statements in recent years concluding that the evidence for human modification of climate is compelling...
So, what next Witchvox? Yule Sabbat suggestions from Holocaust deniers!
2 comments:
Comedian Lewis Black recently said: "President George Bush has now acknowledged that global warning is real. As a result, I'm not sure anymore." I've always been somewhat wary of the articles posted on witchvox; I think their standards aren't always as high as they should be.
Of course, there's nothing wrong with having contrary opinions. But the pieces offer nothing but dogma and gross misunderstandings (or oil industry talking points) to back up their claims. Such things remind me of Creationist arguments against the overwhelming evidence of Darwinian evolution. Some of us also remember the twisted claims of the tobacco industry, sending out their troops to debunk the proof of a cancer link to smoking. (Predictably, some of these same jokers are now working in the propaganda wing of the oil industry!) IMHO, providing a venue for extremist or demonstrably false positions in no way encourages a diversity of opinion. The aim of such pieces is not to enlighten or help genuinely undecided people, but to just muddy the waters by giving the false impression the evidence is somehow unsettled.
I kept this out of the body of my post, but it appears that one of the writers was recently banned from posting at RedState for a hateful post. Heh, you can imagine what it must have been like to raise the hackles of the RedState crowd!
Thanx for your comments, I greatly appreciate your support.
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