As reported in Think Progress, Fox News analyst Jonathan Hoenig reported this weekend that global warming was “bogus,” and “dreamed up” by environmentalists to stop economic development. http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/29/global-warming-bogus/
There’s no scientific proof that global warming even exists. To be honest, it’s a bogus consensus dreamed up by Greens because they hate industry. They hate advancement. They hate technology…Greens will lead us back to the stone ages.
As Think Progress also points out, the National Academy of Sciences recently surveyed refereed 928 articles from scientific journals (published from 1993 to 2003) that concerned climate change. The “consensus statement” considered by the survey was the following: “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 results? Zero out of 928 refereed scientific journals published between 1993 and 2003 disagreed with the consensus position.
What’s more disturbing? The intelligence vaccuum in which FOX operates or the vicious derision aimed toward disciplined science that follows evidence where it leads? It’s difficult enough to communicate these ideas, even by evidence-based news providers (by the way, check out this post (“Framing climate change”)on more effective frames for communicating climate issues). But now, back to FOX’s Jonathan Hoenig . . .
“They hate advancement. They hate technology. Greens will lead us back to the stone ages”?
Gee . . .I guess he’s right. Maybe it’s time to put away my abacus and it’s time to feed peanuts to the hamsters that power my computer. Or, perhaps, my concern is that I don’t want to see my children, friends, neighbors and fellow citizens left jobless and then poisoned by those whose short-sighted minds have been narrowed to the point of vanishing by their zealous pursuit of wealth.
To wind up this post . . .who should we trust more on climate change, Hoenig (who is managing member at Capitalistpig Hedge Fund LLC, a markets columnist for Smartmoney.com and a guest on FNC’s business program Cashin’ In ) or 928 scientists?
This story about Fox "News" reminds me of the parade of arrogant idiots on the various religious channels who spout off about things they obviously know nothing about — things such as the "hoax" of evolution or how federal judges "misinterpret" the Constitution. Case in point: after a recent Supreme Court decision that was unfavorable to evangelicals, I saw the movie actor (and religious zealot) Chuck Norris talking about how "some Supreme Court judges don't understand the Constitution." I just about fell off my chair. I simply cannot fathom how someone who has never studied law could possibly be so arrogant and stupid to believe themselves to be superior to Supreme Court justices at constitutional interpretation. I suppose it is that same arrogance and stupidity that causes some people to believe themselves to be followers of the "one true religion."
Oh come on! Even Bush, who once tooted the "there's no proof" horn, admits that global warming exists at this point! Of course, he shrouds that fact in doubt by saying that "we don't know how much of it comes from human activity".
I bet Mr. Hoenig didn't get a single correcting email from any of Fox's loyal viewers.
It doesn't surprise me to hear about a story like this coming from Fox News. They are all about giving people what they want to hear and not researching all the facts before they speak about them.
I have to say that, although we are coming out of an ice age and the temperatures would have warmed whether humans existed or not, we are contributing to a long term problem with global warming that we need to clean up before it is to late.
This post and these reactions remind me that many of us spend SOOO much time and energy fighting ignorance and trying to keep others from doing damage to what COULD be a very nice place to live (and breathe and converse). It's like we're spending most of our efforts trying to keep others from going in reverse.
Sometimes, I'm actually concerned with the extent to which I am defining myself in terms of my personal opposition to ignorance and violence. If the people against whom I so often rant suddenly disappeared, for instance, I don't know who I would then be. Maybe I'd wander around aimlessly looking for dysfunction. An existential form of co-dependence, perhaps?