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Head, Meet Sand

Instapundit, one of the gods of the right-wing blogosphere, posted this today:

HAS AL GORE BEEN TO CINCINNATI LATELY? Because I’m visiting my brother here and drove the last hour or so through heavy snowfall. It’s freezing (literally) and it’s April. Ugh.

Greenhouse effect? Global warming? Faster, please.

Nevermind the idiocy of urging global warming. This is merely another example of the Right’s attempt to cloud the issue of climate change. (See also: Drudge and/or Rush Limbaugh weekly.)

Comments (35)

1

He's a professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law. I have an ex-girlfriend who graduted from there. As far as I can tell that's the type of reasoning and critical thinking skills one develops at that institution.

Posted by atown | April 7, 2007 1:39 AM
2

It really is useless trying to argue with people this stupid.

Posted by Dianna | April 7, 2007 1:58 AM
3

Seriously, it should be obvious to even the most rabid anti-Bush Left-Wing America Hater, that the fact there is snow falling in April in the Upper Midwest and Eastern Seaboard is IRREFUTABLE PROOF that "global warming" or "radical climate realignment" or whatever, is a complete fabrication.

Because, everybody KNOWS April snowfalls are, like, such a COMMON OCCURANCE in those parts of the country.

Asshats.

Posted by COMTE | April 7, 2007 2:03 AM
4

ummmm, or he's just joking...

Posted by Rottin' in Denmark | April 7, 2007 2:58 AM
5

Oh, he's joking alright. But he's not joking because he thinks global warming is actually happening. He's trying to use a flippant remark to deflect a theory he doesn't support. Doing do often enough will belittle the theory in the minds of his supporters, who take little to no time to understand the science behind the theory and therefore focus on merely the tag name of "global warming" (which clearly, if it's "warming" the snow cannot occur in April, right?).

Believe me, I've heard enough comments this past week from people of this ignorant ilk about our own weather in Seattle. Just yesterday: "We went from snow on Monday to 80 degrees on Friday. Snow this late in the year. So much for global warming!" It's a tag line of the ignorant and ignorance cuts across political lines in this case.

Posted by B.D. | April 7, 2007 6:27 AM
6

The retarded - oops, I mean "the conservatives" (which is a polite term for retarded. But don't call it a "politically correct" term, or they'll have a tantrum) are notoriously literal and can only grasp concepts in the absolute. Since it's called global WARMING, the snow in the east and cold in the midwest is proof that the theory is wrong.

Even their observance of the weather shows a lack of analytical skills. While blizzards and cold snaps in the midwest this late in the year are somewhat uncommon, they are not unheard of. To use them to refute a theory is just retarded.

Posted by Fed up with the retards | April 7, 2007 7:03 AM
7

I don't really understand how one's political beliefs could cause one to support the distruction of the species. But it seems to be a consistent trend:

The facts are incompatible with my ideology. Therefore they do not exist.

Posted by John | April 7, 2007 7:07 AM
8

like I always say:

burning carbon stored for the last 6000 years(yes that is how old the earth is) is what's good for 'merika, god and my and your children..hippies can worry about my car door hitten em...oh and yeah ecb your bike rant is helpin al quedda.

conservativepig...out

Posted by conservativepig | April 7, 2007 7:20 AM
9

Too bad this guy didn't visit earlier in the week when it was beautiful outside. When will people realize that using Cincinnati's bipolar weather as an indicator of global warming's nonexistence is never a good idea?

Posted by cincinnatian | April 7, 2007 7:33 AM
10

Because Al Gore made a half-decent movie about something that affects the tiniest ant to the Queen of England and her lineage (my god, are all creatures equal?), pundits who are concerned with debunking him just to further their own agenda are silly.

The most interesting thing I find about Gore turned up in a New Yorker issue about six months ago. In a paragraph or two of the usual lengthy feature in that mag, Gore name-dropped (or merely the reporter name-dropped) the intense and still living social theorist Jurgen Habermas.

Habermas came to the fore as a member of the Frankfurt School circa mid last century. Ted Adorno, Herbert Marcuse and Walter Benjamin may be the most well known names of the group. Their intellectual think-tank influence brought about many of today's 'enlightened' social constructs. Being a young impressionable critical theory student I enjoyed the post-modern relativism of these guys. Now I don't bother with the stuff. Reading Dostevesky, Willa Cather, Jane Austen etc. was always more difficult and satisfying than reading theory. But these theorists were like a quick sugar high in overcoming the awe I had with the massive art history of letters.

So Habermas is still kicking these days and has I would concur adjusted his philosophy accordingly. He is a tough read (think maybe Wittgenstein, Hilary Putnam). The fact that Gore even knows about him is impressive. As far as I'm concerned, let them keep their head in the sand - over a myriad of issues - and get on with taking the puzzling picture of world economics apart.

Posted by daniel | April 7, 2007 7:51 AM
11

He's right, the Bible us permission to trash the Earth, so we should just continue down the path we are on, tra la la la la...

Posted by tarminian | April 7, 2007 7:53 AM
12

The ignorant often confuse or conflate weather with climate.

Posted by Laurence Ballard | April 7, 2007 8:16 AM
13

The right wing invented the concept of "political correctness" if you disagree with Bush you are politically incorrect, if you oppose the war you are considered un pc by the right, same thing if you support equal rights for all citizens.
Now talking about the fact of global warming is un pc for conservatives.
I doubt industry will cut back emmisions on their own. What the citizens will eventually demand is for total regulation of industry. IMHO we need strong government regulation of industry. Our right to breathe is far more important than a polluter's property rights. If a given industry fails to clean up their act we should simply make them a public utility. Thats right we should nationalize companies who refuse to stop destroying the environment.

Posted by Harold | April 7, 2007 8:35 AM
14

fuck you, fed up. It's not 'pc' not to use the term 'retarded.' It's just fucking DECENT not to use it. You fucker.

Posted by Lo | April 7, 2007 8:49 AM
15

WKRP in Cincinatti.

Posted by jackie treehorn | April 7, 2007 9:22 AM
16

@14
exactly, harold is full of shit. right wing, left wing pc propaganda. Hoo 'Boy', as erica sooooooo innocently slipped into catalogue of slog regulations of intents and purposes. this environment is polluted with craptastic apolitical incorrectness

Posted by rachelle | April 7, 2007 9:38 AM
17

@10: I have no doubt that Gore name-dropped Habermas (who isn't that obscure, and whose theory is relevant to politics). In 2000, he said Merleau-Ponty was his favorite philosopher.

Posted by annie | April 7, 2007 9:54 AM
18

Wasn't it even before 2000 that he said he invented the internet? That guy's oscar was long overdue.

Posted by haha | April 7, 2007 10:29 AM
19

Oh Lo, Don't be such a pussy. Conservatives ARE retarded: There's something in their mental makeup that that just doesn't connect. Look at the world. Look at all the trouble in the world. Then look at the conservative movement's response to those issues, and tell they aren't retarded.

Unless you're one of them, fucker. :-)

Posted by Fed up with the retards | April 7, 2007 11:01 AM
20

two minute hate anyone; anyone; anyone?

Posted by k. | April 7, 2007 11:09 AM
21

What's so ridiculous is that this guy is one of the "responsible" and "scholarly" members of the right-wing internet mosh-pits.

Posted by dirge | April 7, 2007 1:29 PM
22

No, fed, I'm not one of them. I'm more progressive than you are, asshole. I've spent 21 years working with people who have mild and moderate cognitive disabilities and I am sick as shit of fuckers like you using 'retarded' as an insult. I am a gay woman, and I would be just pissed if you were calling conservatives 'gay' as an insult, something I assume you wouldn't write in The Stranger Slog, because god forbid you are viewed as insulting the gays. You're so much hipper than that, aren't you? So you instead insult people who have a hard enough time gaining respect in this society without assholes like you using 'retard' as a slam against the right-wingers--ironically those right-wingers are slashing funding for services to all the 'retards' you so casually slur.

Grow the fuck up, you jerk. You could insult these conservatives a lot more creatively than slamming an entire segment of the population who mean you no harm and were not fortunate enough to be born as smashingly intelligent as you. Asshole.

Posted by Lo | April 7, 2007 2:26 PM
23

@13,

We should just pull their corporate charters. Let's just run the bastards out of business, and help enviro-friendly companies take over their operations.

Posted by keshmeshi | April 7, 2007 3:21 PM
24

Lo, If you're too stupid or thin skinned to know the difference between mentally disabled people (or whatever your industry is calling them these days) that's you problem.

In the real world, Websters defines retardation as

1 : an abnormal slowness of thought or action; also : less than normal intellectual competence usually characterized by an IQ of less than 70
2 : slowness in development or progress

Sounds like a conservative to me.

Posted by Fed up with the retards | April 7, 2007 5:17 PM
25

Actually, fed, YOU sound like a conservative to me.

Posted by Lo | April 7, 2007 5:31 PM
26

As long as people don't understand how global warming works, this line of reasoning will always work.

Posted by Gomez | April 7, 2007 5:43 PM
27

Ok, talking points update!
It's now called "Global Climate Chaos".
That should clear things up and thwart the bonehead arguments of the deniers.

Posted by treacle | April 7, 2007 6:33 PM
28

Hardly, treacle. The conservatives will no doubt posit the following:

"Global Climate Chaos" is a myth, because God created the heavens & earth, and has dominion over all physical aspects of the universe, including weather. All apparent changes to global weather patterns are the result of his Divine will, which means they cannot be chaotic, therefore "GCC" doesn't exist, and every good Christian can rest safe knowing God has everything under control. Nothing to see here, move along, move along.

Or, you know, something along those lines...

Posted by COMTE | April 7, 2007 9:32 PM
29

okay, this is just my hang-up, maybe, but while we're disputing the appropriateness of the the word "retarded" can we just take a minute to examine the word "conservative" that keeps getting bandied about here. it's a good word, a worthy word, denoting an arguably good and worthy quality. it's been highjacked by the "radical right", as i like to call them, which is a more accurate and appropriate tem to use for those fuck wads. so let's let the word "conservative" go back to it's original meaning among us smart folk, and no longer perpetuate their misuse of the term. from now on, how about "radical right" instead...? anyone have a better suggestion?

Posted by ellarosa | April 7, 2007 10:12 PM
30

Well you're right. Perhaps God is behind it all, and sure, why not? But let's not confuse climate and weather, clearly the issue here.

The fact of the matter is that animal and plant ranges are changing, glaciers are disappearing, and water is becoming serious owned by the capitalist class (check movie stars and sitting presidents purchasing lakes and estates in south america). All of these elements are verifiable, if one wants to look.

If ideologists want to argue that peanut butter somehow refutes evolution, and that climate change will regardless ensure a happy profit for their mortgage, that's fine too. Why bother debating any more? DIY, my friends. Do It Yourself. The gummint ain't going to protect you, and the idiots sure ain't.
We can yak about it for the next 50 years, but the weather will keep getting weirder.
Shit, Greenlake used to freeze over and people would skate on it every winter... within recent memory too. Chances are that the PNW will get less snow in the winter, and more dry in the summer... equalling less available water overall... unless we somehow capture the rain the in the wintertime for the summer season.
What is that answer? I dunno. Stop debating and start creating?
DIY.

Posted by treacle | April 8, 2007 1:20 AM
31

It wasn't my intention to disagree with you in principle treacle, merely to point out that it doesn't really matter what the evidence shows, or what terminology is used, the right-wing wackos will come up with some nit-picky, monotheistically-based, half-assed "argument" to try to refute the obvious.

Because, that's what they do.

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32

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