Hot, flat and smug
As I sat through Thomas Friedman's sold-out lecture at Abravanel Hall last night, I was reminded that the only thing worse than a sanctimonious Utah County conservative is a smug Salt Lake liberal. It was a Suburu-liberal revival meeting, complete with a global warming televangelist thumping his book, Hot, Flat and Crowded and preaching the Bad News.Don't get me wrong. Friedman is on target and probably overly optimistic about global warming, run-away population growth and the need for a green-technology revolution. But preaching to a bunch of self-righteous Utah Democrats isn't going to advance the ball.
Friedman and his acolytes need to take a page from Utah's dominant culture (most of whom deny human-caused global warming) and send missionaries into the deepest pockets of ignorance.
Friedman could have spoken to the Utah Senate, where senators Scott Jenkins, Margie Dayton and other elected geniuses this week scoffed at global warming as a scam to pass taxes. Sen. Chris Buttars actually spoke against an energy technology bill, arguing that "most scientists" don't accept global warming.
Of course, a visit to the Utah Legislature just would have left Friedman totally hopeless that the environmental catastrophe can be averted.
9 Comments:
That was the guy that KCPW was broadcasting live last night, right? I caught the last half hour, and one of the things he said that stuck with me was "Exxon isn't on Facebook. Go where they are."
I got the impression that he wasn't really trying to preach to the choir so much as trying to direct people how best to be activists.
I didn't hear the whole thing though, so maybe I only caught the good part. :)
It's true, most scientists who know anything about climatology DO NOT support human causes of global warming. If they did, they'd have to explain why the Earth went through similar warming periods before mankind started to use fossil fuels at today's rate. Buy a copy of "Meltdown," by Patrick J. Michaels in which you'll find a lot of good science and solid statistical data to back up the conclusions. The Cato Institute publishes Michaels' book. Worth reading. This book also looks at various environmental computer models and compares the often widely varying results.
Looking to get a little happier? Relocating to Utah will give you the best chance at bliss, according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index released today (3/11/09) and reported by the Associated Press.
I guess sending missionaries into the deepest pockets of ignorance must be a healthy and blissful thing to do. After all, Mormons get the blame for everything in Utah. Maybe they should get all the credit too!
By the way, most scientists do accept global warming. It's too bad that they expend so much energy calling atmospheric carbon dioxide a "pollutant", when in fact, it is an essential trace gas, the increasing abundance of which is a bonus for the bulk of the biosphere. (Ask any carbon dioxide sipping tree....lol)
Glen, as usual funny and provocative. I have a side question. In your blog you say "Utah's dominant culture" sends out all those missionaries. Why can't you bring yourself to specifically identify the LDS church, or Mormon religion?
As I've seen others use this euphemism, I've wondered why they do. Is it to deny power by refusing to name it--sort of a Voldemort thing? One person I asked this of said it's because it's not just the Mormon church, it's all the go along Mormon enablers. But I doubt many enablers are sending out those missionaries.
Just wondering.
Glen,
The first paragraph is refreshingly honest, and I completely agree with it. The rest is typical of... well, a smug S.L. liberal who has no respect for and little tolerance of those with an opposing point of view.
Since I'm not a scientist, I can't definitively say how dire the situation is or even if the planet is warming. I'd like to trust the experts. But the extreme politicization of this issue, its convenient alignment with tunnel-vision environmentalism, and the obvious mainstream suppression of opposing arguments as well as the branding of dissenters as either evil or stupid leaves me deeply, deeply suspicious.
It's astonishing to me that those who so often champion resistance, diversity, and dissent in some areas accept the global warming mantra unquestioningly. Astonishing, but not surprising.
Karen, thanks for making us aware of that book. Hopefully, it's good science and not politicized in Cato's direction.
In the meantime, I'll continue to recycle, take the bus, consume as little as possible, and try to live as environmentally responsible as personally possible, which has been a conscious goal for me for the past 20 years.
If the Mormons can teach missionaries Swedish and send them to Sweden, then Thomas Friedman can come and speak to the Utah Senate and take questions. I'm sure it would produce multiple YouTube moments.
boy glenn, i'm sure you never come across as smug, just as i'm certain you frequently elbow your way into addressing the utah legislature.
The thing I find hard to believe is that liberals would embrace "the mustache of understanding," whose cheerleading and rosy predictions about the Iraq war coined the phrase "Friedman Unit" of time, because he kept intoning "six more months and we will have won the Iraq war!" and "six more months and the Iraq war will turn around" ad nauseum. I sure wouldn't pay money to listen to the guy (who is, BTW, married to a member of one of the 100 richest families in the country).
Mark S.
Because there is no "Mormon church" or "LDS church." One could, a la the artist formerly known as "Prince," refer to this organization as "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" or "the church formerly known as the Mormon church." Would this suffice?
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