Saturday, November 04, 2006

The Sauce of Denial


Went round to my brothers place the other day.
He boils water in a very inefficient way in a kettle on an electric stove.
I had pointed out before that a $15 electric kettle would save him time and a fair weight of greenhouse gases.
When he started to complain about how long the kettle was taking, I tried to gentle remind him a small investment would soon pay off.
He went off his brain.
"I don't need this shit."
I wasn't just thinking of you I replied.
'Well I don't need to think about that shit either"
And there is the source of denial.
Because it is the small actions that we are all taking that is making our planet less habitable for our children and their children. Unless they are good at treading water, that is.
This is a big conundrum.

Nowadays every one knows cigarettes cause cancer but it wasn't always so.
For decades tobacco companies denied there was any link between their product and ill health.
They spent millions of dollars funding bogus research, buying influence in governments and paying mouthpieces to create a climate of uncertainty about the dangers of tobacco.
Did you know more people have died since 1940 from smoking than were killed in World War 2?
And that tobacco companies knowingly made cigarettes worse for you?
You can learn more about this in the excellent film "The Insider" with Russell Crowe.

One of the most vocal climate change deniers is a Fox News columnist called Steven Milloy. He also runs a web site called
Junk Science which a brilliant use of double think of course.
He is also not suprisingly funded by none other than the biggest oil company in the world Exxon/Mobil.
He runs several "thinktanks" with names like the Free Enterprise institute which collect money for their good work muddying the waters in the minds of Joe Public about our world wide changing weather patterns.
Read all about it here.
Well guess what Steven Milloy, your boss the Big Rup Murdoch has changed his mind about global warming thanks to his son James.
James is actually a pretty cool guy (and I speak from personal experience) doubly so if he's turned his dad.
So I'd be feeling a little nervous about my Fox column if I was you Steve because you don't want to go displeasing the Big Boss now do ya?
Hopefully you'll also choke over breakfast on the corporate fat you've been hoovering for up spreading your sneaky snakey misinformation for so long.

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