Guest post by Robert Zimmerman
If anyone had any doubt that the global warming movement is undergoing a serious collapse, this so-called news article from Spiegel Online, entitled “Naked bodies and a new Messiah: Green groups are trying to sex up climate change,” probably lays that doubt to rest. Key quote:
Environmentalists and scientists are concerned about the massive drop in public interest in the topic over the last year. Now they are looking for new strategies to turn the tide. They’re searching for so-called “mind bombs” — highly emotional images that reduce a complex problem down to one core message.
Sadly, the article never asks the fundamental question: What do “mind bombs” have to do with facts, data, and proving your theories are correct in the real world?
The answer of course is obvious: Nothing.
Every tactic outlined in the article above is either a superficial public relations stunt or an effort to spin facts so emotionally that the general public will be mesmerized into doing whatever the global warming activists want.
The article’s author, Axel Bojanowski, describes in very enthusiastic terms a variety of tactics the environmental movement is considering in order to influence the public debate. These include:
- An emotional appeal, such as using dramatic pictures (a dying polar bear, a drowned city) to change minds.
- Sex.
- The search for a new Messiah to replace Al Gore.
- A new scientific language. To quote:
“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change also wants a more careful use of language. The international body sent scientists a code of conduct concerning their interactions with journalists. Scientists should avoid using words such as “risk” and “uncertainty” in interviews, the letter read, to prevent misunderstandings — and to keep from doing the climate protection movement any further damage.” [emphasis mine]
- And finally, a new kind of journalism, where journalists become a sort of propaganda wing of the environmental movement:
Climate activists have begun directing millions in funding into training programs for environmental journalists, with the goal of encouraging what’s known as “advocacy journalism.” This type of reporting is “pretty much dead in Europe,” says Markus Lehmkuhl, a media expert at Berlin’s Free University. British science journalist Alexander Kirby warns that journalists who remain neutral on the issue could endanger the cause of climate protection, but many of his colleagues refuse to take sides.
In the case of this particular story, Bojanowski seems particularly eager to be a propagandist. For example, I find it very revealing how he describes the horrific 10:10 environmental video, where young children were blown to bloody shreds for refusing to join an environmental campaign.
One commercial in a campaign by the British-based environmental organization 10:10 showed a teacher blowing up two students who were skeptical about cutting their carbon emissions, with fountains of blood spraying the others in the class. Other 10:10 videos have the same fate befalling recalcitrant office workers and footballers. But the campaign proved a dud — it sparked massive protests and was quickly withdrawn.
It is very clear Bojanowski never saw the 10:10 video, as everything he describes took place in one commercial, not several as he implies. To understand how badly he describes this “public service” ad, it is worth watching it again:
All in all, I’m not sure what disgusts me most: the desire of environmentalists to propagandize us, irrelevant of the facts, or the unwillingness of a professional journalist to do his job and ask some basic skeptical questions. Either way, the inability of these ideologues to deal with facts and openly debate the issues face-to-face provides us a clear signal of the coming collapse of their movement.
cross-posted at behindtheblack.com
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As they say, “But it’s not over ’til it’s over”. Keep kicking the crap out of the [snip] beast.
BTW, any chance of fixing one of the “Annotations added” viz. “Inonvenient….”?
Hey, Kev-in-UK
I totally agree that our ‘blood gets boiling’ over these issues and we’ve gotta see the
‘laugh’ in it to stay sane… It’s like when I get in the ute to go off to the beach to just unwind a bit…let my hair down, as it were… and, I involuntarily hit the radio button and hear the IDIOTIC ‘ABC’ streaming ‘warmist B.S.’ into coastal ears that I do a reflexive
‘gag’ and then opt for my CD and another ‘California Girls’ rant by the Beach Boys…
Stay sane, my Friend. Me thinks we’re all gonna need each other in 2011… and speaking of that…High 5’s to both MamaPajamas and that LadyLifeGrows…in addition to Mark Twang’s usual adroit use of language skills. YOU INSPIRE ME, Guys.
Cynthia Lauren Thorpe
Love the ‘dead cat bounce analogy’ …. You can hide a lot of stuff, but even the average folks understand when their asses are covered with ice and snow, they are freezing in the dark, there is something seriously wrong with the global warming hoax.
err haven’t you heard, it’s climate change. Yeah I bet that helped the cause, change the words, the first sign the ship is sunk, just waiting for impact with the bottom.
And then it moves to what it really is, a wealth redistribution scam, as Lord Monckton so clearly pointed out.
“Wow, is this article really by Bob Dylan?”
Drat, beat me too it!
jmac.
I don’t know about sexing it up, but I prefer not to be screwed by the likes of Al Gore.
I prefer sex bombs over mind bombs, just in case Mr. Bojangles is listening. What GreenPeas needs is a co-op agreement with Playboy. “I had to take my clothes off because it’s too warm on this planet,” she said. Etc. They’d catch more flies with honey than exploding children…
Pete says:
January 4, 2011 at 1:58 pm
Have you ever thought about the possibility that this kind of spin, the emotional and symbolic staging of anthropogenic climatechange are only necessary because there are so many people (especially in the US) falling for the lies of climate-change deniers? With a rational discourse and full enlightenment of the public, these kind of PR-techniques would’t be required at all. The public would instead see the scientific consens and act on it.
Pete- I thought of this four years ago and since then have learned that the “consens” is an illusion, that the “science” of the warmists (of whom I was once one) is mostly balderdash, and that within less than two years almost everyone on the planet will probably realize that we are entering a prolonged period of global cooling brought on by natural dynamics which totally overpower whatever contribution to the recent warming may have been contributed by the deadly magical Co2 molecule.
Capisce?
Best regards,
Psi
The media propaganda campaign won’t stop.
Sir Crispin Tickell is on the Thomson-Reuters board of directors.
http://www.trust.org/learn-more-about-us/trustees/
Here’s more on him:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100069775/the-man-who-invented-global-warming/
“The search for a new Messiah to replace Al Gore.”
That would certainly be helpful to their cause ;o)
Yeah I was thinking I recognised the very same article being discussed earlier at notrickszone. Well sexing this up would be great, imagine a scientist explaining AGW with a coouple of scanty dressed hooter girls handing out his err “peer-reviewed journal”. Yeahhh thatll make the average layman pucker up. But I do understand that in reality the only thing that will be getting the newsex appeal is more baseless data.
I suppose the most unappealing part of the article was the orwellian similarity of dumbing down language in order to save face simply because it could harm your cause. Shocking really for anyone to say or even suggest it particularly to an academic community.
Now…HERE’S where ‘skeptics’ can get rid of any recent ‘climate chills’/ills!
…Jus’ reading ‘Truths’ like the one PSI just brought forth…
and I’m ‘warmer’ already.
Making zucchini bread in a farm kitchen an’ enjoyin’ a cool & breezy Southeast day…
C.L. Thorpe
So, Pete: “How are your carbon offset stocks doing?”
Real reality check.
Wayne
“Pete says:
January 4, 2011 at 1:58 pm
Have you ever thought about the possibility that this kind of spin, the emotional and symbolic staging of anthropogenic climatechange are only necessary because there are so many people (especially in the US) falling for the lies of climate-change deniers? With a rational discourse and full enlightenment of the public, these kind of PR-techniques would’t be required at all. The public would instead see the scientific consensUS and act on it.”
The ABC is still in denial about climate change. Last year was the wettest on record in Australia, so David Jones from the National Climate Centre blamed La Nina and of course global warming.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/05/3106683.htm
But it’s comforting to know that Oz is getting cooler and the trend goes back eight years. Eventually the penny will drop, along with the temperatures.
“Climate activists have begun directing millions in funding into training programs for environmental journalists“.
It’s not just the activists. Before COP15 the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spent ~ $170.000 to teach third world journalists about climate change journalism.
Well, maybe it’s the activists.
“All in all, I’m not sure what disgusts me most: the desire of environmentalists to propagandize us, irrelevant of the facts, or the unwillingness of a professional journalist to do his job and ask some basic skeptical questions. Either way, the inability of these ideologues to deal with facts and openly debate the issues face-to-face provides us a clear signal of the coming collapse of their movement.”
I can never remember if the correct term for something like this is “irony” or not.
On using Sex
“Is that a hockeystick in your pocket or are you just happy to see me.”
Cynthia Lauren Thorpe says:
January 4, 2011 at 1:59 pm
Finally! Talk of a ‘new messiah’ to replace an old greedy ‘gore’!
I think it’ll all boil down to just remembering to be NO ONES ‘useful idiot’. We
are to pause and THINK before ‘reacting’ or we become like the ‘Cravens’ of the world. (Sad to say…that potential lays within EACH OF US.)
Very well put! I think this one makes “Comment of the day status”!
“Climate change is sexy”
Hahaha you know they’re desperate when they resort to this rubbish, if anything most people will just ogle at the picture(s) and won’t take in any ‘message’ anyway.
Good luck to them. The more desperate and shrill the propaganda, the more people will see through it and be turned off.
Cynthia Lauren Thorpe says:
January 4, 2011 at 1:59 pm
I’m just glad though, that it’s now showing that it’s ‘run its course’ as we mature… BUT, JUST REMEMBER TO STAY VIGILANT, okay…? ‘Cause OUR kids are being fed this crap and watching the gross (as compared to what it USED TO BE) DISCOVERY INDOCTRINATION CHANNEL where our sons & daughters learn to be ‘master chefs’ with stuff that scurries under rocks, etc…
——–
Glad to say that my kids don’t get this kind of exposure for the simple reason that about 10 years ago we graduated from rabbit ears to an outdoor tower antenna! I don’t believe in supporting the cable or satellite companies i.e. pay to watch commercials on commercial television – plus, TV is an enormous waste of time. We still get about 25 channels here in Toronto, and so were able to follow Lost and Frasier and Seinfeld and a few other shows over the years.
But we don’t get the specialty channels. I know what you mean about indoctrination. But the ‘nature at the mercy of human exploitation’ meme – with every species ever spotlighted on PBS nature shows turning out to be on the verge of extinction – just turned me off that kind of show altogether. A shame, as I loved nature programs as a child.
I saw a gentleman described as a expert in “the evolution of the human body” on TV last night. (To save embarasement, I will not mention his name or institution).
He was describing how the average human brain had actually reduced in size over the last twenty thousand years.
The (pretend) interviewer asked the obvious question – why did that happen?
The expert replied – increased use of computers, iPads etc mean that now days we need to carry much less information around in our heads.
So smaller brains are all that we need today.
The (pretend) interviewer was obviously impressed with this quite impressive example of scientific analysis. He just smiled and nodded encouragingly.
And I thought that only climated scientists were perhaps not from the very toppest of the top draw of intillectual giants.
Silly me.
but I do now see the significance of smaller brains.
This probably isn’t ‘the place’ to share that my husband ‘oft’ times’ doesn’t really
understand me…….
I get outta bed to make him ‘brekkie’… run around outside looking after the sheep…
come back in to play with my Auggie Doggie while making ‘dinner’… and RUN like
HELL to my computer to find out what new piece of ‘wit’ one of you has placed on
this web site.
I laugh…..mumble stuff about hockey sticks in guy’s pockets…fume at the ABC…
and sputter while reading more and more posts… But, perhaps…it’s these NEW
CLIMATEGATE/AGW coffee mugs that Ian’s perplexed with… I mean, he’s a ‘farmer’
and all….. and those of us in the U.S.A. know how we tend to make fun of ‘farmers’, right…?
Only…THIS time, we’re ‘spot on’ WRONG, guys. Farmers ARE WILDLY INTELLIGENT! I fill Ian’s ‘Anthony Mug’ with black coffee and I’m beginning to explain about the guy ‘grilling’ the data… and Ian says: “Oh! LOOK! It’s a ‘Stevens’ Machine! (AND I’M GOIN’ ‘WHAT’??? IT’S A WHAT???) Oh Yeah. My Aussie Sweetheart says… They use these things to monitor temperatures…
It’s at these ‘times of honesty’ that I learn to pause and smile. Humility is indeed a crucial – an integral component of the ‘character building process’. Now…where’s that mug’o mine…?
Ian Thorpe’s Wife
(he’s ‘the Original’ Ian Thorpe, though… having normal-sized feet and only sometimes swimming in our cattle troughs when it’s REALLY hot, mind you…)
skeptically warm ‘hockey stick’ smiles to you all and…Oophs!…Here we go… the cattle are callin’ once again…
Fundamentally, the problem is that the climate is not dramatically changing. And you can see it just from casual observation.
Hey, what’s wrong with option 2, sex. Free sex for everyone who BELIEVES!
Hey, babes are sexy; climate change just is, well, not.