UPDATE5: 5/5/10:30AM Donna Laframboise pulls out of the conference.
http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2012/05/05/why-i-wont-be-speaking-at-the-heartland-conference/
Instead, those of us who had accepted Heartland’s invitation to take part in its conference found ourselves blindsided – a mere two weeks before the conference is set to begin – by a torrent of negative press. Suddenly, we were all publicly linked to an organization that thinks it’s OK to equate people concerned about climate change with psychopaths.
Blindsided is right. AFAIK, not one attendee was given the courtesy of weighing in on the billboard campaign beforehand, and if I had been given that courtesy my answer would have been a resounding NO. Instead, I believe we all got the notice after the fact.
UPDATE4: 7PM PST Heartland issues a press release ending the billboard
May 4, 2012 – The Heartland Institute has pulled its global warming billboard starring Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber whose manifesto expressed his belief in catastrophic man-caused global warming. The digital billboard ran for exactly 24 hours along the Eisenhower Expressway near Chicago in the suburb of Maywood, Illinois.
The following statement by Heartland Institute President Joseph Bast may be used for attribution. For more information, please contact Director of Communications Jim Lakely at jlakely@heartland.org or 312-377-4000.
“This provocative billboard was always intended to be an experiment. And after just 24 hours the results are in: It got people’s attention.
“This billboard was deliberately provocative, an attempt to turn the tables on the climate alarmists by using their own tactics but with the opposite message. We found it interesting that the ad seemed to evoke reactions more passionate than when leading alarmists compare climate realists to Nazis or declare they are imposing on our children a mass death sentence. We leave it to others to determine why that is so.
“The Heartland Institute doesn’t often do ‘provocative’ communication. In fact, we’ve spent 15 years presenting the economic and scientific arguments that counter global warming alarmism. No one has worked harder, or better, on that task than Heartland. We will continue to do that – especially at our next International Conference on Climate Change in Chicago from May 21 – 23.
“Heartland has spent millions of dollars contributing to the real debate over climate change, and $200 for a one-day digital billboard. In return, we’ve been subjected to the most uncivil name-calling and disparagement you can possibly imagine from climate alarmists. The other side of the climate debate seems to be playing by different rules. This experiment produced further proof of that.
“We know that our billboard angered and disappointed many of Heartland’s friends and supporters, but we hope they understand what we were trying to do with this experiment. We do not apologize for running the ad, and we will continue to experiment with ways to communicate the ‘realist’ message on the climate.”
========================================================
UPDATE3: 3:15PM PST I saw this private letter to Joe Bast earlier from Ross McKitrick, and I agreed with Ross in a reply. He has posted it on Climate Audit so I’ll share an excerpt here:
He wrote: “This kind of fallacious, juvenile and inflammatory rhetoric does nothing to enhance your reputation…”
“…hands your opponents a huge stick to beat you with, and sullies the reputation of the speakers you had recruited. Any public sympathy you had built up as a result of the Gleick fiasco will be lost–and more besides–as a result of such a campaign. I urge you to withdraw it at once.”.
UPDATE2: 1PM PST
From Joe Bast via email:
We will stop running it at 4:00 p.m. CST today. (It’s a digital billboard, so a simple phone call is all it takes.)
UPDATE: I’ve added a simple poll at the bottom to gauge opinion on this issue. – Anthony
There’s a disturbance in the farce. Tom Nelson captures these:
Do you believe global warming is real, poses risks to the environment, and needs to be addressed? The Heartland Institute, a think-tank based in Chicago which has promoted climate skepticism, wants you to know you’re in some sinister company.
Twitter / @eilperin: In new ads, the Heartland …
In new ads, the Heartland Institute suggests only terrorists believe in the link b/w human activity and global warming: wapo.st/IOUuEI
Predictably, ThinkProgress/Climate Progress is all bent out of shape.
But Joe Romm and Brad Johnson (who now also runs “Forecast the Facts” to hassle TV weatherpeople) think nothing of making a similar comparison about “deniers”.
Speaking of “mass murderers and madmen”….
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/07/25/277564/norway-terrorist-is-a-global-warming-denier/
Romm of course will be unable to embrace his own hypocrisy, because he’s reportedly paid a six figure sum by the Center for American Progress to write the hateful detritus he produces daily.
That said, I’ll be blunt; I think Heartland’s billboard campaign is a huge misstep, and does nothing but piss people off and divide the debate further. IMHO it isn’t going to win any converts, and had they asked me I would have told them that it is a bad idea that will backfire on them.
Here’s what they have issued in a press release about it:
May 03, 2012May 3, 2012 – Billboards in Chicago paid for by The Heartland Institute point out that some of the world’s most notorious criminals say they “still believe in global warming” – and ask viewers if they do, too.
Heartland’s first digital billboard – along the inbound Eisenhower Expressway (I-290) in Maywood – is the latest effort by the free-market think tank to inform the public about what it views as the collapsing scientific, political, and public support for the theory of man-made global warming. It is also reminding viewers of the questionable ethics of global warming’s most prominent proponents.
“The most prominent advocates of global warming aren’t scientists,” said Heartland’s president, Joseph Bast. “They are Charles Manson, a mass murderer; Fidel Castro, a tyrant; and Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. Global warming alarmists include Osama bin Laden and James J. Lee (who took hostages inside the headquarters of the Discovery Channel in 2010).
Bast added, “The leaders of the global warming movement have one thing in common: They are willing to use force and fraud to advance their fringe theory.” For more about the billboards and why Heartland says people should not still believe in global warming, click here.
Ugh. Ugly.
There’s more than enough climate ugliness to go around. Though, it seems harder and harder to find this ultimate warmist embarrassment.
Anybody that can help with Donna’s suggestion?
And there’s many more examples of climate ugliness from the left that we’ve seen.
On another note, the serially mendacious commenter known as “Dorlomin” left this comment over at the Romm shop:
dorlomin says:
I thought I should clear this up. First, “dorlomin” of course is all about smear, that’s his MO, and the MO of the many anonymous cowards who purvey such things without having any integrity or courage themselves.
Second, the simple fact is that I didn’t know about the association of the person making the claim that “Climate skepticism could soon be a criminal offence in UK
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/07/19/climate-skepticism-could-soon-be-a-criminal-offence-in-uk/
Third, when I learned who was behind the story, I immediately took it down because it was an inappropriate source, just like I don’t post videos from LaRouche and other fringe organizations.
Of course “dorlomin” and left foot forward would have you believe that I consort with these folks and have them over for drinks and dinner, rather than the fact that once I learned more, I found them offensive and immediately deleted the story. It was my mistake for not checking sources further.
“dorlomin” is of course playing the very hate game he rants about, and is hypocritically blind just like Romm. The only difference is that one is paid to produce propoganda and the other is a coward.
But will Climate Progress delete their offensive story about climate deniers and terrorists? Not likely, it would hurt their sales figures image.
POLL:
Note: multiple anti vote stuffing features are enabled in this poll. I’ve made the questions simple so that editorial bias in the questions is minimal.
Now I’ve seen it all. On what other climate site could one run into a reference to the Sicilian Vespers. Not on Real Climate, for sure. I think I’ll stick around.
Smokey @ur momisugly May 7, 2012 at 4:29 pm
Skiphil,
So, I suppose you’ve never done anything that didn’t look so smart in retrospect?
How about some support for the folks on your side? They could use it, you know.
_____________________________
Smokey, to me all this shows is that Heartland is human and like the rest of us very frustrated.
Better if they could show the link between CAGW hysteria, bio-fuel, high fuel costs, food riots and starvation in 70 countries INCLUDING forcing many [Americans] to choose between keeping the pipes from freezing or putting food on the table in 2012, all the while Monsanto, Cargill, Arthur D Midland, Goldman Sachs and others make record profits. CAGW is all about making a profit off the misery of others while scarce tax payer money is used to line the pockets of the buddies of politicians leaving the landscape littered with failed windmills, solar panels and dead production facilities.
The warmists have the polar bear as their symbol we should have Friday Mukamperezida as our poster child.
It may well be more noble to bring a knife to a gunfight, but …
Gail Combs says:
May 7, 2012 at 6:55 pm
Smokey @ur momisugly May 7, 2012 at 4:29 pm
Skiphil,
So, I suppose you’ve never done anything that didn’t look so smart in retrospect?
How about some support for the folks on your side? They could use it, you know.
_____________________________
Smokey, to me all this shows is that Heartland is human and like the rest of us very frustrated.
Better if they could show the link between CAGW hysteria, bio-fuel, high fuel costs, food riots and starvation in 70 countries INCLUDING forcing many [Americans] to choose between keeping the pipes from freezing or putting food on the table in 2012, all the while Monsanto, Cargill, Arthur D Midland, Goldman Sachs and others make record profits. CAGW is all about making a profit off the misery of others while scarce tax payer money is used to line the pockets of the buddies of politicians leaving the landscape littered with failed windmills, solar panels and dead production facilities.
====
Waste of time, Gail. These are effects, not the cause. The cause is the insanity of believing in the faked science. This is what gives the justification for all these atrocities and for the agenda of world domination by the bwanking cartel, who created the faked science to further their agenda..
p.s. Gail – I don’t mean it’s a waste of time to inform about the effects – it’s imperative these are made known – but without clear focus on the cause, the hub on which these effects are spokes, we just get problem, and so the solution, dissipated in the telling of the story.
NB the cause, believing in the faked science, is a-political. People can make their own connections from that with the added info of the politics and bwankers scams as it affects their own lives and globally; people aren’t stupid, but most don’t have the time to explore this for themselves.
The one thing no one likes – to be the victim of a con..
Myrrh;
Disagree. The faked science is just a convenient tool, lever, vehicle. The “Cause” is Fabian, Progressive, Greenie, NWO style ambition. It wears a mask of idealism, but even that isn’t real. It’s not even the corruption resulting from Belief In A Theory. It’s pure power-addiction. Which, btw, has recently been shown to have literally brain-stimulant-addictive properties. Status, and the ability to brag, “I tell this one to go, and he goeth!” has been the organizing principle of herd and group life since long before chimpanzees evolved.
We have arrived at this point by the same process that’s crippling both sides we have let the PR jocks have free rein instead of staying on topic. Heartland have made a huge mistake which will undoubtedly come back and haunt them.
Andre_ob:
Thankyou for your message to me at May 7, 2012 at 6:00 pm which begins;
“Richard- Please forgive the protracted absence/”
Firstly, I appreciate that apology because recently the egregious Perlwitz used “protracted absence” as a method to post an answer supposedly to me that I failed to notice. Clearly, (and I point out to ensure others notice) such behaviour was not your intent. So, thankyou.
More substantively, I recognise that you agree merit in my view and I respond that I see merit in your point that says;
“Having talked all around the subject, it seems sensible to end by saying this is not as easy as it appears. Name-calling alienates one group, not pointing things out in an “in your face” style loses the other. If the problem of extremist camp is not addressed in some effective way, there is, in my opinion, the possibility winning the debate will be irrelevant or worse.”
I agree, but I fail to see a solution to that problem. Perhaps others who assess both our differing opinions can find a way to ‘cut the Gordion Knot’: I freely admit that I do not see a way to do it.
Richard
Smokey says:May 7, 2012 at 2:17 pm
I hope Donna, Ross, and the rest are happy now.
Good-oh, when I next drink my non-Diageo I will always remember that it was an individual [an animal not codified by colour, religion or ideology] that stated ‘phlaaah’.
When I next view a domestic violence video associated with divorce, and analyse homicide statistics, and the policies that have contributed little to a reduction in this, I will remember this media campaign:-
And when I will watch this
I will remember that young girls (and boys) will still be out working the pitiful metres of sub-soil plots and herds of cattle/goats while they receive little schooling and continue to contribute the majority of their young lives to these futile ventures, working in the early morning and evening to pound the grain for the large family, to cook and wash the babies, clothing and prepare meals, on solar power.
At least there are some in Australia that see the act of speaking out, the right to speak freely, is a right. And a responsibility. Heartland Institute did the right thing, and the voting on WUWT is not an indication of whether ‘scientists’ or ‘skeptics’ OR members of HI think one way or the other.
http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/doomed-planet/2012/05/death-threat-fictions
>>
Brian H says:
May 7, 2012 at 11:50 pm
It may well be more noble to bring a knife to a gunfight, but …
<<
This may be the best comment here. It’s brief and clearly illustrates what’s at stake.
Jim
Well, in the end maybe it was not such a blunder after all. Yes it was shocking for many of us, and yes it is difficult for HI to keep both a balanced and pro-science image and on the other hand engage in not so fine PR fight.
It was effective – maybe the most effective 200 $ investment in the history of PR – not sure if anybody could reach more audience with that amount of money.
How good or how bad it was only the time will really show.
We have some good results already – as we see a pro-CAGW site retiring the norvegian distorted murderer association with climate skeptics. And yes it forces the alarmist to reconsider their ad-hominem language.
On the other hand it created confusion and discordia in the sceptic camp.
While I do understand Donna Laframboise’s concerns here, with all due respect, dwelling on Heartland’s mistake really only gives AGW’ers the excuse to keep broadbrushing ALL skeptics as daffy and unworthy of consideration, which has been essentially their sole talking point to dissuade the public from listening to skeptics. We need to regain the high ground of the narrative and turn this from a defense position into an offense. “Heartland Institute ‘Unabomber billboard’ brings out Global Warming Alarmists’ One-Trick Pony” http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/05/heartland_institute_unabomber_billboard_brings_out_global_warming_alarmists_one-trick_pony.html
My thoughts on this episode.
http://thepointman.wordpress.com/2012/05/11/what-im-going-to-say-will-upset-a-few-people/
Pointman
Bah. My thoughts on this issue run along the line that anything done to las warmistas short of having them publicly drawn and quartered is contemptibly pusillanimous.
Let’s not only keep folks mindful of their commonalities with Dr. Kaczynski; let’s get ’em on his mailing list.
– I see the Pointman has a post claiming this subject has been hijacked by the Warmest Activist PR machine.. claiming this actual blog posting has a lot of apologist comments from first time posters pretending to be skeptics. I kind of agree their vastly better funded PR campaign does this kind of trick all the time; instead of posting on Science they are constantly attacking in order to put us on the backfoot ..& we trying to keep t moral highground play along. We SHOULD NOT let them get away with it.
– When I saw the ad, I just saw it as asking “TRUE BELIEVERS are you caught up in a grand conspiracy theory, (CAGW) just like the Unibomber was ?”
– Since warmist blogs often say SKEPTICS are like supporters of mass murderers (deniers) there seems to be a double standard in crying foul play.
– If Greenpeace put out a billboard saying “Do you still believe the polar bears are safe like Anders Breivik does ?” do you think anyone would bat an eyelid ?
Doug Proctor,
Your response to me is a little paranoid and apparently you seem to be worried about me because I openly engage HI on an independent footing . . . . that is, you seem to be paranoid on my behalf!!
I am my own intellectual protector. So thanks for your worries about me wrt to HI, but I say no thanks to you for your attempted help. BUT IF I NEED YOU THEN I WILL CONTACT YOU. : )
Note: as a think tank, I have often respected HI. This billboard PR issue will be discussed by me with them at their ICCC-7 . . . face-to-face . . . mano a mano. I may learn something about the issue. I look forward to that discussion.
John
[snip. Labeling others here as “denialists” violates site Policy. ~dbs, mod.]