Story by Eric Worrall
In their quest for ever more bizarre reasons why we should care about climate scare stories, alarmists have truly scraped the bottom of the barrel – their latest effort is to suggest we should care, because the late actor Robin Williams thought climate change was a problem…in 2002.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/08/12/3470324/robin-williams-global-warming/
Many of us loved Robin Williams the performer, or at least appreciated his world class acting abilities and his skills as an entertainer. But do we really have to care what his opinion on global warming was? I mean, I know he sadly suffered from depression, and ultimately committed suicide, but does this tragedy make Williams’ views on climate change more credible?
Once again the alarmists have demonstrated they speak another language to the rest of us, and that there is no depth they won’t plumb in their search for emotional leverage and credibility.
In his quest for ever more bizarre reasons to hate Joe Romm, Eric Worrall has managed to read many things into a simple statement about the death of a beloved comedian that don’t seems to have been said at all by the target of his venom.
REPLY: congratulations on a lame attempt to defend the indefensible – Anthony
I wish people wouldn’t use the dead as their mouthpiece. It is macabre puppetry.
But that goes for both sides.
Some of the commenters there don’t seem too impressed either, like this one
shame you can’t let him be remembered by his fans without politicizing his death…
Don’t know about this Anthony. Seems a bit of an over reaction on your part. Robin Williams was a progressive, no doubt, and his death will be exploited by all and sundry. Just as Andrew Breibart’s death did not make conservatism any more correct.
REPLY: If I had brought up Williams name in an article about climate change first, you’d certainly have a point. But, I didn’t, nor would I. Romm deserves this drubbing for trying to use this death to score political points. Worrall is simply pointing out how wrong it is, not to mention the communications failure. – Anthony
M Courtney on August 18, 2014 at 2:09 am
“I wish people wouldn’t use the dead as their mouthpiece. It is macabre puppetry.
But that goes for both sides.
– Sure about it?
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something if his salary depends upon his not understanding it”.
Upton Sinclair, 1878-1968
“It does not make any difference how beautiful your guess is. It does not make any difference how smart you are, who made the guess, or what his name is – if it disagrees with experiment it is wrong. That is all there is to it.”
Richard Phillips Feynman, 1918-88
This guy isn’t dead yet, but it’s a good one:
“If you are watching in America, rugby is a bit like American football, only it’s played by men …”
Jeremy Clarcson [Top Gear]
Aren’t we supposed to rely only on the peer reviewed work of (appropriately approved) experts ?
Where do celebrity opinions fit into that ?
How many arty, celebrity types know anything at all about the world of science ?
have to admit, it hits a new low in extremely! bad taste.
[snip -wildly off topic -mod]
Stephen Wilde makes a good point. If a celebrity were to agree with alarmism, they would get a pat on the back from alarmists. But if a celebrity were to disagree with alarmism, alarmists’ heads would shake and their blogs would bemoan the lack of “science education”.
Anyway, some of the atheist* know-it-alls in the ‘free thought’ movement, who are often apologists for philosophical materialism and ‘science based medicine’, said that if Steve Jobs had received chemotherapy to begin with, he’d still be alive (how they know this is beyond me). Of course they ignore that Christopher Hitchens received chemo to begin with and he died, too.
Using specific incidences to push your cause, especially about celebrities, is not productive. Using them as talking points is of course fine.
*I am not an atheist and I’m not religious.
“Williams took global warming seriously in the way that only a great comic can.”
So we have it from Joe Romm – to be a CAGW believer it helps to be a comedian.
phlogiston says:
August 18, 2014 at 3:21 am
“Williams took global warming seriously in the way that only a great comic can.”
So we have it from Joe Romm – to be a CAGW believer it helps to be a comedian.
……………………
Priceless – Absolutely priceless !
[snip – off color, repugnant, thanks to you, we’ve had to add a whole bunch of words to the moderation filter and you yourself are now on permanent moderation – Anthony]
The way I figure it, any endogenous clinical depression being suffered by Mr. Williams had been vastly exacerbated situationally in recent months by the endless cascade of scandals and other proofs of that “good Muslim schoolboy” as not only malevolent in his intentions but criminal in his methods, all of it leading up to a perfect summa of just what happens when “Progressive” politics in its purest form arrogantly seizes power to be inflicted upon the people of a republic only now awakening to the necessity of resistance.
De mortuis nil nisi bonum dicendum est, eh?
When a man’s professional life is nothing but the words he speaks, to remember his life, you have to remember his words.
If that reflects ill upon him – as in Mr. Williams’ case, it does – either speak of him thus, or speak of him not at all.
Robin Williams was not an activist. But his comedy was influenced by his beliefs. His humor was making the absurd understandable to the LoFo people. So in that he exaggerated the issues to make them appear more easily absurd. Romm could not be more wrong. Or more ghoulish.
I completely agree and I even beat you to the punch
Dave Wendt says:
August 14, 2014 at 12:01 am
file under there is no depth they will not sink to…
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/08/12/3470324/robin-williams-global-warming/
Robin Williams In 2002: ‘It Is Beyond Global Warming At This Point. It’s Cooking!’
BY JOE ROMM POSTED ON AUGUST 12, 2014 AT 3:43 PM
Yeah Joe let’s hitch onto the coattails of a tortured suicidal soul and see if we can beat this dead climate horse just a little harder.
Given how much hot air he spouted while at the NY Times, and also now Williams has exited stage left, is Romm still The Angriest Man In Brooklyn?
I’ve more than once observed that alarmists lack any sense of humour. The interesting thing about humour is that it covers a full spectrum from the totally inappropriate to the truly hilarious. The ability to place a particular joke on that spectrum is having what the common man would call having empathy and simple good taste. Williams, always at his best doing risky improve, never missed his mark and any point he was making was done with a certain kindness.
As they’ve proved so many times with hastily withdrawn propaganda stunts, they have neither of those graces, hence the absence of humour.
Utilising what is a personal tragedy for him, his wife, their three children and the many people like us whom he gifted so many fond memories, is beneath contempt.
As a commenter on my blog observed, these people are just horrible.
Pointman
There is some evidence that Mr. Williams was engaged in auto asphyxiation.
http://xavianthaze.blogspot.com/2014/08/20-illuminating-performances-from-robin.html
David Carradine is another case.
[ Message to Tucci78: [snip – off color, repugnant, thanks to you, we’ve had to add a whole bunch of words to the moderation filter and you yourself are now on permanent moderation – Anthony] ]
clearly site moderation has suddenly stopped working. For shame Tucci78, for shame!
[snip . . OT . . mod]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Greatest_Dad
Romm using Williams sharp satire?! if so very sad ! the man is no longer he to put his argument
RIP Robin Williams.
As Robin Williams would have advised Romm for worrying to much: try Fukitol!
http://www.fukitol.com/
I don’t recall Williams chaining himself to a tree or scaling a cooling tower.
I don’t think he donned shorts and drove a rubber boat to the Arctic to protest fossil fuel.
He seemed to be active in the causes he cared about, though.
RIP Robin Williams
With all the cAGW scare stories flying around, TRUE believers must be very depressed. Don’t See them contemplating suicide. Robin Williams had a terrible illness and deserves sympathy not trolling.
Clearly the arctic is not “a pool”, clearly there has been 105 degree weather before, clearly NOTHING in his GW shtick was accurate. It was a parody, and it made alarmism look stupid and childish, and wrong. It got people laughing AT alarmism. To think that was serious was to have never learned a thing about Robin Williams’ comedy.
But, show me a “climate scientist” that ever learned a thing.
Stephen Wilde says:
August 18, 2014 at 2:46 am
Well put Stephen.
We have dozens of highly talented actors, actresses, comedian, & entertainers, who are wonderful at what they do, but it doesn’t mean they know anything about science. Scottish impressionist Alastair McGowan and English actress Emma Thompson are two in point. Both don’t want to see a third runway at Heathrow Airport, because they believe in Global Warming (curiously enough both can afford the luxury of business/first class travel). So they bought a piece of ground upon which the said runway would be built, & gave its title to some tribal elders around the globe, who I dare say would be only too happy to give it back for some super-dosh, when as it will be, is Compulsorily Purchased under that Act in due course! One of the few pieces of sensible legislation brought in, in the 1970s, under the then Labour Government, which I am sure you remember well. The opposition tried to sabotage it at the time, but never repealed it in power when they found its advantages! Bottom line, I would trust an entertainer to educate me on science, most are notorious for actually not doing terribly well at school, apart from English, & at times, not even that!
A criticism of alarmists has been around for years: that they are life-negating, stunted people. I have seen the phrase “apocaholics” applied to them. Then last week an alarmist kills himself and this is somehow proof that their movement is really about saving something?
If he really believed it wouldn’t have stuck around another week, done a comedy special to promote “carbon awareness” and then killed himself?
Who knows, maybe Williams was depressed partly because of CAGW. I mean, I do not believe this for a second, but it’s remotely possible. There is a climate scare story in the news every day and probably all of his friends are alarmists.
I could on about the alarmists need for control, how they frighten each other, maybe even what strangling your own breath away might mean, but to heck with it.
Nice. I get a reprimand from Anthony for thinking this posting is over the top, whereas Tucci78 can have a racist rant and it gets let untouched.
I assume the moderators simply haven’t caught up yet. At least I hope so.
At 7:10 AM on 18 August, steveta_uk (as per the hypersensitive standards of political correctness) had whined:
Heavens to Betsy, but what the heck else had Soebarah – adoptive son of Soetoro, “good Muslim schoolboy” and citizen of the Republic of Indonesia – ever had to recommend him as a candidate for the presidency in 2008 except his cutaneous melanin content qualifying him – nominally – as an “African-American”?
If, indeed, he could be qualified as an “American” in any sense at all?
As for “permanent moderation,” Anthony, I’ve been on “permanent moderation” (what, “double secret probation”?) for some time now. What’s different about it now?
Why are you giving Mr. Romm ANY attention at all. He thrives on it.
I couldn’t agree more. While making a pretense of being erudite and clever, it actually hits a new low of comments I’ve ever read on this blog. Clearly Tucci78 should visit The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler (http://nicedoggie.net/) where such comments would find a receptive audience.
Natalie Portman was a scientist. And hot too. 😉
Well Mr Romm, we see your comedian Williams and compare to another ‘late’ comedian, George Carlin.
The planet is fine. Compared to the people, the planet is doing great. Been here four and a half billion years. Did you ever think about the arithmetic? The planet has been here four and a half billion years. We’ve been here, what? A hundred thousand? Maybe two hundred thousand? And we’ve only been engaged in heavy industry for a little over two hundred years. Two hundred years versus four and a half billion. And we have the CONCEIT to think that somehow we’re a threat? That somehow we’re gonna put in jeopardy this beautiful little blue-green ball that’s just a-floatin’ around the sun?
The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through all kinds of things worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles; hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors; worlwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages… And we think some plastic bags, and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet… the planet… the planet isn’t going anywhere. WE ARE!
See the rest at –
http://www.climatechangedispatch.com/george-carlin-saving-the-planet.html
“…but right now the North Pole is a pool …” exactly has it should be for this time for the year , indeed it would a real worry if it was under a couple of miles of snow and ice has they we really would be stuffed. But Romm has never let facts or reality get the way of his claim , which is why climate ‘science’ is such good and logical fit for him.
Seems Hollywood may have a new comedian.
Come to think of it, John Kerry might make a good penguin in George Miller’s, Happy Feet 3.
Sorry forgot the link.
Seems Hollywood may have a new comedian.
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/081414-713321-in-a-world-on-fire-kerry-calls-climate-the-biggest-challenge.htm
Come to think of it, John Kerry might make a good penguin in George Miller’s, Happy Feet 3.
@Tucci78 says:
August 18, 2014 at 3:41 am
This may be a new low for you.
REPLY: I agree, and thanks to “Tucci78” some changes have been made. His offensive repgnant and stupid portion of the comment have been snipped. New words were added to the spam filter. Tucci78 is now on permanent moderation – Anthony
Eric:
You have again incorrectly claimed this as a “new low” for alarmists. If I didn’t know better I’d suspect you are becoming an alarmist about alarmism. 🙂
I can acknowledge Robin WIlliams’ talent without accepting his political opinions. And I can disagree with his political opinions without disparaging or making fun of his personal struggles which apparently led to suicide.
And Joe Romm is doing nothing we haven’t seen before: pick any event which already has people’s attention and use it to promote your political agenda. It’s bogus no matter who does it.
I think one eulogy for WIlliams stated “There is a very fine line between genius and insanity and Robin Williams was on both sides of it.”. Before you promote Williams’ opnions as an exemplar, you’d better be sure which side of that line they came from.
Robin Williams was an entertainer. Anything he said in his act was for entertainment purposes only and was made with the kind of hilarious actions that had me rolling in the aisles even if I disagreed with what he was saying. Most of his humour was beautifully weighted over the top ridicule.
For anyone to read a political comment into his stage act shows a really desperate need for validation. Oh, I think I have just described Joe Romm….
This really just shows that there is only one thing on the warming folks big, unfulfilled minds. He tells it like an anecdote tribute might you see from someone in the same business as he who knew him well. JR, I think is a highly likely candidate for some therapy of the kind that seems to be in vogue with a number of the wimpering end-of-worlders these days with the last bit of juice exuding out of CAGW.
Come on, guys. It is not unusual for actors/directors to support whatever odd cause when they are promoting a movie.
Karim D. Ghantous says:
August 18, 2014 at 3:18 am
Pancreatic cancer is hard to whip, but Jobs certainly did himself, his family and friends (if he had any) no favors by delaying surgery and chemo for so many months:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/8841347/Steve-Jobs-regretted-trying-to-beat-cancer-with-alternative-medicine-for-so-long.html
Apple shareholders would be better off with Jobs still alive and working than with raving ecoloon Tim Cook in charge.
Tucci78 says:
August 18, 2014 at 10:10 am
Baraq Hussein bin Obama al Indonesii has richly deserved impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors for years, but even with a GOP-controlled Senate in 2015, the offender won’t be impeached, let alone convicted. Without 67 senators in favor of removing the criminal from office, the whole process would be an exercise in futility, and leave a blithering idiot in charge, unless Biden were impeached and convicted at the same time, which would look like a coup to put Boehner in charge.
What would it take to get the needed Democrat senators to go along? I doubt that even cancelling the 2016 presidential election would do it.
In a few year the hordes of new illegal immigrants will be allowed to vote (many do already, illegally), and they are being strategically located in swing states, like Florida, Virginia and Ohio, plus Texas, which the Democrats fondly hope to turn, making a GOP president impossible ever again.
The US republic is going the way of the Roman: first made an empire, then destroyed by invasion from without and decadence within.
Leave Joe alone!
You know; Joe can do this. He and Robin Williams were colleagues. No really.
Here’s Comical Joe extrapolating Marcott’s spurious blip into the stratosphere.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/03/08/1691411/bombshell-recent-warming-is-amazing-and-atypical-and-poised-to-destroy-stable-climate-that-made-civilization-possible
This comical device is called hyperbole; and Joe is the master of it, especially with his deadpan delivery.
“Brute says:
August 18, 2014 at 11:32 am”
True. However, they get so much airtime, are well recognised and respected that most people take what they say about global warming/clmate change as truth. Others include Cate Blanchett, George Cluney etc etc.
“Pancreatic cancer is hard to whip, but Jobs certainly did himself, his family and friends (if he had any) no favors by delaying surgery and chemo for so many months:…” – sturgishooper
I won’t say you’re wrong, but we can’t possibly know that chemo would have saved him. 🙂
And Tim Cook is exactly who Apple needs, now that it is such a huge company. It’s a different company – and a different world – than what it used to be in 2001 when the iPod was launched. There are interesting commentaries for either case, I’m sure.
Jeff Alberts says:
August 18, 2014 at 7:38 am
Natalie Portman was a scientist. And hot too. 😉
And she was in a science move to boot. Making the jump to light speed. 😉
sturgishooper says:
August 18, 2014 at 12:01 pm
_____________________________________________________________________________
I am getting very tired of people making statements like this. This site is supposed to be dedicated to scientific discussion. These attacks against a political party you disagree with should stop. If you have a specific example that’s on topic then cite it. Otherwise if you want to rant about politics go to another site. I don’t agree with President Obama’s stance on many issues but he is our duly elected leader and comparing him to a terrorist because you don’t like his position on an issue is repugnant.
The US republic is going the way of the Roman: first made an empire, then destroyed by invasion from without and decadence within.
Decadence is not a cause it is an effect. The M/F ratio in the mating years determines morality. A lack of males and morality goes to….. something bad. Look up ” demographics morality “.
Slade says:
August 18, 2014 at 3:32 pm
Your favorite despot’s tyrannical abuse of the EPA, for instance, could not possibly be more relevant to this blog and has frequently been the subject of posts and comments, to cite but one example.
He is no kind of leader at all. I didn’t compare him to a terrorist, but he has done more harm to the US than most terrorists. I find your defense of a traitorous tyrant repugnant.
Given your typical Leftwing opposition to free speech, I doubt you’ll be interested in this book on the case for Obama’s impeachment, but it would enlighten you:
http://www.amazon.com/Faithless-Execution-Building-Political-Impeachment/dp/1594037760
sturgishooper says:
August 18, 2014 at 12:01 pm
Baraq Hussein bin Obama al Indonesii
_____________________________________________________________________________
You have just demonstrated yourself to be a liar your clear intention was to compare him to Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Not to mention his name is spelled Barack not Baraq. As for calling him a tyrant again he was elected by the American people disagree with his views all you want but stop trying to say that the duly elected head of state is a criminal for doing the job he was elected for.
sturgishooper says:
August 18, 2014 at 3:47 pm
_____________________________________________________________________________
I clearly stated that I disagree with Obama on many things so calling me names doesn’t help your case. Also can you please not derail this thread any further.
Slade says:
August 18, 2014 at 4:05 pm
You are the liar, but maybe just out of ignorance. That is Obama’s name in Arabic, the language of his religion. “Bin” means “son of”, so is used in family names. “Al” means “from”, showing the country of his citizenship. Are you actually so ignorant as not to know that his given middle name is “Hussein”? Unless you think that all Arabic speakers are terrorists, your ignorant spew is an outrageous lie.
Obama is manifestly not doing his job and has repeatedly acted criminally. That the despot was elected doesn’t mean he can’t be a tyrant, riding roughshod over the laws he swore to uphold and faithfully to execute. I’m glad that it’s still possible in this country to state those facts, but at the rate our tyrant is going, it might not be much longer.
BTW, what did you say when so many of your fellow Loony Left nut jobs repeatedly called Bush the world’s worst terrorist and wanted him tried for war crimes?
http://www.rense.com/general57/bushs.htm
Slade says:
August 18, 2014 at 4:08 pm
Lots of Loony Leftwing whack jobs disagree with Obama. So what?
sturgishooper says:
August 18, 2014 at 4:14 pm
_____________________________________________________________________________
I am not going to argue with you anymore. It would detract from this thread and I have made my point if all you can do is spout rhetoric and call names you obviously don’t have a very strong case.
Slade says:
August 18, 2014 at 4:24 pm
My reply to your scurrilous lie is held up in moderation.
I have provided you with a source for some of the administration’s high crimes and misdemeanors which somehow have escaped your attention, so you have spouted yet another lie.
sturgishooper says:
August 18, 2014 at 4:13 pm
_____________________________________________________________________________
In answer to your rant I will only say that Obama is not Muslim he is christian and he is not from the middle east so you using the Arabic pronunciation of his name is clearly an effort to link him to terrorist.
Slade says:
August 18, 2014 at 4:56 pm
Only in your mind does using his Arabic name mean I labelled him a terrorist. His East African family is Muslim, and his name would be about the same in Swahili, the lingua franca of his father’s part of the world (though he was a Luo). I can’t help it if his name is Hussein.
Obama is no kind of Christian. His “church”, Trinity United, is for people who subscribe to Farrakhan’s message of hate, but don’t want to join the Nation of Islam. It’s only nominally Christian, as it preaches a non-Christian message of group and national hatred.
In his youth, Obama was a Muslim. In Islam, there is no going back.
Obama is not Muslim
So he claims. But what of the sermons he spent so many years “not” listening to in Rev. Wright’s “church”?
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/17/jeremiah-wright-can-sink-obama/
Furthermore, Mr. Wright says Mr. Obama possessed an “Islamic background” and despite his conversion to Christianity has never abandoned his Muslim roots. In short, Mr. Wright appears to be confirming what I have argued for years: Mr. Obama is a cultural Muslim whose Christianity is deeply tied to black liberation theology – the belief that America and the West have an evil, imperialist civilization bent on oppressing the Third World.
M Simon says:
August 18, 2014 at 6:09 pm
As I point out in my comment still under moderation, Obama was a devout Muslim in his youth. In Islam, once in, never out. Hope the whole comment will be approved.
Thanks, mods.
Slade says:
August 18, 2014 at 4:56 pm
It’s not a matter of pronunciation. All three of Obama’s names are Arabic & Muslim. Barack is from the Arabic for “blessed”, cognate with Hebrew Baruch.
Hussein, obviously is an Arabic & Muslim name. It is the diminutive of Hassan, ie “good”, & was not used in pre-Islamic Arabic. Its first recorded use was by the prophet Muhammad, in naming his grandson Husayn ibn Ali (who became the first imam of Shi’a Islam), allegedly under orders from Archangel Gabriel.
Obama is a not uncommon surname among the Luo of Kenya. The name comes from Swahili, referring to members of the tribe who converted to Islam.
sturgishooper
If your use of President Obama’s Arabic name was a sign of respect and not an attempt to associate him with middle east extremist then I apologize. It’s obvious that between us we’ve managed to thoroughly sidetrack this thread so why don’t we agree to disagree and try to get back to the topic of this thread.
Slade says:
August 18, 2014 at 7:35 pm
Most certainly not a sign of respect. I have no respect for the totally corrupt, gangster, dictatorial, anti-American, Marxist, Red Diaper Baby, Mansourian Candidate at all, except maybe when he took his kids trick or treating.
But my emphasis on his Islamic background didn’t imply that I consider him a terrorist.
Not to feed the troll or anything, but – point of order. A formal investigation of Black Liberation Theology by a Catholic Cardinal (later to become Pope) declared that it was NOT Christianity.
TomB says:
August 19, 2014 at 12:12 pm
Pretty sure that most Protestant and Orthodox denominations would concur.
I would have to say that Joe Romm was topped by Rush Limbaugh’s claim that Robin Williams’ depression was caused by his progressive politics.
Only a few days later did we learn that Robin was in the early stages of Parkinson’s which itself can precipitate chronic depression.
Robin Williams was a comic genius and a brilliant actor. I didn’t have to agree with all of his beliefs to appreciate his talent. He was also intelligent, thoughtful and from what I can tell, modest and unflashy as a person and the people who worked with him, loved him.
Unfortunately the recently and famously deceased are often fodder for loudmouth knownothings like Romm and Limbaugh who want attention no matter how negative.
@John A – can you link to the Limbaugh quote where he did the linking? Since his shows are all transcribed on his site, you should have no problem finding it. However, I must have missed that segment.
John A says:
August 19, 2014 at 12:37 pm
Robin got on well with his formerly vindictive ex-wives, but only after giving them about $35 million.
His death might have been accidental, despite his chronic depression. He apparently practiced autoerotic asphyxiation.
I remember that old Joseph Campbell line about a midlife crisis. He quoted Heinrich Zimmer who commented that many men spend their whole life climbing the ladder of success only to find that it is against the wall. While many will simply talk about depression being the cause of the suicide it might be worthwhile to think if some of that depression came from a realization that many of the things that Williams believed were pure BS and not justifiable by logic. With Obama and Gore turning out to be such frauds, and the growing realization that manbearpig was not real it is easy to see how reality may have intervened and put extra pressure on the poor man.