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Welcome to the final installment of the “What on Earth?” Climate Change Conspiracy Theory Week. If you haven’t seen our earlier installments, please use the links at the bottom of this post to satisfy all your climate change conspiracy needs.
Today we begin with a question: What convinces a person that human activity is changing our climate? If you are like me, you are convinced anthropogenic climate change is a virtual certainty because that is the near-universal consensus of the experts who have most closely studied the topic. Further, that consensus was achieved via the work of thousands of scientists over many decades.
How else would someone be convinced anthropogenic climate change is the real deal? A skeptic might suggest it’s because people are brainwashed, deceived, conned, hoodwinked, bamboozled, duped, swindled, and/or — dare I say it — perpetrated upon.
Enough of my conjecture, let’s see what real live deniers have to say.
“[Climate change is the] greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,”
U.S. Sen. James M. Inhofe“They’ve been brainwashing us for 20 years. … In 15-20 years, we’ll look back and see what a hoax this was.”
Bill Gray, Colorado State University“…I’m certainly not duped by it, and I don’t care about global warming.”
New York City politician Thomas Ognibene“…political fraud and scientific swindle…”
Wesley Pruden, The Washington Times
I could offer many rebuttals supported by quotes from experts, but then What on Earth? does exactly that on a regular basis. How about this for an answer: scientists don’t care about P.R., or selling the public on a grand idea. They just care about science. We’ve all heard of the “absent minded professor” cliche, but I don’t think I’m too familiar with the “Persuasive, P.R.-saavy, master communicator professor” stereotype. Although that might be just what the fight against climate change needs right now.
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Check out this week’s other Climate Change Conspiracy Theory Cartoons here at Science Friday and at Huffington Post:
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Climate Conspiracy 1: Scientists falsify data
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Climate Conspiracy 2: The media has a green bias
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Climate Conspiracy 3: Scientists only in it for the money
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Climate Conspiracy 4: Climate alarmism is a money making scheme
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Link to other “What on Earth?” Climate Conspiracy comic strips at our Facebook page.
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