Friday, October 12, 2007

Will he use the prize money to buy another house?

I understand that the people who hand out the Nobel Peace Prize don't necessarily place a great deal of value on the truth. They did give one to Rigoberta Menchu. But, in that case, no one really knew that she had lied in order to serve the truth until after she won the prize.

Al Gore's most prominent contribution to the issue of global warming was to put out a feature length power point called An Inconvenient Truth. Even if you believe that human contribution to climate change is a serious problem that requires a response, it is hard to deny that most inconvenient thing about his movie is that it contains an awful lot of stuff that's not true. An English court recently held that it could not be shown to school children without the correction of multiple inaccuracies. In one of the tastier ironies of contemporary politics, Gore's film which (unscientifically)urges us to shut up about the fact or extent of global warming because of "scientific consensus" departs from that consensus when necessary to make the threat of global warming appear to be more dire than most scientists believe it to be. Gore himself may have admitted this when he said it was appropriate to have an "overrepresentation of factual presentations on how dangerous" global warming is. (Although, in fairness, who know that that means?)

I have a hard time taking people who gave Yassir Arafat a peace prize seriously, but there is still some value in the Nobel brand. Is the committee endorsing truthiness? Is it telling us that exaggeration in a "good cause" is to be commended? Is it saying that, yes, Virginia there really is a ManBearPig.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Apparantly, anyone advocating global goverment regardless of the truth or necessity will be rewarded with recognition. Gore like many others will sell there soul's to the devil for fame and fortune.

Terrence Berres said...

"...there is still some value in the Nobel brand."

Depends on what the meaning of value is.

Anonymous said...

Anon 11:41 -

Jealous...No, although I would like to see people that are fair, honest and truthful held up for a change. We need these type of people in goverment (all branches) more then we need the Al Gores of this world and the trumped up programs to gain more power.

tb - there is no value to the Nobel if you oppose world goverment, albeit, it will come anyway. Sad for our children when you think of what bad goverment already does and how much worse it will be.

Jay Bullock said...

An English court recently held that it could not be shown to school children without the correction of multiple inaccuracies.

Well, no, that's not what the court held at all. Try this:
[Magistrate] Burton is not saying that there are errors, he is just referring to the things that [the complainant] Downes alleged were errors. Burton puts quote marks around 'error' 17 more times in his judgement. [. . .] Burton is not even trying to decide whether they are errors or not. [. . .]

So what is Burton assessing in his judgement? Well, s407 says that where political issues are involved there should be "a balanced presentation of opposing views" so Burton states that the government should make it clear when "there is a view to the contrary, i.e. (at least) the mainstream view". Burton calls these "errors or departures from the mainstream".

So contrary to all the reporters' claims Burton did not find that there were 9 scientific errors in AIT, but that there were nine points that might be errors or where differing views should be presented for balance.

Anonymous said...

Since when does scientific fact need to rely on "consensus"? For example, does the law of gravity depend on a consensus that if you throw something in the air it'll come back down on its own?

Unknown said...

The left are not interested in truth. It's okay to lie cheat and steal for the cause, for the party, for an end. I'm continually surprised at the intelligent people, who will sacrifice their intellect and honesty for this clown. Al Gore has become a complete fraud, and most libs know it, but ignore it. Jimmy Carter is chasing Al Gore in the demogogue race. Both have lost any credibility they once had.
Sad.
I can see right through Al Gore, despite his girth.