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How Many Polar Bears Can Dance on the Tip of an Iceberg?
Photo Credit: Alan D. Wilson, October 2007, Polar Bears (Cubs), Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is acting as the face for the Justice Democrats’ Green New Deal, Dianne Feinstein is confronted by terror-stricken children and their indoctrination handlers, women in first world countries are declaring that they will forgo child-bearing in the face of impending environmental collapse, Mayor DeBlasio is mandating “Meatless Monday” menus in NYC public schools in order to combat Climate Change… Wherever you turn, the Left have whipped up their Eco-Marxist rhetoric to an absolute froth. And I, for one, have had enough.
Admittedly, the Global Warming / Climate Change sham has been stuck in my craw since 2008 when I read the 2006 Monnet and Gleason paper “Observations of mortality associated with extended open-water swimming by polar bears in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea.” This is the paper that Al Gore was most likely citing in his 2006 traveling eco-apocalypse road show “An Inconvenient Truth” when he claimed that, “a new scientific study shows that, for the first time, they’re finding polar bears that have actually drowned…” On reading the Monnett and Gleason paper, even as a layperson, I found the study’s methodology, and therefore Gore’s conclusions on the study, to be highly suspect:
- what the study claimed were polar bears were sighted during flights intended to track Bowhead Whale migration; flights made at an altitude five times higher than flights intended to monitor polar bear population, an altitude which the study itself admits made difficult the spotting and identification of what it claimed were polar bears
- no mention in the study was made that the suspected polar bear carcasses were ever retrieved and necropsied to determine their actual identities and causes of death
- the study concludes that the suspected polar bears had drowned, not from long distance swimming due to melting ice coverage, but rather from a storm at sea just days before
Since reading that paper, I have tracked how the absolute hoax of Global Warming / Climate Change (from here referred to as GW/CC for brevity) has progressed: from junk science in which consensus equals evidence, correlation equals causation, and pleas for funding equal articles in peer-reviewed journals; to open Lysenkoism in which the U.N. now dictates what findings are official, the 2016 Democratic platform calls for the prosecution of “deniers,” and Obama’s Organizing for America maintains a totalitarian-level-creepy, searchable, online database of such “deniers” who currently serve in Congress; to what it now has eventually become: a de facto religion.
Admittedly, I know of few better ways to trigger Leftists than to inform them that they are practicing a religion. They, for the most part, profess atheism. However, I believe that they do so not because they’ve actually thought out the issue, I believe that most of them are, in fact, not actual atheists, but nihilists (another discussion for another day), but because, to them, atheism is what “enlightened people” profess. And, to Leftists, to point out that they are practicing a religion is to slander them as unenlightened, flyover bumpkins.
But the Leftists should remember, and won’t, that patterns of religion are present in every culture that the world has seen. Because of this, some have argued that the need for a belief in a higher power/order is hardcoded into the human psyche. If this is true, then the suppression of this drive would most likely manifest as certainly and as toxically as would the suppression of any other human drive – and, like these others, it would most likely manifest without the suppressor ever realizing that it is happening.
Regardless, patterns are patterns, any Leftist triggering notwithstanding; and there are a whole lot of patterns that come bundled with what is passed off as science in the GW/CC scam. Patterns of practices and beliefs that are not only found in other religions but that, in fact, define them.
Some might acknowledge these patterns and then argue that they are irrelevant, but I disagree. These patterns are what now drive the Left’s arguments, such as they are. Some might argue that the science, such as it is, could be extracted from and liberated of these patterns, but I also disagree. That polar bear has long left the iceberg.
So, what are these patterns that are now inextricably bundled with GW/CC’s purported science?
- The Garden: As stated in their labels, Global Warming is Anthropogenic, and, in its newer iteration with a trendier product name, Climate Change is man-made. The claim is that human activity is to blame for destroying the Earth. But this “Earth,” pre-man, is not the actual one of a violently dynamic ecosphere, but rather an imagined Earth that exists in a state of Platonic perfection against which any change can only be viewed as corruption. As such, at the very core of the belief of GW/CC is an Eden myth.
- The Fall: Every good Eden myth needs a Fall of Man storyline. And, playing the role of the Snake and the Apple, what has destroyed this particular Eden are industrialization, fossil fuels, overpopulation, factory farming, and capitalism.
- The Doom: The myth continues with GW/CC’s very own impending Apocalypse. The world of man will end and man will be the cause. However, the world will not end in fire or ice, but both – the seas will rise due to out of control warming which melts the world’s ice.
- The Kingdom: The myth concludes with the vague promise of an Eco-Marxist utopia – an ethereal future paradise for the eco-obedient and eco-pious. But only if correct action to prevent The Doom is taken right now.
- The Seer: A little known or advertised fact about Vice-President Al Gore is that he started, but did not finish, graduate studies at Vanderbilt University. And while one might reasonably assume that those studies were in law, political science, or even environmental science, that assumption would be incorrect. Gore pursued Divinity Studies. Later, he would gain worldwide fame by making apocalyptic, ten year (and wildly incorrect) predictions about The Doom. There is a word for a person steeped in the study of the divine who then also makes well-known predictions. That word is “prophet.”
- The Beatified: The book “Silent Spring” was written in 1962 by Rachel Carson. Its 50th-anniversary reprinting is subtitled “The Classic that Launched the Environmental Movement.” GW/CC is the Lysenkoization of this same movement, and Rachel Carson is often referred to as this movement’s “patron saint.” In fact, the influential Canadian author Margaret Atwood, most well known for her book “The Handmaid’s Tale,” published another book in 2009, “The Year of the Flood,” in which Rachel Carson is portrayed, quite literally, as a saint.
- The Books: Most religions have one or more revered collections of scripture, and GW/CC is no different. Its two major texts are the Book of the Prophet, “An Inconvenient Truth,” and the Book of the Saint, “Silent Spring.”
- The Doctrine: GW/CC has tenets which, like all religions, must be taken on faith. Tenets such as GW/CC is science even when it makes patently unscientific claims such as consensus is evidence and correlation is causation. Tenets such as the GW/CC Eden was real, man has destroyed it, The Doom is imminent, and the last incorrect 10-year prediction about The Doom is to be wiped from memory because the current 12-year prediction about The Doom is far too dire. Tenets such as Science itself can be “settled,” that is to say, can become GW/CC doctrine never to be questioned, ultimately because GW/CC scientists are infallible.
- The Infallible: Scientists which promote The Doctrine are granted the assumption of Infallibility. These Infallible can proclaim the patently unscientific claims of The Doctrine and their infallibility then circularly reinforces those claims as scientific. And, since these scientists are considered infallible, their pronouncements can just be accepted on faith with no need for the common Devout GW/CC follower to actually read their papers or examine their claims. In fact, claims of fudged data and improper peer review are to be dismissed outright. After all, there can be no valid counter-claim of Argumentum ad Verecundiam if the expert that was appealed to in the first place is, in fact, infallible.
- The Council: The U.N. has for years through its IPCC GW/CC report determined what science is “official,” and which scientists are “credible.” In doing so, it anoints both “official” science as Doctrine and “credible” scientist as Infallible. The obvious conflict that the UN would be the immediate power beneficiary of any global law or tax based upon GW/CC is, of course, to be ignored as an affront to The Doctrine. As such, the U.N. acts as the GW/CC Ecumenical Council.
- The Curia: Any large organization must eventually be managed by a bureaucracy, including a religion. And bureaucracies are necessarily, but not necessarily malevolently, political. Bureaucracies of a religion promote a specific doctrine on a departmental or regional level, not on a local or parish level. As such, any politician, from a member of a town council, to a mayor of a city, even to a member of Congress who promotes the GW/CC Doctrine is, in fact, acting as a de facto member of the GW/CC Curia.
- The Evangels: Every religion has its radical sect which interprets its doctrine more literally than figuratively. The urgency engendered by their interpretation often drives them to evangelistic proselytizing. GW/CC also has its evangels, those who not only believe that The Doom is imminent, but is happening right this very second. These evangels are often in positions which command some societal respect, most notably our children’s teachers, our university professors, and our more radical politicians. In fact, the confrontation between Senator Dianne Feinstein and the children prompted by the Sunrise Movement to confront her – children who were stricken with terror over The Doom by this movement – can best be understood as a member of the GW/CC Curia trying to hold in check a radical faction of GW/CC Evangelicals.
- The Devout: Any who believe that The Doctrine and all of its attendant baggage actually constitutes science; that any scientist is infallible who reinforces their belief that they are members of the “enlightened tribe;” that Eden existed, The Doom is imminent, and the “heretic tribe” is to blame. In short, any who have bought into the GW/CC sham.
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03/16/19 Screen Grab of the OFA Climate Change Denier Online Database
The Heretics: Any who believe that whatever science might have initially been going on in the area of GW/CC has become irreversibly corrupted by GW/CC factions who want it to be true: especially by the U.N. who stands to benefit by finally being recognized as a de jure global government, and by compromised scientists who enjoy their reputation of infallibility and the seemingly non-stop flow of taxpayer funding for their one-sided research. Members of the GW/CC Infallibles, Curia, and Evangelicals have vilified these skeptics as “deniers” – an intentional attempt to conflate them with modern neo-NAZI groups who deny the NAZI’s attempted extermination of the Jews.
- The Crimes: There are two sins in the religion of GW/CC: one mortal and one venial. The mortal sin is that of heresy, in which the accused will be smeared as reprehensible beyond redemption. The venial sin is that of producing a carbon footprint. And since it is impossible for a human being to exist without producing a carbon footprint, this sin can be regarded as GW/CC’s original sin. Most importantly, it should be noted that this venial, original sin is referred to by the followers of GW/CC themselves – their own very term – as “carbon sin.”
- The Loophole: In the GW/CC religion, a member of the devout can mitigate the ruinous effect of their existence hastening The Doom by purchasing “carbon credits” which are meant to offset the original sin of their carbon footprint. In other religions, this exchange of money for pardon is considered a corrupt practice and is known as the sale of indulgences.
- The Acts: Most religions have a set of defined acts which are intended to be outward signs of belonging to that community of faith. Some religions call these “sacraments.” The sacraments of GW/CC, of which there are many, perform a dual purpose: not just that of virtue signaling a belonging but also that of earning redemption by helping to prevent The Doom. The sacraments are defined by the Infallibles, the Council, the Curia, or even the Devout themselves and are subject to change according to the whim of any. A very incomplete list of GW/CC sacraments include: recycling, composting, driving a hybrid car, avoiding air travel (not applicable to the Infallibles or the Curia), using mass transportation (also not applicable to the Infallibles or the Curia), using CFL light bulbs, using plastic shopping bags, not using plastic shopping bags, not using plastic straws, etc.
- The Table: While sacraments are specific and fairly unique to religion, there is one Act that is common to most: dietary restrictions. Judaism has Kosher laws. Islam has Halal. Catholics abstain from meat on Lenten Fridays. GW/CC also promotes dietary restrictions both as an act of signaling a belonging and an act to help prevent The Doom. The restrictions can run from a fairly non-inconvenient abstaining from beef to full-blown veganism. The severity of the restriction both depends upon and signals the level of devotion of the follower.
- The Feast: All religions have their holidays (holy days) including GW/CC. The one holiday observed by the GW/CC Devout is The Feast of V.I. Lenin, more commonly known as Earth Day (the first Earth Day was held on the 100th birthday of V.I. Lenin). Earth Day is an international holiday where all the causes and concerns of the Environmental Movement, including GW/CC, are promoted to the public.
Eden, the Fall, Apocalypse, Paradise, Prophets, Saints, Scriptures, Doctrine, Infallibles, Ecumenical Council, Curia, Evangels, Believers, Infidels, Heresy, Original Sin, Sale of Indulgences, Sacraments, Redemption, Dietary Restrictions, Holidays…
So, to the triggered Leftist who believes that they’ve just been slandered and who is now indignantly protesting that they are far too enlightened to ever practice a religion, I have to ask, “You sure ’bout that?” Because, the way that I see it is: If it stalks like a polar bear, mauls seals like a polar bear, and defecates on the ice like a polar bear, then it’s probably a polar bear (Monnett and Gleason might want to take note here).
And to the members of the GW/CC Curia, whether they are acting in the United States Congress or acting more locally: I have had enough. I am here and now affirming my Constitutional Right enumerated in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. As such, I will honor no GW/CC treaty that you sign. I will obey no GW/CC law that you pass. I will pay no GW/CC tax that you levy. You are Constitutionally bound not to take any such action. And if you do so anyway, then it will be an unconstitutional act and I am free to not comply.
And, I will not comply.
Published in General
Great post. Hope you don’t mind if I copy it to everyone I know.
As soon as I finish my T-bone steak. Grilled over charcoal, not gas.
Excellent. Another reason to be on Ricochet. That was a lot of work Rick, thanks.
You mock, but brains are getting smaller!
And … and … giant spiders!!!
You forgot The Savior:
Of course, I prefer the JibJab version (here). I especially like the part about how he’ll “stop the globe from getting warm” and “fuel your car with nuts and corn” (at around 1:30).
You left out the Signs of the End Times. You have the Doom, but not The Signs of the End Times.
Lots of good stuff in this post. Also, I’ll point out that I’m a fan of Rachel Carson. It’s for what she said and did, and not for what some of her opponents imagine she said and did. Some of her leftnik fans are just as bad, tho.
So being a fan of Barry Goldwater means some leftniks smear me by association with some of his racist supporters, and being a fan of Rachel Carson means some rightniks smear me by association with some of her crackpot supporters. Such is life.
Thank you, J. If it gets promoted to the main feed, copy the link to whomever you’d like.
Thank you.
That could explain why I’m so tired…
That could also explain why I’m so tired…
Yes. I was trying to forget.
Thanks, Ret.
Polar bears are deniers!
“I’m the boss !”
https://youtu.be/Cb65_3Gmf_s?t=48
… Chakrabarti said so!
Of course they’re fat – all of the Coca-Cola that they’re drinking…
I like the Hugo Chavez at 0:56. That Obama move did not age well.
Rick, great post. This has been my pet issue since 2006, after I saw about 10 minutes of that sham presentation that Al Gore turned into a movie. I really appreciate your work on this post. It has a lot of details that had not seen before. I think a similar write-up could be done for allied religions of Statism (the belief that the State is god) or old fashioned Gaia worship. It is not a coincidence that every eco-jihad ends up with a solution of socialism.
I find the issue compelling, because it is the greatest hoax ever proposed and that it is not just perpetuating, but growing. I get that it is a convenient Trojan Horse for socialists, but why are educated people widely so gullible? How can people look at a fraudulent temperature chart (hockey stick) and not question it? How can people look flat temperature trends and accept that global temperatures are rising? How can people believe, year-after-year, that every weather event is unprecedented? How is it that half of America has no memory of history or the curiosity to look at an old newspaper? I am starting to think that when the interglacial period ends and the Midwest is buried in ice that people will still be claiming it is evidence of Global Warming.
I think about that story “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. If it was told today, the when the little kid says, “He’s naked”, the crowd will kill the kid for speaking nonsense.
This is great, Rick. I’ve thought along these lines, but have never taken to through to anywhere near this level of detail.
Thank you.
Yes, the traveling apocalypse roadshow.
I also think that a similar argument can be made for Marxism in general, but with GW/CC the similarities to existing religions are just so blatant that the argument could more easily be made.
Thanks, Judge.
Have you also noticed that every weather event-hot, cold, hurricane, twisters, earthquakes-is met with fear and superstition, much as they were a thousand years ago. We have regressed!
Article 6, Section 2:
That’s the problem with treaties. The Constitution sets them on an equal basis with the Constitution itself. On the one hand I can see how you’d need to do that in order to convince other nations that treaties with you will mean anything. On the other hand it seems like an awful loophole for letting bureaucrats amend the Constitution.
I think treaties are below the Constitution and above laws. The problem is that the judiciary doesn’t seem to be bound by anything written or previously imagined.
As I’ve noted elsewhere, if everything proves your theory — warmer than normal, colder than normal, wetter than normal, dryer than normal, more storms, less storms — you aren’t a scientist but a priest diving messages from the entrails of sacrificed animals.
Science requires defining what would contradict the theory and changing the theory if one gets a contradictory result. Instead, it’s “hide the decline” and “why isn’t the data telling us what we know is true?”
This is one of the best statements on this problem that I’ve seen.
Yes, there is a tinge of primitivism to this religion of “science.”
Yes, I’ve heard about this issue with treaties before. And quite simply, in this particular case, I don’t give a damn.
The problem for me is that we elected Representatives of the People of the United States to make those treaties for the interest of those people. We did not elect representatives of the Curia to make treaties specifically intended to sell out the People of the United States.
Or at least what you assumed were animals because you were flying too high to make an absolutely positive identification.
Relevant, I think:
This is exactly correct. And it’s infuriating. And it’s why I say that scientist who promote the desired results are granted infallibility. In real, actual science, any studies based on such a methodology would be tossed as absolute bullcrap.