Merchants of Doubt: Global Warming Deniers in bed with Tobacco Industry?

The latest "scandal" in the "climategate" saga is a carefully orchestrated release of another batch of stolen emails. And once again, the conservative media are eating it up ... just like the fossil-fuel industry knew they would.

But here's something you may not know: the key scientists who are spreading FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) about global warming were also behind the Tobacco industry's campaign to deny that cigarettes cause cancer! Seriously.

Not only that, but this same small group of scientists defended the use of DDT, denied the dangers of acid rain, and claimed there was no ozone depletion.

In other words, a small group of scientists have been the main force behind every major anti-science campaign in the last few decades. Does that sound like whacko conspiracy theory? It's not.

I just finished reading a truly great book, Merchants of Doubt. The subtitle says it all: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. Authors Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway present a

LOL! Global Warming Deniers Get Lampooned by Congressman

This is too good. Why can't more people stand up to creationists, birthers and global-warming deniers? They've managed to change the rules of the game and force sensible people to debate them. They're pretending to have philosophically and scientifically sound positions that deserve to be heard. They're wasting valuable time.

The truth is they mostly deserve ridicule. Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) finally takes them down a notch. He doesn't debate, he tells it like it is. The "science" that's being presented is laughable, and Rep. Markey tells it like it is. Enjoy! It's a rare moment of sanity in Washington.

Watch the expression of the woman behind him as she tries to maintain her composure.



Lest anyone think I'm just as anti-science by trying to suppress debate, I'm not. I believe there's still lots of room for debate on the question of global warming. There is little room left for debate that global warming is happening and that it's caused by human activities. But there are good scientists who are still debating how much it will affect us. The rate of sea-level rise, the rate and consequences of rising temperatures and many other effects are still important questions. What I object to is how business and politics have created a well-funded campaign and fooled a lot of regular people (like the majority of the Tea Party) into taking their side. They are trying to subvert science to further their business and political goals.

9/11 Conspiracy Theories: Just Another Baseless Religion

Are 9/11 conspiracy theories just another religion, full of unprovable beliefs, with nothing but faith to sustain them? Why do these theories persist even in the face of convincing evidence that they are simply wrong or even impossible?

And don't these questions sound exactly like the same questions that atheists ask about religion?

There are literally millions of people who don't believe that 9/11 was carried out by a handful of terrorists. They believe something more sinister (as if it's not sinister already) must have happened. I'd guess that many or most Americans harbor at least some suspicion that the official story is a cover-up. Many Americans actually believe that 3,000 Americans were killed by their own government!

I saw a wonderful program on The Discovery Channel this week that completely debunked all of these 9/11 conspiracy theories. We're not talking about one good theory versus another, we're talking about annihilation. These 9/11 conspiracy theories are obviously, grossly, completely wrong.

Yet ... people believe them.

During the Discovery Channel's program, I had one of those "aha!" moments when I realized that 9/11 conspiracy theories are remarkably parallel to religion. It was when one of the investigators compared 9/11 to the JFK assassination. People just can't believe JFK was killed for no real reason. They don't want to believe that a single angry man could bring an entire country of 250 million people to its knees in grief and mourning. It's just too much, that one person could have so much power over our entire society.

Instead, it's much easier to believe that some vast, hidden, super powerful group arranged for JFK's assassination. It's easier to believe that history was changed, the dreams of millions were dashed, by a powerful, malevolent group of evil leaders, rather than a single deranged individual.

Those of us who study cultural evolution, the way that ideas (memes) form, evolve, and compete in a "survival of the fittest" contest, know that ideas spread not because they're true, but because people want to believe them. So with JFK, we have two competing memes: The lone-assassin meme, versus the hidden-evil-government meme. Which meme will be believed? Which meme will be told, retold, and spread through society? It's the one people want to believe, not the one that's true.

Here is the problem in a nutshell:

Truth only matters when the average person can tell the difference.

Conspiracy theories, whether they're about 9/11, JFK, the Masons, or the FDA, all thrive when the science behind the topic is too complex for the average person.

I am struck by the parallel between monotheism and conspiracy theories: People are far more likely to believe that there is a single person or small group "up there" who are in control. The parallels to God are striking.

Nobody wants to believe that when a tree falls on a family's car, or a hurricane smashes New Orleans, or an earthquake flattens Haiti, that it was just a random, meaningless event. They need to believe there was some meaning, some purpose, to the event. It's just too much to think that such devastation and grief have utterly no point to them. If God is in control, even if we don't understand His purpose, at least it's not random. It makes us feel better.

Conspiracy theories are the same. It's terrible to think that JFK died for no real reason, or that 9/11 killed 3,000 people and altered our country forever, just because a handful of men got angry. It's much better if we have a real enemy to fight, a powerful, malevolent, secret group that we can some day root out and eliminate. When bad things happen, we want bad people to be responsible.

And the truth isn't relevant, because the science and sociology behind the events of 9/11, or JFK's assassination, are just too complex for the average person.

The Family: Replace American Democracy with Christian Theocracy

The hubbub about President Obama's speech at the National Prayer Breakfast this week got me inspired to read about the shadowy group called "The Fellowship" that sponsors the meeting ... and I was stunned to learn who they really are.

"The Fellowship" (aka "The Family") is an actual Christian shadow government in America. I usually don't believe in conspiracy theories, but this group really exists, they're huge, they're secret, and they've been around since the 1930's. And the stories about them are not exaggerations.

Their goal? To replace democracy in America with a theocracy run by Christians. No joke. That was their founding purpose, and remains a real, if now distant, goal.

That's right, some of the very Senators and Congressmen who were democratically elected, the ones you voted for to represent you, don't believe you're good enough to vote. They believe democracy can't work, and that only a Christian government can save us. According to Harper's Magazine, "Declaring God's covenant with the Jews broken, the group's core members call themselves 'the new chosen.'"

And this isn't some fringe group. Its membership includes dozens of United States Senators and House members, even some Democrats, plus uncounted other government officials. They have their fingers in big business, banking, and even have lawmakers in a number of foreign countries. And of course, conservative Christian churches are part of their organization. Its leader, Doug Coe, is a charismatic but radical evangelical who regularly meets with government leaders around the world.

To give you a sense of their philosophy, consider this:

Jesus didn't come to take sides, He came to take over.

But wait, it gets worse. These guys believe that they are chosen by God. Seriously. They believe that God personally intervened here on Earth, altered our elections, specifically to help these men (they're mostly men) to get elected to high offices so that they could do His work.

This leads to an incredibly dangerous arrogance, a belief that you are right and that God has endorsed your political position. Is it any wonder that President Obama is having trouble with the conservatives? When you're appointed by God Himself, why should you negotiate? Jesus didn't come to take sides, He came to take over. They're right, everyone else is wrong, end of argument.

This is un-American, and bordering on traitorous. Their beliefs and actions violate the very core American values enshrined in the United States Constitution, in so many ways it's hard to count. We are a representative democracy, with a guarantee that the government will make no law respecting religion, or the free exercise thereof. We believe each person's vote is equal.

True patriots support the American Constitution, and the core beliefs it represents. Unpatriotic people don't. Traitors try to overthrow it and the values it represents. That was the original goal of The Fellowship. They are traitors to America, plain and simple.

If you'd like to learn more, read the transcript of Terry Gross' interview with Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. There's also a decent, though obviously censored, article on Wikipedia.

(P.S. Happy Birthday, Mom!!)