Peak stupid is over?

Tim Blair reports on another warmy fantasy: The BBC’s Richard Black reports: Among the emails that arrive in my inbox regularly on climate change, one sentiment expressed regularly is that the language of climate catastrophism is getting shriller and shriller as the arguments for the phenomenon collapse. It’s one that I disagree with. I think the language of catastrophism, chaos, doom - whatever you like to call it - has actually sobered up, in the UK at least, having peaked about three or four years ago … Peak stupid is over? Not in Australia it isn’t. Right on cue, Oxfam releases its latest bit of dishonest hysteria mongering: Climate change 'could kill 4.5 million children' A report based upon the flimsy premise of what might happen if general aid money was diverted by rich countries to climate change mitigation projects in the third world. Yup, that's the sole basis for this blatant piece of attention grabbing aimed at trying to secure more donations from the naive, the stupid and the gullible. But as you can see above, it got exactly the kind of headline Oxfam was hoping for. Then there was the coming climate apocalypse facing West Timor because of declining rainfall, (no mention of East Timor for some reason), based only on the opinion of its employee on the island and 13 years - that's right, only 13 years - worth of rainfall data. But of course the media dutifully regurgitated his claims without a moment's consideration or even the faintest patina of scepticism. But when the market place for donations from the well meaning is increasingly crowded and worries about the climate getting all the attention, what's a compassion marketer to do? Oxfam ceased being an organisation worth supporting years ago. They are now little more than a bunch of shysters trying the use climate change as a means to promote themselves and make money.

Posted via email from Garth's posterous