Marc Davidson of the philosophy department at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands has decided to compare the rhetoric used by US climate "deniers" to that of early 19th century congressional debates on the abolition of slavery.Let the outraged howls commence...
Davidson claims that historical hindsight shows how preposterous the claims made in favour of slavery were. He suggests they bear striking resemblance to claims made against taking any action on climate change by contemporary members of Congress.
The implication is that some years down the line, in a century or two perhaps, the comments of climate "deniers" will seem just as shocking as those of the slave owners of the 1800s.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Climate change denial compared with pro-slavery rhetoric
From New Scientist, a researcher compares the arguments against taking action on climate change with arguments made in the 1800's against abolishing slavery.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
Octopuses are smarter than they should be. Every other invertebrate registers as static on an EEG. An Octopus generates the kind of slow l... -
Julian Assange is in jail in UK facing deportation to Sweden on charges of rape. Many people, otherwise sympathetic to Assange and Wikileak... -
Conservative MP Brad Trost believes female politicians should be bullied and terrorized and threatened with jailing for believing in differe... -
'Emboldened.' In every article about white nationalists or the 'Alt right', two terms designed specifically to obscure... -
I think we should start a movement to protect against the insidious threat of 'Ten Commandments law'. Sure the Christians and Jewis...
-
The Christian Labour Association of Canada, not to put too fine a point on it, is a fake union. They're an association with no standing...
-
Spotted at Scott's Dia Tribes : Rachel Marsden , serial stalker, Anne Coulter wannabe, former Fox News personality fired for being too... -
For the comic book fans, hat tip to Andrew Sullivan : Frank Miller is the comic book artist and writer behind The Dark Knight, a bunch of gr... -
The day before a massacre at a Quebec Mosque Kellie Leitch attacked a motion opposing Islamophobia as 'special privileges'. Pres... -
We can't count on liberals and their cherished institutions or standard of decorum and responsible governance they keep hoping against ...
1 comment:
Interesting. I actually had exactly the same thought watching the movie "Amazing Grace", about the end of the British slave trade.
All the debates about the devastating economic effects this would have in England, the threat that ending the trade would aid and abet the enemy (France) - even one fellow who argued that it would hurt the Newfoundland cod trade because having no slaves to feed would eliminate the market for otherwise inedible fish by-products - all sounded terribly familiar in their logic if not their specifics.
The sound was that of an unsustainable economy screaming and thrashing in its death throes, with those who have gotten fat from it desperately clinging to any feeble argument that might forestall their inevitable decline.
Post a Comment