Global Warming or Virtual Reality Redux -- Virtual Reality or Outright Intimidation?

Debate over climate change takes confusing turn

As previously mentioned, a significant portion of the debate over climate change revolves around a virtual reality ideology, wherein climate alarmists use the spectre of global warming to answer any question that can concievably be asked, regardless of whether or not it has any basis in logic.

A recent episode in the climate change debate has either highlighted this tendency, or highlighted the tendency of many climate alarmists to resort to threats and intimidation. Only the reader can decide for him or herself which they think is the case.

The matter revolves around an email recieved by Marlo Lewis, a senior fellow Comparative Enterprise Institute. The email, sent by Michael T Eckhart, read as follows:

Marlo –

You are so full of crap.

You have been proven wrong. The entire world has proven you wrong. You are the last guy on Earth to get it. Take this warning from me, Marlo. It is my intention to destroy your career as a liar. If you produce one more editorial against climate change, I will launch a campaign against your professional integrity. I will call you a liar and charlatan to the Harvard community of which you and I are members. I will call you out as a man who has been bought by Corporate America. Go ahead, guy. Take me on.

Mike

In the email, Eckhart basically threatens to lob accusations at Lewis of being a bought-and-paid-for corporate monkey. It's a popular accusation amongst climate alarmsts. In An Inconvenient Truth Al Gore levies that same accusation against supporters of natural variance theories regarding climate change.

It is entirely possible that Eckhart believes that Lewis wrote the article in question out of pro-business tendencies, in which case we see a virtual reality ideology -- in which the only valid answer to a question regarding how someone can disagree with the "consensual science" on climate change is "selling out" to major corporations -- at work. However, it is possible that Eckhart only wants to silence a critic of the aforementioned "consensual science", in which case he is clearly trying to intimidate Lewis.

However, when examining the original article, Echkart's outburst becomes more absurd.

While Lewis does, in fact, dispute the severity of warming trends to date, Lewis also finishes his article by advocating for worldwide research & development investment in renewable energy and elminating tax barriers to investing in such technologies.

Eckhart is the president of ACORE (American Council On Renewable Energy). As such, while Lewis raises his reservations about Kyoto and global warming, what he ultimately suggests would actually not only benefit Eckhart and ACORE, but would actually be more effective toward reaching Kyoto's targets than CO2 restrictions.

Yet, Eckhart is either too locked within his virtual reality belief system, or too intolerant of any form of dissent to simply accept Lewis' disagreements in order to benefit from his advocacy of support for Eckhart's industry.

Either way, Eckhart's email paints a very unflattering picture of the most rabid climate change alarmists.