Gore / Nazis - two words I thought I'd never see together, and never wanted to. Yet here it is in a story in the
Times Online. Surprisingly, Hollywood has been
exploiting this linkage for years. I suppose the appearance of a proof of
Godwins Law was inevitable, given how long the global warming discussion and Gore have gone on.
Does anyone else besides me get the impression that Al Gore is really reaching now? At the end of this post, Mr. Gore listed only two possible future questions, I'm sure our readers can fill in some of the missing ones. - Anthony
Addendum: I wonder, did Gore get paid for this speaking engagement "sponsored by The Times" and if so, is The Times responsible for creating this "news" where there would be none otherwise? - Anthony
The
Times Online screenshot before alteration.
© unknownThe Times Online screenshot before alteration. July 7 2009.
The
Times Online screenshot after alteration.
© unknownThe Times Online screenshot after alteration. July 7 2009.
The
Times Online Gore and Nazis headlines comparison.
© unknownThe Times Online July 7, 2009. Gore and Nazis headlines comparison.
Apparently reacting to criticism, The Times has changed the title of the article to remove the word Nazi, and the title takes an entirely different meaning. See the before and after screencaps above. (thanks to Bishop Hill) There is no mention of why. But they forgot to change the base HTML which still has the original title.
© unknown
Al Gore likens fight against climate change to battle with Nazis© unknown
by: Ben Webster, Environment Editor and Robin Pagnamenta, Energy Editor
Al Gore today compared the battle against climate change with the struggle against the Nazis.The former US Vice President said the world lacked the political will to act and invoked the spirit of Winston Churchill by encouraging leaders to unite their nations to fight climate change.
He also accused politicians around the world of exploiting ignorance about the dangers of global warming to avoid difficult decisions.
Speaking in Oxford at the Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment, sponsored by The Times, Mr Gore said: "Winston Churchill aroused this nation in heroic fashion to save civilisation in World War II."
He added: "We have everything we need except political will but political will is a renewable resource."
Mr Gore admitted that it was difficult to persuade the public that the threat from climate change was as urgent as the threat from Nazi Germany.
"The level of awareness and concern among populations has not crossed the threshold where political leaders feel that they must change.
"The only way politicians will act is if awareness raises to a level to make them feel that it's a necessity."
Mr Gore, who brought the issues around climate change to a mass audience with the 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth, said the great hope for the future lay in a high level of environmental awareness among young people.
He said sceptics who refused to believe dramatic cuts in carbon emissions could be delivered should consider the example of the young scientists in the NASA team which put a man on the moon on 1969.
"The average age of scientists in the space centre control room was 26, which means they were 18 when they heard President Kennedy say he wanted to put a man on the moon in 10 years. Neil Armstrong did it eight years and two months later."
He said future generations would put one of two questions to today's adults.
"It will either be 'what were you thinking, didn't you see the North Pole melting before your eyes, didn't you hear what the scientists were saying?' Or they will ask 'how is it you were able to find the moral courage to solve the crisis which so many said couldn't be solved?'."
Read the rest of the article here at the Times
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