Is global warming replacing Revelations as the "doom cult" of choice?

[Blackrook]

In the Middle Ages, up to modern times, "doom cults" were based on the Book of Revelations.

Religious conmen would quote passages from Revelations to prove that the end was near, and convince followers to sell all their worldly possessions and give them the money.

Then the conman would tell everyone to meet him at the top of a mountain and wait for the Second Coming of Christ. And then the conman would not show up, and all the disappointed (and much poorer) victims would go home unhappily realizing that life would go on as before.

And now we have "global warming" or "climate change" which promises the same sort of dramatic end to the world, and quotes scientists instead of Revelations, but it's the same basic concept.

And the solution, of course, is to give money to the people who are warning us, like Al Gore, who is now a very rich man selling so-called "carbon credits."

Is there a certain kind of person who is victimized by these scams, the kind of person who is dissatisfied with the hum-drum of every day life, and wants the drama and excitement of a world ending spectacle?

I think there is.

Who will ever listen to the dull guy in the corner who says, "No, the world is not ending. Go back to your lives. Don't give them your money."

The global warming people call them "deniers" and one professor has recommended that such people be given the death penalty:

Prof. Richard Parncutt Death Penalty for Global Warming Deniers Tallbloke s Talkshop

Has it all gotten just a little out of control when people are saying we should kill those who deny global warming?

It would seem so, except that global warming is a form of religious fanaticism, and religious fanatics cannot tolerate "heretics." Everyone must fall into line -- or die.

 

[PratchettFan]

Seriously? First it's an op-ed piece and then a blog from a (a = one) professor whose field of study isn't even on the subject matter? This is your argument?

Let's deal with the issue itself, rather than the propaganda surrounding it. Do you deny that the average temperature on the planet has been going up in the last 100 years?

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Unlike Revelations, climate change wasn't invented by a crazy exiled lunatic alone on a deserted island.

 

[Blackrook]

Seriously? First it's an op-ed piece and then a blog from a (a = one) professor whose field of study isn't even on the subject matter? This is your argument?

Let's deal with the issue itself, rather than the propaganda surrounding it. Do you deny that the average temperature on the planet has been going up in the last 100 years?

Yes, I deny it.

I am old enough to remember when scientists were warning us about "global cooling."

Then it was "nuclear winter."

Then it was "global warming."

Then it was "climate change."

There's money to be made in making people scared into giving you their money.

Conmen have been pulling this stunt for thousands of years.

 

[PratchettFan]

Seriously? First it's an op-ed piece and then a blog from a (a = one) professor whose field of study isn't even on the subject matter? This is your argument?

Let's deal with the issue itself, rather than the propaganda surrounding it. Do you deny that the average temperature on the planet has been going up in the last 100 years?

Yes, I deny it.

I am old enough to remember when scientists were warning us about "global cooling."

Then it was "nuclear winter."

Then it was "global warming."

Then it was "climate change."

There's money to be made in making people scared into giving you their money.

Conmen have been pulling this stunt for thousands of years.

Then you are simply ignoring hard facts. Temperatures have been measured and the data recorded for the last hundred years. We know what they are. This is a chart of those averages: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/service/global/global-land-ocean-mntp-anom/201301-201312.png

The average global temperature has risen 1.53 degrees F since 1880. This is not propaganda, it is hard fact. So perhaps you should start making up your mind based upon what the actual evidence is, rather than what some talking head tells you to think.