Heartland Institute compares belief in global warming to mass murder
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/may/04/heartland-institute-global-warming-murder
Billboards in Chicago paid for by The Heartland Institute along the inbound Eisenhower Expressway in Maywood, Illinois. Photograph: The Heartland Institute
It really is hard to know where to begin with this one. But let's start with: "What on earth were they thinking?"
The Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based rightwing thinktank notorious for promoting climate scepticism, has launched quite possibly one of the most ill-judged poster campaigns in the history of ill-judged poster campaigns.
I'll let its own press release for its upcoming conference explain, as there's simply no need to finesse it further:
Billboards in Chicago paid for by The Heartland Institute point out that some of the world's most notorious criminals say they "still believe in global warming" – and ask viewers if they do, too…The billboard series features Ted Kaczynski, the infamous Unabomber; Charles Manson, a mass murderer; and Fidel Castro, a tyrant. Other global warming alarmists who may appear on future billboards include Osama bin Laden and James J. Lee (who took hostages inside the headquarters of the Discovery Channel in 2010).
These rogues and villains were chosen because they made public statements about how man-made global warming is a crisis and how mankind must take immediate and drastic actions to stop it.
Why did Heartland choose to feature these people on its billboards? Because what these murderers and madmen have said differs very little from what spokespersons for the United Nations, journalists for the "mainstream" media, and liberal politicians say about global warming. The point is that believing in global warming is not "mainstream," smart, or sophisticated. In fact, it is just the opposite of those things. Still believing in man-made global warming – after all the scientific discoveries and revelations that point against this theory – is more than a little nutty. In fact, some really crazy people use it to justify immoral and frightening behavior.
But then comes the best bit:
Of course, not all global warming alarmists are murderers or tyrants.
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Maybe I should take my mutts out & shoot them.
[font size = 6]OCCUPY THE KITCHEN[/font]
And they look just like my guy.
But you have TWO....twice the love and silliness.
I love that reddish coat in a Golden. 
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Various bad people believe in global warming.
You believe in global warming.
Therefore you are a bad person.
The argument is an illicit process, also known as as the undistributed middle (various bad people in the example).
Ted Kaczynski is not all bad people, anyway. The Koch Brothers deny anthropogenic global warming, at least publicly, and they want to destroy American democracy. They funnel money into ALEC, which pushes state-level legislation aimed as denying the right to vote to members of targeted demographics. That makes them downright evil, at least in my Weltgeist.
Moreover, Kaczynski, although a mass muderer, is a still very intelligent man, unlike such global warming deniers as Senator Imhofe.
Many people would not consider Fidel Castro a bad person. Even granting the Heartland Institute that point for the sake of argument, then they have shown us three people of at least arguably poor morality who believe in global warming, hardly a significant sample by any reasonable standard. It does not prove that belief in global warming causes mass murderers to act as they do.
The only thing I can see correlating to a belief/disbelief is intelligence, which I define as as the knowledge of and willingness to accept facts. There's no morality in that. Even mass murderers and tyrants are capable of accepting facts, even unpleasant ones. It is only fools like Senator Imhofe who consistently do not.
This billboard reminds me of the headlines I see on certain publications while standing the supermarket checkout line. Such publication assert as facts things I either don't believe or don't care whether they are true or false or, more often than not, both. I didn't know that Charlie Manson or Ted Kaczynski believe in global warming; in fact, I never gave it a thought and I still don't care. As for Castro, I'm glad to hear he does. Until recently, he was the president of his small nation and I hope he did what he could in that capacity to prevent anthropogenic global warming and alleviate its effects.
The bothers me more that a United States Senator would deny anthropogenic global warming, but Senator Imhofe, I assume, is as stupid as he appears and that is too stupid to be really cynical. I'm less certain of the Koch brothers and other executives of private concerns that produce or transport fossil fuels who publicly deny anthropogenic global warming. They aren't as stupid as some of their bought and paid for senators and congressmen. These are the people who stand to lose money in the short term as they make their product more environmentally friendly and in the long term as fossil fuels are first supplemented and then supplanted by renewable energy sources. They could make money investing in renewable energy, but in the short term, and only in the short term, they will make a lot more money continuing to produce environmentally harmful products with environmentally harmful methods and it is a lot cheaper to invest in politicians who do nothing and public relations consultants who lie for living. I know that almost all fossil fuel executives deny anthropogenic global warming publicly, but I don't know what any of them believe about it privately. Nevertheless, I can't assume they're all as stupid as Senator Imhofe appears to be. Do I think that they're cynical enough to knowingly lie in order to protect their profits at the expense of the rest of the planet? Yes.
Let propose a better proposition than All who believe in anthropogenic global warming are bad people. Let's try this one: All who deny anthropogenic global warming are liars or fools. I think this alternative will hold up a lot better.
next board I predict- Summit or Gary! 
