Paul Krugman, Republicans’ Climate Change Denial Denial
Future historians — if there are any future historians — will almost surely say that the most important thing happening in the world during December 2015 was the climate talks in Paris. True, nothing agreed to in Paris will be enough, by itself, to solve the problem of global warming. But the talks could mark a turning point, the beginning of the kind of international action needed to avert catastrophe.
Then again, they might not; we may be doomed. And if we are, you know who will be responsible: the Republican Party.
There is no world-wide counterpart to the GOP’s mass hallucination about climate change. They are endangering the world and the future of our species.
And then he turns his eye on the media, that implicitly backstops their deep insanity (not hyperbole: they are stark, raving mad) by pretending the media should take on a balancing act between the two ‘sides’ of the issue:
More important, probably, is the denial inherent in the conventions of political journalism, which say that you must always portray the parties as symmetric — that any report on extreme positions taken by one side must be framed in a way that makes it sound as if both sides do it.
[…]
But I hope I’m wrong, and I’d urge everyone outside the climate-denial bubble to frankly acknowledge the awesome, terrifying reality. We’re looking at a party that has turned its back on science at a time when doing so puts the very future of civilization at risk. That’s the truth, and it needs to be faced head-on.
from Stowe Boyd http://stoweboyd.com/post/134585650112
