Guardian eco-blogger Damian Carrington uses the tragedy in Tucson to complain about some of the language used in the global-warming controversy. In doing so, he adds to the “climate of hate” meme, although he is careful to note that “some commentators argue [Loughner’s] act was his alone.” Be that as it may, the e-mails and threats that Carrington describes as being delivered to pro–climate change (to use my clumsy shorthand) scientists and writers sound deeply unpleasant — and worse.
However, Carrington doesn’t choose to mention incidents like this:
At the Live Earth Concert at Giants Stadium, one of the non musical acts, Robert Kennedy Jr., shouted himself hoarse. He called those people who doubt either that global warming exists or that it is man-made or that it matters traitors and that they should be dealt with as such. “Get rid of all these rotten politicians that we have in Washington, who are nothing more than corporate toadies for companies like Exxon and Southern Company,” shouted Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “These villainous companies that consistently put their private financial interest ahead of American interest and ahead of the interest of all of humanity. This is treason. And we need to start treating them as traitors.”
This, of course, is the same Robert F Kennedy Jr. who is now joining in the calls for civility with a piece for the Huffington Post that, in its implications, is far from civil itself. What a shame.