-By Warner Todd Huston
The San Francisco Chronicle decided to pat Californians on the back last week for how much “better informed” Golden Staters are on the supposed dire threat of global warming. With their headline joyously proclaiming, “Californians better informed on global warming threat, poll finds,” the SF Chron handed out the party hats, blew their celebratory horns and lined up little Al Gore statuettes to hand out at the awards banquet. And how is it that their poll “found” this startling fact? Why it’s because our friends in California believe, man! It’s not because Californians are any better informed, that they know all the facts, it’s just that they accept Al Gore’s claim that the “debate is over” despite any evidence or lack thereof. They really, really believe man.
Californians are more likely than the rest of the nation to see global warming as a threat, but also are more optimistic that greenhouse gases can be cut while creating jobs and expanding the economy, according to a Field Poll released Friday.
See, they are “better informed” because they are “more likely” to see global warming “as a threat.” It’s not because they have any more facts or science backing up this “informed” position. It’s cuz they “get it,” baby.
The SFChron goes on with their elation:
State residents are more likely than other Americans to back efforts to address climate change, with large majorities favoring government regulations, tax incentives and other efforts by industry and individuals to curb their emissions, the poll showed.
Ah, I see. It isn’t because our friends on the left coast have memorized Al Gore’s movie and independently verified the facts. It’s because they are “more likely” than the rest of us dolts to “back efforts to address climate change.” It’s not that they actually know anything, but because they are more easily duped into allowing extremist global warming advocates to glom onto piles of their tax dollars and more likely to acquiesce to their politicians’ demagoguery and pledges to “do something” about global warming.
The Chronicle gives us all sorts of figures to back up their claim, of course.
More than 4 out of 5 respondents said they believe that global warming poses a serious or very serious threat. Californians see climate change as an issue with major regional impacts: 63 percent said it threatens the snowpack in the Sierra; 66 percent said it poses health risks to residents where air quality is poor; 53 percent believe it could hurt Central Valley farmers; and 51 percent said it threatens low-lying coastal communities.
That is just one small segment of the “facts” presented in this piece… all based on Californians feelings and beliefs. The Chronicle piece is filled with these poll percentages, all presented as if they are “facts” that prove the case of global warming.
It should be remembered that there was a time when 100% of the people believed the world was flat and that monsters guarded the edge of that flat world, too. Polls like this do not prove truth, they prove sentiment. Facts and sentiment are not necessarily one and the same, despite how the Chronicle is trying to spin this empty poll. In fact, not one time does the Chronicle talk about facts, or scientific proof in their triumphalist celebration. It’s all about believing.
Now, this blind belief, this unthinking faith, is the same sort of thing that elicits chortles of self-importance and guffaws of ridicule from the media when such faith is applied to religion, isn’t it? Faith without proof? Faith and belief without knowledge? Aren’t these the things that the MSM and their scienceist compatriots in the secular world call “superstitions”?
But, watch out. When applied to the religious beliefs of global warming, why it suddenly becomes “better informed” to just accept it all as mere fact without question and to want to allow the nanny state to come to a dubious rescue makes you “better informed.” The same blind faith that is ridiculous for a Christian to indulge in is completely acceptable for an acolyte of global warming as far as the Chronicle is concerned.
This blind faith that the “debate is over” reminds me of how the left in America claimed that we should just get used to the Soviet’s existence, that they were here to stay forever. It reminds me how they blindly assumed that the Cold War was unwinnable because the Soviet Union wasn’t ever going away. It was because socialism worked and the “debate was over” on that count, they assured us. These are the same people who now say that we cannot win in Iraq.
Yes, the debate really is over. The left is filled with a sense of their own infallibility. And facts and truth… well, that isn’t an ingredient necessary for their perfection.
You just have to believe.
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Warner Todd Huston’s thoughtful commentary, sometimes irreverent often historically based, is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, townhall.com, men’snewsdaily.com and americandaily.com among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a guest on several radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston
As a Californian I question their stats. We do know thet the left likes to run numbers however it makes their point.
Quite a few people I know disbelieve the global warming nonsense and don’t want their tax dollars spent on the black hole environmentalists want to through our money into.
Our Governator has jumped on the “spend tax dollars for global warming bandwagon”. Perhaps we can get Danny DeVito to smack him upside the head and bring him back to reality.
The left refuses to look at both sides of the issue and I think they really believe they can control the weather.