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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!!
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To: Sidney Reilly who wrote (46309)7/21/1999 8:56:00 PM
From: Dayuhan  Read Replies (1) of 108807
 
The quote in question:

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed- and hence clamorous to be led to safety- by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary"

The technique has definitely been used, but I'm not sure how applicable it is to the issue of global warming. I have the impression that the alarm was raised more by private sources, and that government, knowing the issue would be controversial, has done all it can to weasel out of making any serious commitments.

I don't know enough of the science to issue a verdict myself, and I'm not much impressed by the issuance of lists of names on petitions. I do think that the issue should be taken seriously, since the cost of doing nothing and finding the problem to be real will would probably exceed the cost of doing something and finding the problem to be not real. Above all, it should be treated as a scientific issue and not as a political football; I am uncomfortable with the idea of dismissing a possible threat simply because the alert came from someone not of my political persuasion.

I also have to take the claims that reducing greenhouse gas emissions would ravage the US economy with a bit of salt. I remember hearing that the first Clean Air Act would drive the US auto industry out of business. It didn't.

It should be noted that the parading of imaginary hobgoblins is by no means an exclusive practice of liberals. Conservatives, particularly religious ones, do it with equal vigor.
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