“The Heartland Institute has launched one of the most offensive billboard campaigns in U.S. history. The Chicago-based anti-science think tank is comparing all those who accept climate science — and the journalists who report on it accurately — to Charles Manson, the Unabomber, and Osama Bin Laden.

>Image of billboard showing picture of the Unabomber and text, “I still believe in Global Warming. Do you?”<

This far-beyond-the-pale ad campaign to promote their Chicago conference later this month is a moment of truth for both the think tank and the broader community of disinformers and their enablers…

The UK Guardian, which broke the story this morning, calls this “possibly one of the most ill-judged poster campaigns in the history of ill-judged poster campaigns…

Heartland’s detailed rationalization for its hate speech confirms the very worst views of this right-wing group…

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…

Oh, but Heartland wants you to know that not every single climate scientist — nor every member of the over 120 governments who sign off on the IPCC assessment reports nor every reporter who writes accurately — is like a psychopath:

‘Of course, not all global warming alarmists are murderers or tyrants.’

Seriously. And yet they write:

‘The people who still believe in man-made global warming are mostly on the radical fringe of society. This is why the most prominent advocates of global warming aren’t scientists. They are murderers, tyrants, and madmen’…

Will leading deniers denounce these offensive ads — or will they implicitly endorse this kind of hate speech? Will media outlets like PBS keep quoting Heartland ‘experts’ as if they were a legitimate source of information?..

In some ways, this is an almost perfect illustration of what has happened to the “right.” A refusal to acknowledge scientific reality; and a brutalist style of public propaganda that focuses entirely on guilt by the most extreme association…

It is worth nothing that the extremist disinformers at WattsUpWithThat were pushing this kind of hate speech long before Heartland.”

more…
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/05/04/477921/heartland-institute-compares-climate-science-believers-and-reporters-to-mass-murderers-and-madmen/?mobile=nc

Probably a good thing that they’ve abandoned any attempt to retain any semblance of credibility amongst intelligent and well-informed people. With these billboards they’re announcing loudly & clearly that they occupy the “radical fringe” of America’s increasingly loopy right.

Although the campaign is despicable, is the proclivity of the AGW crew to paint people who are sceptical about AGW as ‘deniers’, with the unspoken ‘Holocaust’ left to the imagination, really any different?

wait… what side are we on again?

sibeen said:

Although the campaign is despicable, is the proclivity of the AGW crew to paint people who are sceptical about AGW as ‘deniers’, with the unspoken ‘Holocaust’ left to the imagination, really any different?

I don’t automatically think of the Holocaust when I hear the word ‘denier’.

> Charles Manson, a mass murderer

I don’t think Charlie actually killed anyone.

>Fidel Castro, a tyrant

Or a liberator of his people from oppression, depending on your viewpoint.

sibeen said:

Although the campaign is despicable, is the proclivity of the AGW crew to paint people who are sceptical about AGW as ‘deniers’, with the unspoken ‘Holocaust’ left to the imagination, really any different?

sibeen, did you look at the article, “Heartland Institute Compares Climate Science Believers And Reporters To Mass ‘Murderers And Madmen’ “?

morrie said:

> Charles Manson, a mass murderer

I don’t think Charlie actually killed anyone.

Manson was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction. He was convicted of the murders through the joint-responsibility rule, which makes each member of a conspiracy guilty of crimes his fellow conspirators commit in furtherance of the conspiracy’s object.

wiki

he wasn’t convicted of mass murder though… just conspiracy to .. so technically he’s a murderer, but not mass…

ok sure it’s splitting hairs… but we might need some of that in here

I remember spending one night deliberately misspelling and regrammarfying all my posts and waiting for the inevitable pedant update. I think Steve won in both number of corrections and emerging irateness per post, Alex was a good second.

hehehe ah fun times

>hehehe ah fun times

I remember, as a spog, going around talking pig-Latin all day… ah, we laughed.

>regrammarfying

Preparing grandma for dinner again?

Ian said:

morrie said:

> Charles Manson, a mass murderer

I don’t think Charlie actually killed anyone.

Manson was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction. He was convicted of the murders through the joint-responsibility rule, which makes each member of a conspiracy guilty of crimes his fellow conspirators commit in furtherance of the conspiracy’s object.

wiki

I suppose that is like the people they have up on trial now for the 9/11 thing. The ones they have been torturing for the last however many years.

BTW, if you haven’t read the book “The Family” about Manson, I recall it being a very interesting read.

Arts said:

ok sure it’s splitting hairs… but we might need some of that in here

I remember spending one night deliberately misspelling and regrammarfying all my posts and waiting for the inevitable pedant update. I think Steve won in both number of corrections and emerging irateness per post, Alex was a good second.

hehehe ah fun times

Your bad!

morrie—->chat

neatness
neatness