We have thus far taken bit by bit the information provided by Mr. James Taylor about his love of spinning sound science. While we are not entirely finished deconstructing Taylor and his lack of acceptance of the facts, it is time to highlight the honesty by which the global warming deniers in the room wanted to examine this issue.
This man stood up and expressed his disgust for An Inconvenient Truth. The worst was yet to come as he went on to make the claim that Al Gore is no better than Leni Riefenstahl, the famed Nazi propaganda film maker.
This man stood up and expressed his disgust for An Inconvenient Truth. The worst was yet to come as he went on to make the claim that Al Gore is no better than Leni Riefenstahl, the famed Nazi propaganda film maker.
It takes a special kind of hatred of someone to refer to them as a Nazi and it essentially highlights the faux debate that deniers are seeking. There is no amount of information or evidence that could have been provided to this man which would convince him that global warming is real and is being ostensibly caused by man. If you are willing to go so far as to call Al Gore a Nazi, then you have made up your mind and the debate is essentially over. His hatred of Al Gore will always blind him and many other deniers to any of the facts that may come out.
The other classic trotted out by this man was that the big bad education system is indoctrinating our children. After this comment, the rest of the question and answer period was devoted to those liberal teachers who dare show An Inconvenient Truth in their classroom and how we are systematically destroying the ability of our students to debate. Now, mind you, this man has no evidence to back up such a claim and I would daresay that he hasn't set foot in a classroom in many years. It is this type of vitriol towards educators and education that consistently makes my job and the job of teachers everywhere more difficult.
I have NEVER used my position as a teacher to push any agenda, whether liberal or conservative, and have always encouraged my students to discover their beliefs for themselves. I want my students to think for themselves whether that thinking leads them to conservative thought or to liberal thought or somewhere in between. THAT is the difference between myself and this man and dare I say many other deniers. He does not truly want both sides covered. He wants his side covered and the other side dismissed as tantamount to Nazism.
Cross Posted on St. Cloud Times
The other classic trotted out by this man was that the big bad education system is indoctrinating our children. After this comment, the rest of the question and answer period was devoted to those liberal teachers who dare show An Inconvenient Truth in their classroom and how we are systematically destroying the ability of our students to debate. Now, mind you, this man has no evidence to back up such a claim and I would daresay that he hasn't set foot in a classroom in many years. It is this type of vitriol towards educators and education that consistently makes my job and the job of teachers everywhere more difficult.
I have NEVER used my position as a teacher to push any agenda, whether liberal or conservative, and have always encouraged my students to discover their beliefs for themselves. I want my students to think for themselves whether that thinking leads them to conservative thought or to liberal thought or somewhere in between. THAT is the difference between myself and this man and dare I say many other deniers. He does not truly want both sides covered. He wants his side covered and the other side dismissed as tantamount to Nazism.
Cross Posted on St. Cloud Times
3 responses to "Global Warming Denial: Al Gore Is A Nazi..."
Yeah, the Nazi comparison is old and tired, and usually utilized by lazy anti-intellectuals who can't articulate what it is they mean via intelligent argument. However, it applies to liberals too; George Bush may be a shitty president, but he is not Hitler, his party is not the Nazis, and anyone who alleges as much sacrifices any chance of being taken seriously.
What I wouldn't give for students who listen closely enough to me to be indoctrinated...
Seriously, I am amazed at how even we math teachers have been accused of political indoctrination by our choice of curriculum. I had a guy basically suggest I was making all my students hippies by letting them use calculators to find square roots.
Scott: I couldn't agree more with you that the same can be said for liberals who so flippantly call people Nazi's.
Julie: Indoctrination in math! Are forcing them to believe in quadratic equations again?