Excellent post by Dave Johnson and James Boyce on how the latest energy company smear campaign flashed around the world and was used, probably everywhere, within 24 hours, by the mainstream media in every continent. The facts weren't checked, and nor was the source, and reporters didn't bother to think about why such a press release was being sent out. Motive, guys, you must always think about the motive (was it Perry Mason who said that? If not it should have been).
And that got me thinking even further about motive. Al Gore's sin is that he, with Laurie David's help, has had an enormous impact, in spite of the mainstream media, on public perceptions about global warming. At last he has been able to help shift public discourse to the point where the reality of global warming is being grudgingly accepted. So he must be attacked, and discredited, as left wing people are whenever they look like succeeding. So far, so straightforward, but again, I come back to why?
Remember Scrooge McDuck diving into his swimming pool full of money? At the time it was seen as not just outrageous flaunting of wealth, but of wealth beyond comprehension. What was he, a millionaire? Big deal. These days a swimming pool full of money wouldn't amount to a hill of beans in corporate executive suites. Billionaires are a dime a dozen now.
But there was another message in the McDuck swimming pool - the uselessness of wealth beyond a certain point. Scrooge swimming was all he could do - he couldn't eat the money, or drink it, it was just paper and coin filling up a hole in the ground. He could, I suppose, have set fire to a $100 bill and lit his cigar with it, filling the air with smoke, but that was about it.
So why, when Exxon has made, and continues to make, billions of dollars a year, and their executives and major investors are making many millions of dollars, do they continue to try to prevent action on global warming? Why are the lies and the smears continuing even now? Do these people not have enough money already? What will they do with more? Wouldn't they, if they were normal people like you and I, say enough is enough, let's help create a planet we can all continue to live on?
But no, the CO2 continues to rise from the $100 bills, choking us all, and the swimming pool of money is never big enough for the Exxon McDucks.