It's hard to listen when your emotions are...heated (couldn't resist). Just ask Christopher Monckton who, in a heated moment, called the young activists who protested The Americans for Prosperity meeting in Copenhagen yesterday, "Hitler Youth." (Monckton heads up an organization called the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, a group known for it's opposition to scientific consensus on climate change.)
Ok~ So that's old news. The saga continued today when Monckton was confronted by a group of young activists he approached to discuss his perspective on climate science.
Ya know~ I REALLY wanted that last statement to be true. Discuss has a certain association with dialogue and deliberation, that would make people assume that there is a dialogue~ and when I hear the word dialogue, I assume that there is communication that involves both speaking and listening.
But when the youth activists featured in the video below confronted Mockton about being compared to Hilter Youth, he went on to talk over them and threaten, "Now you know what will happen if you invade a private meeting and start shrieking."
Was the event staged? Was Monckton looking for an opportunity to provoke young activists so they could get the term "Hitler Youth" into the media?
Hook. Line. And Sinker. Well done.
You got my attention.
I'm going to listen to what Lord Monckton has to say.
Not because he has demonstrated the same kind of thoughtful consideration to the young people he was lecturing;
Not because it doesn't make my stomach turn when I hear about his views about Aids (he believes every member of the population should be blood tested and quarantined);
Not because I am not appalled by his repeated statements denying climate science;
Not because I'm not awed by his New World Order/global government conspiracy that climate disruption is a tool for the UN to create a global government (it's akin to my personal favorite conspiracy theory: which is that the governments keep aliens a secret because it would create an outer enemy that would cause all the nations in the world to work together and crash the world economy).
I'm going to listen to Monckton because in the big scheme of things, it's just the right thing to do.
Ok, no angel wings growing yet~ so the real reason reason I want to listen is because I smell the language of fear.
Monckton is afraid.
While many people are out there calling him crazy, I think he's scary. It appears he is deliberately and strategically spreading a message of fear. And no matter what you think about climate science and global warming~ that feels dangerous.
Lord Monckton is saying he is scared that world food prices have doubled. He is stating that millions are dying in third world countries because of the global warming scare because people who are working to reduce global warming don't care. (I'm not following that logic). He said, "Until you start caring..I will continue to call you Hitler Youth." (Lost me on that one too. Most people I know who give over their lives to activism and working on climate change issues are intensely aware of the amount of climate refugees and the amount of death and destruction that is happening on the planet. It's safe to say they deeply care). Monckton says, "Now you know what it looks like when you do robotic things like the Hitler youth did when they occupied Copenhagen...you do as much damage to the poor as they Hitler youth did." Hmmm. Hate crimes against Jews compared to being responsible for children dying in developing countries. I dunno, not to sound harsh, but I grew up on commercials showing me starving children in Africa. I'm not making the connection between the recent surge toward climate protection and starving people in developing countries.
So when I listen, I hear that Monckton has chosen to pick one of the most triggering symbols of hate crimes on the planet, tomorrow I assume he will call them the children of the KKK. At this point, he has actively chosen to put himself in front of the camera repeatedly speaking the language of hate, and by doing so he is spreading a message of fear and desperation. To me, it sounds like Mockton and the groups he represents feels threatened by the act of pursuing policy that requires nations to coordinate efforts that may result in the global economy shifting. It sounds like he is afraid of losing money. Now that makes sense to me. And that, can cause a great deal of fear.
Alright, I'm off to track down Mockton's PR team and see if they help me with some online marketing. They've got mad skillz.