Why is Global Warming called the "Scam of the Century" so often?

Question

I mean, really! There are so many scams out there. Calling Global Warming the scam of the century is just a bad as calling it the "Most Dire Crisis We Will Ever Face As Human Beings.

Is there really a need to exaggerate so? Do they not teach the story of "The Little Boy who cried Wolf" in school anymore?

Answer 1

Well how many scams can you name, that have the possiblity of end the US manufacturing base, to end the way of life we thought we would pass on to our kids, to end and bankrupt our nation as this scam threatens to do?

Answer 2

I think the reason it is called a scam is twofold.

First, it's called a scam because it is a natural process that cannot be affected by us one way or the other, yet we are told that we caused it, and we can stop it (Scam).

Second, every "plan" to fix global warming always comes back to certain items.  Usually, you need to alter your lifestyle, then you need to give your money to someone (either through higher taxes, or paying someone for carbon credits), and then nothing.  None of the "plans" will have any affect at all on global warming.

Answer 3

Nah, they don't teach anything in school anymore.  Otherwise the "debate" would be over.  Comparing Global Warming to the "Boy Who Cried Wolf"  makes several unwarrented assumptions.  (1) it assumes Global Warming will be proven wrong (in other words, stupidity is infallible)  (2) It assumes that the stupid will be around to say "Nyah, Nyah, Nyah, we told you so!"  (3) it assumes that the educated will be listening (4) it assumes they are listening now (5) it assumes they will give a d**n then (6) it assumes they give a d**n now.

Maybe this link will shed a little light on the issue.

Answer 4

"I Believe", the Iraq War will go a long ways on most of those issues.

Answer 5

Often name-calling is reveals a lot more about the party making the accusation.  In this case, the global warming denial scam may be a serious threat to human survival, so calling the propaganda campaign that invented the "scam of the century" label a "scam of the century" itself would be a gross understatement.

Here's what one PR pro has to say about his colleagues accepting oil and coal industry funds to spread confusion on the issue:

Slamming the Climate Skeptic Scam

http://www.desmogblog.com/slamming-the-c...

"Few PR offences have been so obvious, so successful and so despicable as the attack on the scientific certainty of climate change.

This is a triumph of disinformation. It is a living proof of the success of one of the boldest and most extensive PR campaigns in history, primarily financed by the energy industry and executed by some of the best PR talent in the world. As a public relations practitioner, it is a marvel - and a deep humiliation - and I want to see it stop."

"the tobacco industry, in the asbestos industry - and too often in the automotive industry. Those sectors have provided some of the most famous examples of PR disinformation: 'smoking isn't necessarily bad for you;' 'it's not an absolute certainty that asbestos will give you cancer;' 'your seatbelt might actually kill you if you're the one person in five million who flips his car into a watery ditch.'

But few PR offences have been so obvious, so successful and so despicable as the attack on the scientific certainty of climate change. Few have been so coldly calculating and few have been so well documented."

"Journalists have consistently reported the updates from the best climate scientists in the world juxtaposed against the unsubstantiated raving of an industry-funded climate change denier - as if both are equally vaOn the issue of climate change, journalists have consistently reported the updates from the best climate scientists in the world juxtaposed against the unsubstantiated raving of an industry-funded climate change denier - as if both are equally valid. This is not balanced journalism. It is a critical abdication of journalistic responsibility. Any reporter who cannot assess the relative merits of a global scientific consensus - especially in contradiction to an 'expert' that the coal industry is paying to help 'clear the air' - deserves to have his pencil taken away in solemn ceremony and broken into bits."

"Don't accept the word of people who pass themselves off as 'skeptics.' Be skeptical yourself. Ask yourself what motive the scientific community has to gang up and invent a phony climate crisis. Compare that to the motives that ExxonMobil or Peabody Coal might have to deny that burning fossil fuels indiscriminately could change irrevocably our existence on the planet.

And if you still leave the lights on when you're done, make sure they're shining in the shamed faces of the PR pros who are still trying to prevent sound, sensible policy change to affect this, perhaps the biggest threat humankind has ever faced."

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We do need to be seriously skeptical about he U.N.'s proposals, about China's lack of involvement, and about government misuse of the tax system to grab funds under the banner of global warming, but none of those concerns cast a doubt on the science or on our need to mitigate our impact.

Answer 6

It is due to a psychological condition known as Passive-aggressive.

One of the symptoms of this condition is to "cry wolf" at every perceived junction that does not meet the approval of the person with this condition.  It is also a condition that involves the need to control literally EVERYTHING around them.  It can also include such things as false claims of knowledge or titles, such as "Master of Science" when in fact the have no science degree whatsoever.

So you have some people with this syndrome, and they firmly believe in their point of view.  In order to control the thoughts of others on this issue, they make false claims of their own knowledge and push their point of view to the extreme.

It is similar to the other phrase that I hear a lot this time of year.  If (fill in the blank) gets elected President, the country will be in ruin, and you might as well move to (second favorite country).  This is also a potential symptom of the Passive-agressive syndrome.

Passive-agressives do not believe in the "Boy who cried Wolf" story in the same way as normal people.  To them, everytime the boy cried wolf, he was smarter than everyone else because the boy got the rest of the people to do what he wanted.  When the boy got caught, those with P-A syndrome do not look at the boy as getting what he deserved, but rather that the people were mad because they were fooled for so long, and if they had been smarter they would not have been fooled at all.

P-A people also tend to be verbally and mentally abusive, so the verbal attacks against people rather than thier opinions, are also a symptom.