Lore of conspicuous consumption 21/7/2007
Martin Durkin reacts to myth-believer hysteria over his documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle.
Why are the global warmers so zealous? After a year of arguing with people about this, I am convinced that it’s because global warming is first and foremost a political theory. It is an expression of a whole middle-class political world view. This view is summed up in the oft-repeated phrase “we consume too much”. I have also come to the conclusion that this is code for “they consume too much”. People who believe it tend also to think that exotic foreign places are being ruined because vulgar oiks can afford to go there in significant numbers, they hate plastic toys from factories and prefer wooden ones from craftsmen, and so on.
Nailed it beautifully. Hypocrites and snobs painting themselves into a very cold corner.
Wooden toys from craftsmen are a wonderful thing are they not?
Funny how some people have taken to it like a religion, sometimes I wonder if there is something in some people that makes them attach themselves to a belief, if it isn’t socialism, climate change etc I am sure they would find something else. Who knows it may be far worse than the current craze.
Yes, I think wooden toys ARE wonderful. But I dont look down my nose at those who buy plastic toys from K-mart.
Sorry, I don’t get the wooden/plastic toys nonsense Durkin spews. Are we supposed to buy plastic toys for our kids? Are we hypocritical if we buy wooden toys for our kids and breathe air as well?
Funny how all those on the hysterical hard-Right use the same bizarre arguments to desperately try to prove a non-existent point.
Durkin’s point that escapes you Vincent is that so-called “progressives” pretend to be — to use their pathetic jargon — inclusive toward all of humanity, when in fact they despise the lesser classes and their crass materialism. Their snobbery sits well with their ignorance of how the oiks’ toil and spending underpins their own smug middle-class comfort. If the yobs weren’t paying taxes there’d be very few comfortable public service and academic jobs for the chattering classes. Sorry about your second comment, I accidentally deleted it. Send it again if you wish.
Durkin’s point didn’t escape me – it bored me, haivng heard it so many times from people like him, Andrew Bolt and other sneering, self-righteous hard-right wankers.
I watched both the ’swindle’ “doco” and the ensuing interview and panel, and while I think Tony Jones made a major error in how he dealt with Durkin, his points and those made by the learned panelists still stood. Durkin is obviously a barrow-pusher with a laughably chequered history of backing losers, and his deliberate attempts to fudge figures, selectively quote experts and made wild, unsupportable claims was excruciating to watch.
So, let’s get Durkin’s point straight: the arguments for and against global warming are not really being played out by scientists, but by political warriors. So let’s slag off the ‘true’ opposition by making a couple of juvenile insults, so that we don’t have to deal with the sticky scientific issues. Too hard basket.
By the way Bernard you got the name wrong: it was ‘the Great Global Warming Swindle’.
“Juvenile insults” . . . “self-righteous hard-right wankers”!!!!!! Pot, kettle, black.
Umm, comment on actual subject forthcoming?
Did you actually watch said TV show?
Is that why you got the name wrong?
You’ve got no volley game Bernard, which would be no great crime except you served in the first place.