Al Gore on Reality, Fantasy

CBS is reporting that on this week's 60 Minutes Al Gore will compare people who doubt that global warming is caused by human activity to people who think that the moon landings were staged in Arizona or that the earth is flat.

First, we lecture Mr. Gore.

Here's how global warming skeptics are not like people who think the moon landings were fake. Global warming skeptics aren't conspiracy theorists, who believe against all probability that there are hundreds or thousands of people, sworn to secrecy, putting one over on the rest of the world. Rather, they are students of history who know that certain broad concepts can take hold in communities and become fashionable, even required for membership in those communities. They know further that climate is too complex ever to be attributed to a single cause or kind of cause.

Here's how global warming skeptics are not like people who think the earth is flat. One can demonstrate the curve of the earth to any sighted person by means of observation: watch the mast of the sailing ship appear on the horizon before the body of the ship. One cannot, however, directly observe the effects of human activity on the climate. One can only infer it from a broad array of suggestive data, and again, one cannot know to what degree the climate effects have specifically human causes.

So, Mr. Gore, please do not disparage--even "a little," as you characterize your remarks--those who remain skeptical about human causes of climate change. They're better at understanding the limits of evidence than are you.

Now we move from lecturing to celebrating.

CBS writes this story with the kind of mildly disparaging and incredulous tone normally reserved for religious conservatives and publicity-seeking demagogues. Gore is termed the "Self-avowed 'P.R. agent for the planet.'" He is said to have been "confronted" by reporter Leslie Stahl with the reality of skepticism. He is said to have formed "unlikely alliances" with the likes of Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson, hardly on CBS's good-citizenship list. They also show a photo and a video clip of Gore which can charitably be described as taken in an unflattering light.

This is not the end of the media wars. But it does show that even CBS can reach its limit with the liberal dog-and-pony show.