The effort to gin up hysteria over the global warming issue has taken a decidedly dangerous turn. Dr. David Suzuki has repeatedly called for the incarceration of people who deviate from the party line on climate change. The National Post reports:
David Suzuki has called for political leaders to be thrown in jail for ignoring the science behind climate change.
At a Montreal conference last Thursday, the prominent scientist, broadcaster and Order of Canada recipient exhorted a packed house of 600 to hold politicians legally accountable for what he called an intergenerational crime. Though a spokesman said yesterday the call for imprisonment was not meant to be taken literally, Dr. Suzuki reportedly made similar remarks in an address at the University of Toronto last month.Read it here.
This is dangerous stuff and must be resisted. Scientific and other expert authorities cannot be allowed to dictate policy on global warming or anything else. They should be listened to, but their prescriptions must be balanced against other considerations -- political, economic, social, and even moral.
We must thank Dr. Suzuki for providing us with a glimpse into the authoritarian mindset of the global warming crowd.
By the way, the audience of 600 who heard this lunacy were not frightened by what they heard -- they enthusiastically applauded Dr. Suzuki's statements.
Be afraid of these people..., be very afraid!
This sort of thing is why Sen. McCain's enthusiasm for the claims of the climate change crowd makes me very, very nervous.
UPDATE:
Wretchard over at the Belmont Club notes the Orwellian resonances of Dr. Suzuki's remarks. [here]
UPDATE:
Suzuki is not alone. Witness this editorial by David Shearman, co-author [with Joseph Wayne Smith] of The Climate Change Challenge and the Failure of Democracy, which argues:
Read it here.Liberal democracy is sweet and addictive and indeed in the most extreme case, the USA, unbridled individual liberty overwhelms many of the collective needs of the citizens. The subject is almost sacrosanct and those who indulge in criticism are labeled as Marxists, socialists, fundamentalists and worse. These labels are used because alternatives to democracy cannot be perceived! Support for Western democracy is messianic as proselytised by a President leading a flawed democracy
There must be open minds to look critically at liberal democracy. Reform must involve the adoption of structures to act quickly regardless of some perceived liberties. It is not that liberal democracy cannot react once it sees a threat, for example, the speedy response to a recent international financial emergency. If governments can recognise a financial emergency and in an instant move heaven and earth (and billions of dollars, pounds sterling and euros) to contain it, why are they unable to do the same in response to a global environmental emergency? Quite simply our system is seen to live and breathe by the present economic system; the problem is that living and breathing within the confines of the world ecological systems is contrary to the activity of progress and development as defined within liberal democracy.
The Chinese decision [to ban plastic] shopping bags is authoritarian and contrasts with the voluntary non-effective solutions put forward in most Western democracies. We are going to have to look how authoritarian decisions based on consensus science can be implemented to contain greenhouse emissions. It is not that we do not tolerate such decisions in the very heart of our society, in wide range of enterprises from corporate empires to emergency and intensive care units. If we do not act urgently we may find we have chosen total liberty rather than life.
And there we have it -- the authoritarian [dare I say "fascist"?] tendency at the heart of the climate change movement. As I said before, be afraid of these people. Be very afraid! They must be resisted.
Oh, and regarding that mythical "scientific consensus" the henny pennys keep prattling on about. It seems that a growing number of scientists are looking at solar radiation output and worrying about a coming ice age. Read about it here.
