I am a longtime fan of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). The JREF is perhaps best known for offering a million-dollar prize to anyone who can demonstrate paranormal or supernatural powers under controlled test conditions agreed to by both parties. Its founder, James Randi, is an expressive and enthusiastic debunker of pseudoscience (as well as a talented magician). I enjoy his weekly column/newsletter very much, and have a great deal of intellectual respect for him. He’s a neat guy.
So I was quite interested to read of his enthusiasm for An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore’s documentary on global warming and climate change.
I first “met” Al Gore at the Senate hearings on popular music lyrics in 1985, and I disliked him immediately because he was so sycophantic. (A U.S. senator kissing Frank Zappa’s ass? Somebody please fetch me the Pepto-Bismol.) Having encountered little to change that impression, I’ve not paid him much attention since the 2000 election, including his film.
I’ve been mostly ambivalent on global warming. It seems clear to me that it’s happening, but the question of whether the post-industrial human race is causing it (and to what degree) has generated some pretty obnoxious rhetoric at each end of the argument. Whether it’s coming from the far right or far left, rhetoric at the extremes often seeks to obfuscate at least as much as inform, and I always got all kinds of vibes in that vein from each side.
But then James Randi, a fellow who is the proverbial “180 out” from obfuscation of any kind, wrote that he had “abandoned any doubts that I may have had about the reality of our species’ contribution to global warming” after seeing Gore’s film. He also followed it up with this nearly immediately:
As soon as this item appeared here in SWIFT, a huge number of comments poured in from readers who disagreed with my take on the Gore film. Some of these caveats came from persons whose opinions I must consider very carefully, so I take this opportunity of assuring you all that I’m re-examining my position, and will get back here when I’ve considered the matter more fully.
I’ll be seeing An Inconvenient Truth soon. If James Randi appreciated it, I’m convinced that minimally, it is a powerful and persuasive instrument of communication, and as a student of such I’d find it stimulating from that perspective no matter what.
I’ll also be watching closely to see what else Randi has to say on the causes of global warming. I’d be inclined to take his ten-second analysis over many others’ full and leisurely consideration, and if he’s going to sit down and think about it, it’s guaranteed to be of significant value.
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