ABC's 20/20 Anchorman gave
an interview in the Christian Science Monitor's A&E section which ran this past Friday (6/16). When asked about 'An Inconvenient Truth', he gave this incredible reply:
I will see it, I haven't yet.... I should see it before I can comment further. I wonder what he wants us to do? I fear that it is a conceit to think that man could do much about climate change. The climate has always changed. I suspect [Gore's proposals] would lead to vast government boondoggles along the lines of the synfuels project.
The utter conceit of such a statement prompted me to write this letter to the editor:
In your interview with ABC's 20/20 anchorman John Stossel, you allowed an incredible amount of conceit to pass by unnoted, but none more so than in your question regarding Mr. Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth".
When asked about the film, Mr. Stossel first admitted to not having seen it, and then went so far as to state that he SHOULDN'T comment without having done so, but then goes on to slam the film and Mr. Gore anyway.
Mr. Stossel states his opinion that it is 'conceit' to believe that mankind can do anything to effect global warming one way or the other, and notes that the climate has 'always' changed. Had he waited until seeing the film, he would have known that this view ignores the fact that, with a scientific record of over 650,000 years, temperature and CO2 levels are much higher now than ever before, and that there has always been a correlation between CO2 and global temperature.
It is Mr. Stossel's own conceit which allows him to spew uninformed opinions. If your readers want real facts to decide for themselves, please go and see the film.
You can write to the CSM editor here.
And, of course, go see the film!