British scientist: Maybe we need to put democracy “on hold” to deal with climate change
posted at 5:23 pm on March 29, 2010 by Allahpundit
It’s been awhile since we had a good “global-warming alarmist advocates horrifying authoritarian solution” story on the site, hasn’t it? The last one, I think, was that Canadian columnist’s love letter to Chinese population control back in December. Come to think of it, we haven’t had much juicy atheist content or police taser viral videos lately, either.
Thank goodness for Sarahcuda. Without her, this blog would be unrecognizable.
Humans are too stupid to prevent climate change from radically impacting on our lives over the coming decades. This is the stark conclusion of James Lovelock, the globally respected environmental thinker and independent scientist who developed the Gaia theory.
It follows a tumultuous few months in which public opinion on efforts to tackle climate change has been undermined by events such as the climate scientists’ emails leaked from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the failure of the Copenhagen climate summit.
“I don’t think we’re yet evolved to the point where we’re clever enough to handle a complex a situation as climate change,” said Lovelock in his first in-depth interview since the theft of the UEA emails last November. “The inertia of humans is so huge that you can’t really do anything meaningful.”
One of the main obstructions to meaningful action is “modern democracy”, he added. “Even the best democracies agree that when a major war approaches, democracy must be put on hold for the time being. I have a feeling that climate change may be an issue as severe as a war. It may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a while.”
I was unaware that the “best democracies” agreed on that — America managed to hold an election during World War II — but if leading greens want to push this talking point, I’m happy to call it to the attention of the stupid, unevolved, voting public. Oh, here’s some related news for your pea brain: Turns out the feared slowdown in the Gulf stream due to global warming isn’t happening after all. Like the man says, it’s very complex. Just trust him.
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Finally, brass tacks.
RobCon on March 29, 2010 at 5:27 PM
\”It\’s a complex situation. Let\’s change it by fiat and when the unintended consequences occur, you\’ll know what we did wrong with our changes.\” Declarations of Dependence are apparently far more complicated and Declarations of Independence.
thirtypundit on March 29, 2010 at 5:28 PM
I’d hate to see who this guy thinks are the “best democracies” since it’s obvious that America isn’t one in his mind.
Scrappy on March 29, 2010 at 5:28 PM
“democracies on hold..” he forgot his sarc tag on that one. Is that like the proverbial “all economists and scientists agree that…*insert stupid socialist agenda here*”??
ted c on March 29, 2010 at 5:28 PM
And while we’re at it, why not just exterminate half the human race. They are, after all, the ones dong all the damage.
Save the planet!
UltimateBob on March 29, 2010 at 5:29 PM
Cross-posted from the headline thread:
…Lovelock is very religious, just not traditionally so. He worships Gaia. He hates all “excess” humanity because we make Mother Earth cry.
From Wikipedia:
Unless you’re a socialist academic, you’re part of the excess population. His ilk doesn’t think you deserve a vote.
theCork on March 29, 2010 at 5:29 PM
Yeah but he’s talking about “The best democracies” not America.
Oldnuke on March 29, 2010 at 5:29 PM
Maybe this idiot should read this story today.
http://www.iceagenow.com/global_warming-obituary_and_post_mortem.htm
txdoc on March 29, 2010 at 5:29 PM
we held an election during the Civil War and WW II.
rob verdi on March 29, 2010 at 5:29 PM
No,Gaia is so pathetically weak and impotent of a god that mere humans have been able to alter her grand design.
fourdeucer on March 29, 2010 at 5:29 PM
Howz ’bout we do away with democracy for a bit, to take care of the freedom hating b@@tards that are effin up the whole world for those of us that enjoy life?
TugboatPhil on March 29, 2010 at 5:29 PM
Yea let’s do some dekulakization while we’re at it.
blatantblue on March 29, 2010 at 5:29 PM
I have a suggestion for Dr. Lovelock.
Lead by example and off yourself. One less carbon footprint to worry about.
Dr. Dog on March 29, 2010 at 5:30 PM
Part of that, I would hope, is because the curtain covering this *conspiracy* has been ripped asunder.
If it weren’t for Obama pushing forward his socialist agenda without any thought of the ramifications in reality I think the whole world would be settling into a much better place with America leading the charge. As it is… we’re turning into a third world nation where the only reality and science allowed are the ones agreed upon by the elitists who have to tell us what to think and counter facts must be buried.
Skywise on March 29, 2010 at 5:30 PM
Can anyone name any Democracy put on hold for a war outside of the concept of Dictatorship in the old Roman Republic?
rob verdi on March 29, 2010 at 5:30 PM
Don’t forget all things “freaky-deaky”.
rihar on March 29, 2010 at 5:31 PM
Ok, let’s start with his half.
Oldnuke on March 29, 2010 at 5:31 PM
i found some video of Dr. Lovelock…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iesXUFOlWC0
max1 on March 29, 2010 at 5:31 PM
i need a freaky deaky post
blatantblue on March 29, 2010 at 5:32 PM
I’ve got a better one from our local rag:
http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=1332567
TheUnrepentantGeek on March 29, 2010 at 5:32 PM
Hmmmmmmmm … Eerily similar to Michael Crichton’s “State of Fear”. Add to that the enviro-communists will do anything to achieve the goals of control through climate and it makes one wonder.
darwin on March 29, 2010 at 5:32 PM
Germany, they were a democracy before WWII and then right after they became one again.
Oldnuke on March 29, 2010 at 5:32 PM
Humans are too stupid to prevent climate change from radically impacting on our lives over the coming decades. This is the stark conclusion of James Lovelock, the
globally respected environmental thinker and independent scientist who developed the Gaia theoryleader of the Stupid Humans.Patrick S on March 29, 2010 at 5:33 PM
What I most love about this article is that AGW frauds, like this dude, don’t even know the jig is up. They double down with more and more outrageous claims and ideas and they don’t even know the rug has already been pulled out from under them. It’s pretty funny.
AUINSC on March 29, 2010 at 5:33 PM
Which part of the U.S. Constitution does one go to for “put democracy on hold”? Is that in the freakin’ commerce clause, too?
Rational Thought on March 29, 2010 at 5:33 PM
The next step of the deranged climatists, is to support the ban of anti-biotics, and life saving drugs to bring the population down to a more acceptable level.
portlandon on March 29, 2010 at 5:34 PM
Um… yeah. It’s uh, somewhere in the back.
rihar on March 29, 2010 at 5:34 PM
Maybe we need to put grants “on hold” to deal with technocracy.
MadisonConservative on March 29, 2010 at 5:35 PM
Why yes … according to crr6, our resident Constitutional scholar, the commerce clause can be used to put democracy on hold.
darwin on March 29, 2010 at 5:35 PM
I believe the Constitution says when Democrats or liberals are in charge we don’t need a democracy. But if Republicans are in charge filibusters and holds are vital parts of government.
taney71 on March 29, 2010 at 5:36 PM
Just for fun, what if someone in the pro-life movement were quoted as saying that human development were just too complex of an issue for the idiot public to understand and that it might be necessary to suspend democracy to fix that issue since we can’t trust people to fix it for themselves?
My guess is that it would be national news and pro-abortion folks (and even “I don’t really care” folks would be talking about right-wing facism).
JadeNYU on March 29, 2010 at 5:37 PM
Way ahead of you, pal.
Jim-Rose on March 29, 2010 at 5:37 PM
Of course… Once we vote to repeal the health care bill, the Congress can just appropriate us all because we’ll be impacting the economies of each state which, in turn, affects the economies of all other states… therefore interstate commerce, therefore controllable by the legislature.
“It’s all constitutional.” – Pelosi
“I don’t get involved in process” – Obama
“We make up the rules”
Skywise on March 29, 2010 at 5:38 PM
Thank God we have such smart people looking out for us.
Democracy helped end the Cold War, just as it seemed it was escalating…. Well, all the smart people were telling us it was escalating into nuclear destruction at least.
stldave on March 29, 2010 at 5:38 PM
So the global warming mythologists are going to claim they’ve been selling their fraud across state lines, and therefore it must be accepted as truth? Well, it’s a crazy word, I guess.
Also, let’s take a moment and just relish the fact that the loony left hasn’t been able to dupe a majority of the public about any of their agenda: the majority does not buy global warming, does not buy socialism, does not buy the tea-partiers-are-racist smear, does not buy the “you’re gonna love health care when we pass it” joke. Everything they’ve got, the public isn’t buying. I like that.
Rational Thought on March 29, 2010 at 5:39 PM
This sounds like a Sci-Fi 50′s movie horror flick,
Inz *orderinzee to savz zee plant,vee must exterminate
zee humans,to save zee humans,for they arez vay too
stupidinzee to realize zee horrificinzee damage that
zee humaninzee as causedinzee!!!!!(snark)
*(canopfor apologizes for the b*sterdization of the
German language).
canopfor on March 29, 2010 at 5:40 PM
The commerce clause was actually the Eleventh Commandment, but Moses didn’t know what it meant so he only spoke of ten.
darwin on March 29, 2010 at 5:40 PM
Heres the cure!
======================
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/1ucifer/exterminate.jpg
canopfor on March 29, 2010 at 5:41 PM
MB4 on March 29, 2010 at 5:41 PM
Apparently global warming causes precipitation to cross state lines influencing commerce … or something like that.
darwin on March 29, 2010 at 5:41 PM
There has got to be some really juicy,
e-mails on this,I bet!!
canopfor on March 29, 2010 at 5:42 PM
crr6 would argue it was.
chemman on March 29, 2010 at 5:43 PM
British heretic should be the headline here. In fact, much of the thinking coming out of that island should be labeled as such. Perhaps mr. gaia would like to impose sharia in order to help combat his pet funding project. It is people like this that think they are a god and should control the world’s thinking, with the help of gaia, of course.
simeon on March 29, 2010 at 5:44 PM
Would a Thousand years be enough?
MB4 on March 29, 2010 at 5:44 PM
Sharia, Enviro-totalitarianism … is there a difference?
darwin on March 29, 2010 at 5:45 PM
I thought that liberals were suppose to be at least a little subtle when advocating fascism.
MB4 on March 29, 2010 at 5:46 PM
Come to think of it home sells were depressed because of all of that snow last month.
chemman on March 29, 2010 at 5:47 PM
Fascist scientist: Maybe we need to put democracy “on hold” to deal
MB4 on March 29, 2010 at 5:41 PM
MB4: I’ve got a gut feeling this could be made into a
James Bond movie,with Al Gore,in a hollowed out
mountain,as the evil genius,oh wait…Iran al-
ready has that covered!!:)
canopfor on March 29, 2010 at 5:48 PM
These whack jobs are never going to drop this BS. Hey, Jim, may I call you Jim? Go shove it.
Kissmygrits on March 29, 2010 at 5:48 PM
Are any of the industrialized countries that don’t have a democracy considered green?
Last I heard, China, for example, is one of the world’s worst polluters…
SPCOlympics on March 29, 2010 at 5:50 PM
I can see it all now. Soon they will be demanding that everyone wear a Burka to keep their carbon exhalations in.
MB4 on March 29, 2010 at 5:50 PM
Right, but under normal circumstances, snow would stay within it’s respective state boundry. The awesome power of global warming forces the snow, against it’s will, to cross state lines therefore making the commerce clause applicable. At least that how crr6 explained it to me … and I believe her.
darwin on March 29, 2010 at 5:51 PM
I’ve been called a lot of things in my life, but ‘not evolved enough’ wasn’t one of them. Until now. Thanks, you green f***head…
joejm65 on March 29, 2010 at 5:51 PM
So what are they…about 0 for 100 on predictions now? Put’s them about even with astrology…no, I think astrology get’s more predictions right.
AUINSC on March 29, 2010 at 5:51 PM
Bacteria and Viruses have rights under the constitution don’t you know.
chemman on March 29, 2010 at 5:52 PM
Nope.
darwin on March 29, 2010 at 5:52 PM
Yes, that is the Reich amount of time.
rbj on March 29, 2010 at 5:53 PM
If it ends with James Bond leaving Al Gore in his underwear out to freeze in his global warming, I like it already.
MB4 on March 29, 2010 at 5:53 PM
shame on you chemman you are a speciest you left out protists and fungi.
chemman on March 29, 2010 at 5:53 PM
Jawohl!
MB4 on March 29, 2010 at 5:55 PM
Translation:
There are too many of you people who are resisting the beautiful utopia we have planned and we need to weed you out. Henceforth, anyone who does not agree with us will be thrown off a cliff for the good of Gaia. IF you evolve on the way down, fine, otherwise Goodbye.
Lily on March 29, 2010 at 5:57 PM
One of the main obstructions to meaningful action is “modern democracy”, he added. “Even the best democracies agree that when a major war approaches, democracy must be put on hold for the time being. I have a feeling that climate change may be an issue as severe as a war. It may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a while.”
=================================================
Democracy on hold,me thinks,it depends what
country your in!
And,LoveLock wants to go to DEFCON 1 on climate
change!
Bats are lose in his belfry I’m afraid!!
canopfor on March 29, 2010 at 5:57 PM
Because socialism/communism/totalitarianism and dictatorships have been so good for the environment, you know.
ZenDraken on March 29, 2010 at 5:58 PM
Thank God we have Liplock to save us from ourselves!!!!
What? Lovelock?
Oops, my bad…
karl9000 on March 29, 2010 at 5:59 PM
Dr. Lovelock can sod off.
Americannodash on March 29, 2010 at 6:00 PM
canopfor on March 29, 2010 at 5:48 PM
————————
If it ends with James Bond leaving Al Gore in his underwear out to freeze in his global warming, I like it already.
MB4 on March 29, 2010 at 5:53 PM
MB4:Now,that would be priceless!:)
canopfor on March 29, 2010 at 6:02 PM
Borg…effete, deluded, brainwashed Euroweenie poofter borg.
Itchee Dryback on March 29, 2010 at 6:04 PM
Thank God we have Liplock to save us from ourselves!!!!
What? Lovelock?
Oops, my bad…
karl9000 on March 29, 2010 at 5:59 PM
karl9000: I was thinking the same thing,what kind of name
is LoveLock,sounds like a name,one would find in
the adult entertainment business!!
canopfor on March 29, 2010 at 6:06 PM
Well ya know, they were hoping for a more gradual process, but now that the cat’s out of the bag, they need to try a Hail Mary to get to the end game they always intended.
manofaiki on March 29, 2010 at 6:06 PM
Yea let’s do some dekulakization while we’re at it.
blatantblue on March 29, 2010 at 5:29 PM
blatantblue: I’m with ya BB,there needs to be a
deKOOKalation as well,before some
body gets hurt!!:)
canopfor on March 29, 2010 at 6:09 PM
Quite. Linda Lovelock? Not that I would watch something like that. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Not that…
Never mind.
I have a faulty memory, so I had to Google the villains in the old TV show “Wild, Wild West”. The name was Loveless.
Too bad…
karl9000 on March 29, 2010 at 6:10 PM
Hey, how’s about we put the AGW hysteria on hold for a while – just while were dealing with ‘war’ on Statism.
Chip on March 29, 2010 at 6:11 PM
These lefties just leave my head spinning. This libtard thinks that there should be fewer people on the planet in order to save it but Nancy, Harry, and Barry think that we should have long, carbon-emitting lives so that is why they passed,ahem, “health care reform”. They want to kill babies in the womb but those who make it to birth should have cradle to grave handouts. Paper bags are bad and plastic bags are good. Oops, new matra “plastic bags are bad and paper bags are good.” Global warming causes lack of snow. No wait, it causes tons of snow. Another wizard of smart opens his mouth.
frizzyb on March 29, 2010 at 6:16 PM
From the headline thread:
The National Socialist Democrats don’t seem to care that they are pissing of the voters – will this type suggestion be a one-off, or the start of a trend?
Chip on March 29, 2010 at 6:22 PM
Hell, America managed to hold an election during our own Civil War!
JohnJ on March 29, 2010 at 6:31 PM
Maybe we need to put the whole lie of man made climate change on hold. Permanently. Then (stealing a favorite Leftist tactic) send Gaia worshipers to camp where they can clear the environmental hazards from their moldy brains and then learn a little American History from someone other than Howard Zinn. I’m thinking Liz Cheney would make a great camp counselor.
Buy Danish on March 29, 2010 at 6:35 PM
Yeah, but this is different…this is a war against
capitalism/freedomGlobal Warming…so it’s about something, you know, really important.AUINSC on March 29, 2010 at 6:38 PM
I’m in a magnanimous mood.
Let’s ship this bastard to the South Pole with some orange rope….
We could even pre-spell the rope for him:
H-E-L-P C-O-L-D
Lockstein13 on March 29, 2010 at 6:44 PM
War is where democracies have flourished, where they have shined, where they have shown true humanity.
We still had elections, we still had our freedom, we still prospered, and we, after winning, showed great compassion to whom we defeated.
No, my little rat minded fellow, democracy’s finest moments were during war, and it’s standards never wavered, was never put on “hold”, it was put on display.
We didn’t gas Jews, or march “J@ps” on an endless death march, starve our prisoners, or behead our enemies…unlike the regimes I suspect you so honor…
right2bright on March 29, 2010 at 6:52 PM
Keeping running your elitist mouths off, AGW zealots. Your time before the legal bar is coming and when it does, I, for one, am perfectly willing to forego the expense and delay of the trial and skip ahead to the penalty and sentencing phase of your prosecution for fraud and overt theft of public funds.
ya2daup on March 29, 2010 at 6:56 PM
Fixed his quote:
“I don’t think we’re yet evolved to the point where we’re clever enough to
handle a complex a situation as climate change,realize that every generation there are a group of elderly doom and gloomers that think the world is coming to an end on their watch.”albill on March 29, 2010 at 6:58 PM
MORE FREAKY DEAKY! It drives the trolls insane.
scalleywag on March 29, 2010 at 7:00 PM
As Alla said, elections can easily be carried out during wartime.
We Canucks did it once during WWI and twice during WWII.
Jim708 on March 29, 2010 at 7:10 PM
First he babbles his green drivel and then ends by expressing disgust for the cooked science. So far gone that he cannot connect the obvious. The data is crap and so is the concept of AGW.
OT ……as even Allah expressed recognition of a monotone in topics of late. Here is a speech that you should listen to before you tuck yourselves in tonight. If you believe this man then all the overt events of the current days mean very little.
BL@KBIRD on March 29, 2010 at 7:13 PM
As I said when this came up in the new section, it would appear that the globe has warmed to the temperature of the Reichstag fire.
Blacklake on March 29, 2010 at 7:14 PM
Lovelock is a very bright man who has fallen hook, line, and sinker for the myth of the radical greenies that humanity is a kind of plague upon the Earth, and ‘the planet’s’ ‘sustainability’ requires severe population control. Were these people not so firmly insinuated into positions of power (viz. the Presidential Science Advisor, John Holder, an extremist disciple of Paul Ehrlich), they would be laughable. As it is, their wild fantasies (‘the Gaia hypothesis’) if not countered pose a serious threat to future progress and enlightenment. Climategate is a boon for having exposed the lastest weapon in these whackos’ arsenal as a fraud.
MrLynn on March 29, 2010 at 7:20 PM
Question for Jim708….
Who was the only elected politician to win the Victoria Cross while a member of government? ; )
BL@KBIRD on March 29, 2010 at 7:21 PM
Maybe we need to put the republic on hold… while we forcible expel all of the global warming cultists from this country…
Danny on March 29, 2010 at 7:29 PM
canopfor on March 29, 2010 at 6:06 PM
—————————————
Quite. Linda Lovelock? Not that I would watch something like that. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Not that…
Never mind.
I have a faulty memory, so I had to Google the villains in the old TV show “Wild, Wild West”. The name was Loveless.
Too bad…
karl9000 on March 29, 2010 at 6:10 PM
karl9000:I think its,Linda Lovelace,ahem,your thinking
about!!:)
canopfor on March 29, 2010 at 7:32 PM
I think a commentor on the Guardian best summed up the real problem:
“I don’t agree that Democracy is the problem. Actually I think it is a lack of real democracy that is part of the problem. We need a democracy that encourages active involvement of all citizens rather than making cynics of us all by this only just representative democracy that is corrupted by the need for large corporate financing of political parties and the need to return favours. So I am not at all in favour of giving up even the limited democracy we have but instead think we should be fighting for more.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/mar/29/james-lovelock-climate-change
Dark-Star on March 29, 2010 at 7:32 PM
Given the AGW community’s penchant for scientific Stalinism, this statement makes sense.
spmat on March 29, 2010 at 7:51 PM
Here,s a idea let,s just eliminate all human,s on earth and then presto no more climate change oil spills just the Cristen earth with all the polar bears .What a wonderful place it will be.
thmcbb on March 29, 2010 at 7:53 PM
“Now that our scientific basis is collapsing like the house of cards we always knew it was, let’s move straight into the authoritarian phase of the plan.”
Uh, how about not, dude.
NoDonkey on March 29, 2010 at 8:07 PM
There is plenty of evidence that top down strategies can work to preserve the environment. It worked in 17 Century Japan and is the main reason why they have 80% of their land forested today despite the obvious population pressures.
Something similar happened in the Dominican Republic during the 50′s under Trujillo, also known as ‘the Boss” who instituted similar measures in order to stop the slash and burn farming and expand forests. Look at any satellite photo of the whole island and you can clearly see the border with Haiti because it is where all the trees stop.
Those are two examples which immediately come to mind.
A range of case studies are in Jared Diamond’s book Collapse, How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.
lexhamfox on March 29, 2010 at 8:19 PM
I was punning (at least attempting to) on the Lovlock. I know who Lovelace was…
So, very, very sad…
karl9000 on March 29, 2010 at 8:27 PM
Of course, if you tell that scientist and other people of his ilk to die first. They will state that they are too important and too useful to be the first to die. They will point to groups of people they deem not worthy to live on this earth to die and they will happily volunteer themselves to push the button to exterminate those they deem lower than themselves.
But don’t call them Nazis, call them Earth lovers.
DinobotPrime on March 29, 2010 at 8:36 PM
That’s why during WWII the 1942 Congressional elections, 1940 and 1944 Presidential election were suspended. See, it say right here in Wikipedia… uh, never mind.
AaronGuzman on March 29, 2010 at 8:41 PM
As a cold hearted, mean ole, knuckle dragging conservative who sees things only in black and white, the only way to help the poor ole polar bears is to kill them all.
Same goes for the starving children in all the 3rd world countries I keep seeing advertisements for on late night tv.
Kill them all and the problem’s solved.
JUST KIDDING.
BowHuntingTexas on March 29, 2010 at 9:02 PM
Liberalism will eventually lead to bloodshed as this man has demonstrated.
Just like every similar ideology i.e. Communism, Marxism, etc…
It is about the quaint desire to control others.
scotash on March 29, 2010 at 9:29 PM
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