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DOUBT_THE_MOVIE

                                             March 6, 2018


I went over to Oakland's "New Parkway" to see
a documentary I've been interested in:

  "Mechants of Doubt" (2014)              Based on the book from
                                          2010 by Naomi Oreskes and
I was somewhat suprised how much I        Erik M. Conway...
liked this documentary-- though it
also had some of the flaws I was              MERCHANTS_OF_DOUBT
expecting to see-- while it covers
some of the material presented in the
book, it isn't limited to it: it
goes on, talking about the era of            It also covers some material
"Inconvenient Truth" and the following       I don't remember seeing in
engineered backlash.                         the book, in particular the
                                             strange case of flame retardents
I particularly liked seeing Michael          added to furniture.
Shermer the editor of "Skeptic" magazine,
who converted from "global warming"
denial to belief after many years, after
the proliferation of data got too much
for him.  He attends a libertarian
conference in Las Vegas every year, where     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Shermer
we see him arguing with people ranting
about how up-is-down and he's just
*lying* about the facts.



There's a lot of screen time given to
James Hansen-- he's given the                      There's also a lot of
hero treatment he deserves.                        screen time given to
                                                   Naomi Oreskes, without
This is however, no mention of the "N" word--      any hint of friction
and Hansen had come out as pro-nuclear back        between her beliefs and
in 2008, many years before this film-- and         Hansen's... but then it
near the movie's close there's a few               wasn't until the year
inspirational shots of *alternatives* that         after this movie that she
feature a big solar plant and a cluster of         published an attack on
windmills without a glimpse of one of those        Hansen accusing him of a
satantic hour-glass cooling towers.                "strange form of denial"
                                                   on renewable energy.


        "Merchants of Doubt" (both book and film) documents
        how hired shills and corrupt experts have been used
        to influence public opinion...  it perhaps
        inadvertantly suggests that this is the main
        problem, the only problem worth talking about.

        But it strikes me that there are other issues
        here that we're no where near getting a handle
        on-- monetary corruption isn't anywhere near
        the only factor.


          The reason these hired guns can have the effect
          that they have is because of a receptive
          audience.  The bad guys do feed people what they
          want to hear, but a big part of the problem is
          in wanting to hear it.

          The libertarian crazy in the audience ranting
          about how Shermer was lying about the the
          scientific consensus on global warming-- that    And Shermer indeed
          guy wasn't a hired shill, was he?                mentions the problem
                                                           of "tribalism".
             Guys like that are pretty easy to dismiss
             with their potbellies, balding gray hair        One of the few
             and thick glasses.                              places in the film.

             Another problem though is earnest telegenic
             young folks spouting factoids and figurines,
             e.g. about the evils of nuclear power.



   The showing of this documentary was organized by a
   climate change lobbying group, so at the close of
   this film was a "discussion session" from some
   volunteer lobbyists, who proceeded to stand-up and
   mouth profoundly dull platitudes about what they
   were doing-- which for all the world sounds
   completely useless, however much it may make them
   feel good about themselves.

   They are "laser-focused" on the national
   political scene, which is a "challenging" area
   to work in these days, their work isn't about
   arguing, it's about *building relationships*
   with congressmen and staff, so that later when      I'm clearly an outsider
   they bring in representatives of the community      in that world, but I
   they will be trusted as "acting in good faith".     can't imagine many
                                                       people in Washington
                                                       giving a shit about
                                                       "good faith".
       So these particular folks go and talk
       to our congressional representative
       about climate change: *Barbara Lee*.

       Like she needs to hear anything from them...




   These premises may very well be true:

      "The science is settled"

      "It doesn't do any good to argue the facts".
                                                      DOUBLE_BACKFIRE
   But I find them profoundly dull if not
   depressing.   So all that remains is
   dueling propandists?

   If humanity can't do any better than that
   maybe it doesn't deserve to survive.




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