Psychologists define cognitive dissonance as the angst caused by possessing two conflicting thoughts at the same time.
According to prominent climate realist Philip Stott, this is the condition global warming obsessed media members are currently experiencing as a ten-year cooling trend -- clearly visible to all that can read a thermometer! -- refutes Nobel Laureate Al Gores's junk science concerning increased CO2 emissions causing rising temperatures.
As Stott wrote Tuesday (emphasis added throughout):
I must ask a very serious and urgent question of our media. Why do you continue to talk glibly about current climate ‘warming’ when it is now widely acknowledged that there has been no ‘global warming’ for the last ten years, a cooling trend that many think may continue for at least another ten years? How can you talk of the climate ‘warming’ when, on the key measures, it isn’t? And now a leading Mexican scientist is even predicting that we may enter another ‘Little Ice Age’ - a ‘pequeña era de hielo’.
Such media behaviour exhibits a classic condition known as ‘cognitive dissonance’. This is experienced when belief in a grand narrative persists blindly even when the facts in the real world begin to contradict what the narrative is saying. Sadly, our media have come to have a vested interest in ‘global warming’, as have so many politicians and activists. They are terrified that the public may begin to question everything if climate is acknowledged, on air and in the press, not to be playing ball with their pet trope.
After discussing the cooling that has occurred since 1998, and some of the possible reasons, Stott continued to point to media's psychological malady:
So, why are newspapers, magazines, radio, and television not telling us all this? Because they have invested so much effort over the last ten years in hyping up the exact opposite. Moreover, it is especially pathetic sophistry to claim, as dedicated ‘global warmers’ are wont to do, that ‘natural forces’ are having the temerity to “suppress” ‘global warming’. The fundamental point has always been this: climate change is governed by hundreds of factors, or variables, and the very idea that we can manage climate change predictably by understanding and manipulating at the margins one politically-selected factor is as misguided as it gets. [...]
If this cooling phase really does persist, it will be illuminating to observe how long our media can maintain its befuddled state of ‘cognitive dissonance’.
To best exemplify the problem media are facing, one must go back to 1957 when cognitive dissonance was first proposed as a psychological affectation (forgive the Wiki citation, but it sums it up best):
Social psychologist Leon Festinger first proposed the theory in 1957 after the publication of his book When Prophecy Fails, observing the counterintuitive belief persistence of members of a UFO doomsday cult and their increased proselytization after the leader's prophecy failed. The failed message of Earth's destruction, purportedly sent by aliens to a woman in 1956, became a disconfirmed expectancy that increased dissonance between cognitions, thereby causing most members of the impromptu cult to lessen the dissonance by accepting a new prophecy: that the aliens had instead spared the planet for their sake.
Does that mean climate alarmists like Gore are going to continue to push this myth even if global temperatures continue to decline in the coming decades?
Well, if you had all of your money invested in this canard, wouldn't YOU do everything within your power to perpetuate the hysteria?
Yes, that's a rhetorical question, because most people reading this have scruples, unlike those that certainly know they're lying to the public for their own financial gain.
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters.



















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I find myself getting more
August 19, 2008 - 18:53 ET by mandrakeI find myself getting more and more confused over this issue. I believe I have read posts by folks such as Popular Tech that Mars is getting hotter because the sun is heating up. Now I read that the earth is getting cooler. None of this makes any sense..I think I'll vote for Ron Paul.
mandrake, science always is ah changing... like the sun cycle
August 19, 2008 - 19:13 ET by upcountrywaterAt one time the planets were heating up, as late as last 2006. Now the sun sun cycle is at a nosunspot zone; today.. More clouds, cooler weather ahead.
That's why FAY didn't become a # 5 hurricane...and the next 4 weeks are the maximum for storm strength.
Hope we do not get an early freeze.
plug the nose & vote for mc rino
Liberals62%
IranianUranium
Climate Change on other Planets
August 20, 2008 - 02:45 ET by PopularTechThe point is that there is evidence of climate change on other planets which means the real source of climate change is the sun not CO2.
- Carbon Dioxide is 95.3% of the atmosphere of Mars (NASA)
- Average Temperature on Mars is -80°F (NASA)
- Carbon Dioxide is 0.038% of the atmosphere of Earth (NASA)
- Average Temperature on Earth is 57°F (NASA)
Jupiter - New Storm on Jupiter Hints at Climate Change (Space.com)
Jupiter - Researcher Predicts Global Climate Change On Jupiter As Planet's Spots Disappear (Science Daily)
Jupiter - Turbulent Storms May Be Sign Of Global Climate Change (Science Daily)
Mars - Climate Change Hits Mars (The Times, UK)
Mars - Evidence Of Climate Change, Icy Region Observed On Mars (Science Daily)
Mars - Evidence for Recent Climate Change on Mars (Malin Space Science Systems)
Mars - Global Warming Hits Mars Too (Mars Daily)
Mars - Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says (Khabibullo Abdusamatov, Ph.D. Astrophysicist)
Mars - NASA's Global Surveyor Sees Possible Climate Change On Mars (Science Daily)
Neptune - Suggestive correlations between the brightness of Neptune, solar variability, and Earth's temperature (AGU)
Neptune Moon Triton - MIT researcher finds evidence of global warming on Neptune's largest moon (MIT)
Pluto - Global Warming on Pluto Puzzles Scientists (Space.com)
Saturn - Hot shot of Saturn's 'hot spot' (BBC)
Saturn Moon Enceladus - Saturn moon delights and baffles (BBC)
Uranus - Hubble Discovers Dark Cloud In The Atmosphere Of Uranus (Science Daily)
Uranus - Planet Uranus rings the changes (BBC)
Unstoppable Solar Cycles (Video) (10min)
The Anti 'Man-Made' Global Warming Resource
it's not that confusing
August 20, 2008 - 14:53 ET by wizardjrMandrake, the temperatures of several planets we watch (including Earth) heated up simultaneously up until about ten years ago (1998). At that time solar activity waned and the temperatures plateaued and then started downwards. The last year or so has seen the greatest amount of cooling (on Earth). Globally the temperatures dropped so hard we've just about wiped out a hundred years of increasing temperatures. If this winter goes as cold as the last one, that'll be it for "warming". We'll be at the global temperature of roughly the year 1850.
The AGW/CC hoax is politics, not science.
August 19, 2008 - 19:04 ET by Joe C.The "theory" of man-made global warming/climate change has been
disproven! Anyone that believes otherwise is a supporter of economic terrorism (or
just plain stupid). All the facts are here.
someone once said there's a
August 19, 2008 - 19:11 ET by TruthMongersomeone once said there's a sucker born every minute
that's alot of liberals
Journalism is the opium of the liberals
there's a sucker born every minute
August 20, 2008 - 08:49 ET by ts88Hi TruthMonger, This story fits just right with the global warming lie!! Pat
http://www.historybuff.com/library/refbarnum.html
Isn't their excuse that
August 19, 2008 - 19:01 ET by MidAmericaIsn't their excuse that there was no credible evidence the reason they couldn't report on the john edwards affair? They couldn't just report 'rumors' and 'theories'.
Translation
August 19, 2008 - 19:03 ET by nofateHere is the English translation of that article by the Mexican Scientist, Victor Manuel Velasco Herrera, according to Babel Fish:
"The future is not set. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves."
michaelyon-online.com
Global Warming Consensus
August 19, 2008 - 19:05 ET by allanfDon't you guys know there is a journalistic consensus on Global Warming? How better to advise us than egotistical journalists.
Check out this image of the
August 19, 2008 - 19:08 ET by nofateCheck out this image of the sun, then check this site for recent sunspot activity. These watermelons are due for a big letdown, sooner rather than later.
"The future is not set. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves."
michaelyon-online.com
Financila gain and of
August 19, 2008 - 19:10 ET by bigtimerFinancila gain and of course political power...at all of our expense.
Speaking of that...gosh we had over a hundred degrees here the last few days...now we'll have to start a fire in about three hours....I just love those global warming dips...especially in August.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
Whether the Earth's mean temperature
August 19, 2008 - 19:30 ET by R D HelmWhether the Earth's mean temperature warms, cools, or remains stagnant, it will always be blamed on the actions of humans.
The very idea that man's activities have any affect whatsoever on the weather, temperature, or (lol) the phases of the moon is, and has always been, an absurdity.
AGW, or whatever they may wind up calling it down the road, is nothing but a global income redistribution scheme.
It is a total and utter fraud, and I am now questioning the intellectual aptitude of anyone who still buys into it, to the point where I no-longer can even be civil to them.
Which is why I pretty much stay away from AGW related threads these days.
-Dave.
Question their intellectula aptitude
August 19, 2008 - 19:39 ET by Nortonalecor their motives.
Nortonalec
Norton...
August 19, 2008 - 19:46 ET by Clear thinkerAlways!
Making Fun of AGW http://giovanniworld.wordpress.com/
45 Communist Goals for America http://www.nationmakers.com/com_goal
The whole Global
August 19, 2008 - 20:55 ET by Kenny BunkportThe whole Global Warming>CO2>Human Activity chain has always boiled down to one tenet: Man is the supreme intelligence. As such, he is the creator and destroyer of worlds.
As with several other "scientific" endeavors, the goal is not so much enlightenment, but the desire to lock "God" out of the picture. CO2 is the only avenue to put Man in control. Solar activity and natural variation are out of man's hands. Hence, they are the providence of "gods".
Every other abuse of AGW theory results from opportunism.
A gun in your hand beats a cop on the phone.
Noel, yeah but... How do
August 19, 2008 - 19:38 ET by Clear thinkerNoel, yeah but...
How do we fight it when we have the APA wanting to help brainwash the rest of us that still use common sense as a guide?
45 Communist Goals for America http://www.nationmakers.com/com_goals.htm
Making fun of AGW http://giovanniworld.w
If temperatures do
August 19, 2008 - 19:44 ET by ddmIf temperatures do decrease, Algore will insist we are making progress thus proving we can lower temperatures through legislation and being green, but that won't be enough. It will get spun by the old media as progress, "but a lot more work" to be done.
And Yet They Wonder...
August 19, 2008 - 19:51 ET by geoff.gale...why their readers and viewers disappear in droves, and why even CNN, the most trusted of the lot has a 70% disbelief rate.
Someday, I don't know when, there will be a great reckoning for all those who have drunk the MMCC kool-aid. Rest assured that by the time it happens, the MSM will have thought through a set of excuses they can offer up to defend their behaviour. I suspect that academia will be where the "great reckoning" will be felt the most harshly. After all, for almost 15 years, lot's of research money has been siphoned from other, worthwhile research proposals to fund MMCC studies; careers have been made and destroyed; many have abandoned prized scholarly principles and ethics over MMCC. When the dam bursts and the reckoning begins, I suspect it will be done with a vengeance in the ivy-covered halls of academe.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
- Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)
www.conservativeboot...
I have a feeling something
August 19, 2008 - 20:11 ET by Insane ChipmunkI have a feeling something different may happen...
Once the cooling is more obvious Algore and friends will take credit for it, and probably demand some payoff for their services.
iC... I wouldn't doubt it
August 19, 2008 - 20:20 ET by bigtimeriC...
I wouldn't doubt it one bit....
He would say he saved us all from the Planetary Emergency he warned us about....
With the talking heads spinning away for him.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
BT, IC, I have to
August 19, 2008 - 21:11 ET by Sick-n-TiredBT, IC,
I have to disagree with you both; there will be no credit to be had because there will be no pay-off. If humans aren't influencing the climate through CO2 emissions from hydrocarbons then Gore makes no money on his carbon credit boondongle. If the temperatures are decreasing their M.O. switches from 'global warming' to 'climate change'.
Also, is it me, or does it seem now that oil and gas prices (at the pumps that is) are coming down we are starting to see the ugly fake monster known as 'global warming/climate change' rearing its hideous head again?? The left must have a hierarchy of pet agendas to promote. Big oil isn't directly in the gunsights anymore so 'warm up' the climate crisis stories again........
"Controlling carbon is a bureaucrat's dream. If you control carbon, you control life," Richard Lindzen - March 2007.
----
August 19, 2008 - 22:05 ET by dahliatraversOnce the cooling is more obvious Algore and friends will take credit for it
They would have no basis to do so. The theory of AGW, in addition to being wrong, is too specific for them to duck out or change their tune in the face of pesky things like facts.
See, the greenhouse gases generated by man has caused and will continue to cause global temperatures to go up, up, up with no end in sight.
Except whoops, no, that's not what's happening. Man's greenhouse gases have increased (because developing countries want silly things like heat, electricity and cars) but global temperatures have not. They are now flat line from the 1800's, when global warming was supposed to have started.
So, if Al G and James H try to claim that they accomplished something, they will be ripping apart their own theory.
P.S. Just one more time, Al, let's hear you say it:
"The planet has a fever"
Ahhh.
Noel, have you seen this on
August 19, 2008 - 20:19 ET by Clear thinkerNoel, have you seen this on Climate Corruption?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/18/nyregion/18windmills.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Making Fun of AGW http://giovanniworld.wordpress.com/
45 Communist Goals for America http://www.nationmakers.com/com_goal
Great Article
August 20, 2008 - 06:33 ET by nofateJust a few excerpts:
It's about the money. It always has been. Watermelons.
"The future is not set. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves."
michaelyon-online.com
In his blood to lie
August 19, 2008 - 21:01 ET by dboDoes that mean climate alarmists like Gore are going to continue to
push this myth even if global temperatures continue to decline in the
coming decades?
When asked in an interview about whether or not he was intentionally scaring people with exaggerated predictions in An Inconvenient Truth in order to motivate them, Gore replied
"Nobody is interested in solutions if they don't think there's a
problem. Given that starting point, I believe it is appropriate to have
an over-representation of factual presentations about how dangerous [AGW] is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are..."
Sounds like he has a
August 19, 2008 - 21:13 ET by Kenny BunkportSounds like he has a promising second career selling vitamin supplements.
A gun in your hand beats a cop on the phone.
Just for its and giggles
August 19, 2008 - 22:27 ET by JoggerNotThere must be, MUST BE Somwhere, a few millionares who would consider gathering together, to form a new "mainstream" cable news network, featuring a RIGHT way of thinking, all the time.
FOX is sometimes there, but here is a chance for someone to make Trillions...IMHO..
If Rush can do it, So can You! ...We...Us..
its and giggles, any thoughts?
JN... Couldn't agree
August 19, 2008 - 22:34 ET by bigtimerJN...
Couldn't agree more....it has been suggested my times before....I'm still waiting.
Like anyone knows it will take money...lot's and lot's of money as the song goes.... it would make back all and gain tons in the long run.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
Thanks BT
August 19, 2008 - 23:35 ET by JoggerNotI Allways Apprieciate and look forward to reading your comments here. I cant tell you how many times!..
Why do every day peons not stand up for the right thing, and allow the evil to rule?
A new, cable channel, right leaning, is begging to RULE.
We are here..waiting for it!
I am aware of the FAIRNESS DOCTRIN. So...I will prolly go to my end without any fairness..
Shucks..But, I still think it can be done!
global warming -> climate change
August 19, 2008 - 22:57 ET by AlexaShruggedAfter decades of the phrase "global warming," now all of a sudden it is referred to as "climate change" because the earth has cooled since 1998. That's an inconvenient truth.
http://www.AlexaShrugged.com
It's a lie!
August 20, 2008 - 14:38 ET by wizardjrCommon now, "...caused by possessing two conflicting thoughts at the same time." Now you expect me to believe libtards can actually possess two thoughts at the same time? Yeah. Sure. Since when?
;-))