Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Slicing and dicing the quotes

When you see something that doesn’t sound right, check it out.

"Hoodwinking Americans is part of the environmentalist agenda. Environmental activist Stephen Schneider told Discover magazine in 1989: "We have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we might have. ... Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest." Walter E. Williams, April 25, CNS

I love Williams economic and social pieces, but this just didn’t sound right—too much like the pre-legal abortion stuff I’ve read. (numbers vastly inflated) So I decided to check out that quote by a scientist, because all sides slice, dice and edit, and at his webpage he explains it more fully--that it was not his intention to say that, it had been edited. So I read the full statement--and it still said to me, pretty much the same thing although it had been edited. . . when you are an "expert" you need to put things in sound bites so the general public will understand.
Hmmm. What makes it dishonest is Williams' use of the term "hoodwinking." I don't like it when the left does it; and right doesn't need to. Temperatures in earth climate models may well rise half a degree in the next century, but there's no evidence that taxing the rich more will do anything other than give governments--republics, fascists, communists, or dictatorships--more power.

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