Yesterday's reptile headline reminded the pond of the old NRA routine - "now is not the time" - but when, of course, it comes to reptile perfidy and climate science denialism, now is never the time, there will never be a now, there will never be a time …
And yet …
“I have been severely impacted by the coverage of News Corp publications in relation to the fires, in particular the misinformation campaign that has tried to divert attention away from the real issue which is climate change to rather focus on arson (including misrepresenting facts).
“I find it unconscionable to continue working for this company, knowing I am contributing to the spread of climate change denial and lies. The reporting I have witnessed in the Australian, the Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun is not only irresponsible, but dangerous and damaging to our communities and beautiful planet that needs us more than ever now to acknowledge the destruction we have caused and start doing something about it.” (Graudian here).
Apropos of all that, the Graudian has a couple of stories of interest, including but not limited to Police contradict claims spread online exaggerating arsons role in Australian bushfires, and another piece on social media disinformation claims ...
News Corp papers have been accused of placing undue emphasis on issues such as arson and hazard reductionin a way that diverts attention from climate change’s role in creating longer, more severe fire seasons.
That includes an editorial arguing no climate policy change would stop the current bushfires, and a perceived emphasis on inadequate hazard reduction and arson as causes.
Miller issued a statement on Friday afternoon saying Townsend had resigned in December and was due to leave the company shortly. Miller said News Corp did not “deny climate change or the gravity of its threat”.
“However, we – as is the traditional role of a publisher – do report a variety of views and opinions on this issue and many others that are important in the public discourse on the fires,” he said.
Just as with the NRA routine, we've all been here before on sundry matters …. it being just another example of climate science denialism dressed up as "teach the controversy" …
But back to the lickspittle lackey teaching the controversy in the Graudian (link above)...
He said he respected Townsend’s right to hold her views but “we do not agree with them”.
“News Corp stands by its coverage of the bushfires,” he said. “The dedication and professionalism of our journalists and photographers have kept the community – particularly those Australians affected directly – informed and supported.
“Our coverage has recognised that Australia is having a serious conversation about climate change and how to respond to it. However, it has also reflected there are a variety of views and opinions about the current fire crisis. The role of arsonists and policies that may have contributed to the spread of fire are, therefore, legitimate stories to report in the public interest.”
The Australian has published pieces making clear the link between climate change and the bushfires, including a piece by Jack the Insider, which stated: “It is true that arson and acts of criminal stupidity are common reasons for the ignition of fires. We need to acknowledge that, understand it and take steps to prevent it.
“But we also need to appreciate that while climate change doesn’t start fires, it is the fundamental reason six million hectares and counting of this country have been ravaged by fire.”
But other pieces have tended to exaggerate the role arson played in the current bushfire season.
This week, the Australian reported that 183 arsonists had been arrested during the current bushfire season. The figure was the sum of data from various states and territories. But it wrongly characterised figures from a number of states, some of which were 12-month totals, and included statistics from other bushfire-related offences, including the contravention of total fire bans.
That report was spread globally, including by Donald Trump Jr and conspiracy theorist website InfoWars, which said it undermined “the media and celebrities” who “continue to blame ‘climate change’ for the disaster”.
There's glory for you, lickspittle lumpen lackey - Trump Jr and InfoWars love your routines …
And speaking of these routines, the brave and bold Polonius has stuck to his post through the climate wars, and emerged again this Saturday to defend the indefensible …
This is actually a stupendous example of a third favourite reptile tactic - don't attempt to deal with the message, and instead, with a flourish, deploy the art of distraction.
In this case, Piers Morgan provides a wondrous distraction, so that the enormous stupidity of Craig Kelly might slip under the Polonial radar.
Ah, you see, what a great distraction Piers Morgan and his bloated ego makes. No doubt we will hear many tales of his stupidity - perhaps involving cricket - and this will mean that there's no need to dwell on the lesser member of the Kelly gang being sent to coventry rather than Pudsey … but before we go on, let's remember where it all started ...
He had earlier spoken to the BBC to claim that there was “no link” between climate change and Australia’s crippling drought, pegging blame for the bushfire crisis that has so far claimed 25 lives and destroyed almost 2,000 homes on a lack of hazard reduction.
Asked about Kelly’s remarks, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the government’s view was that climate change was causing hotter, drier summers, while agreeing that fuel load was a contributing factor to the bushfires.
“Our view of climate change is that it’s real. We accept the science,” Frydenberg said.
Minister for the drought, David Littleproud, who has previously questioned whether climate change is being caused by human activity, also criticised Kelly’s remarks as a “sideshow”.
“He doesn’t represent the views of the government,” Littleproud said.
“I couldn’t give a rats what he said, it’s irrelevant, let’s just focus on those people that are out there that need our help.” (Graudian here).
Then there was the misogyny in relation to a female meteorologist that produced an apology, and the wondrous hypocrisy of new believers Littleproud and Frydenberg suddenly discovering the light, and so on and so forth, but how can any of that hold a candle to a Polonial assault on Piers?
Oh dear, did Polonius just scribble about journalists who delight in lecturing others? Does that include columnists of the Polonial kind, who delight in lecturing others?
It goes without saying that Piers Morgan is a prime goose, always has been and always will be. But what does it say when a prime goose can make a prime goose of the Kelly kind look like a blathering fuckwitted turkey?
Quite so, if the pond may indulge in a Moggsy sort of literary tic that infests our Polonius ...
Well, the pond - or at least the infallible Pope - has already done SloMo heading off to Hawaii …
But let's not forget the lesser Kelly's international junket …
And now the pond would like to do a preemptive strike by plucking a few lines from Polonius out and highlighting them …
Sure, the fires are terrible — perhaps as bad as, or worse than, the dreadful fire seasons of 1851, 1939, 1983 and 2009. But the whole of Australia is not eviscerated by fire. And since Australia is responsible for just over 1 per cent of total global emissions, it cannot do anything on its own to cut emissions in a way that will reduce global temperatures. But action can be taken to mitigate damage from bushfires.
Usually Polonius has been inclined to be cautious about his climate science denialism, and with good reason, because he's terrible with lies and makes a terrible liar …
That "just over 1 per cent of total global emissions" is exactly the sort of dissembling reptile lie, repeated over and over again in the rag, that has attracted international attention, as in a recent BBC story on the bushfires …which noted rising temperatures as well as Australia's real position in the world …
That bit in yellow on the left hand side of the graph marks Australia, and is placed in context in the report:
BBC reporter: " ...Well this bushfire crisis has put huge attention on Australia's fossil fuel industry …there's no doubt that this crisis is so severe in part because Australia's been getting hotter across the last century, and that shift is caused by global climate change, which in turn is caused by human behaviour, not least emissions from fossil fuels … and they're worth a lot to Australia.
You can see from this graphic it's the third biggest fossil fuel exporter in the world. Coal exports were worth more than 47 billion US dollars (a graphic showed $47.8 billion) in the last financial year, and the industry provides around 50,000 jobs. The governing coalition, led by the Liberal party, is seeking what Prime Minister Scott Morrison calls a 'balance' … between reducing emissions and supporting the industry. For the Liberals that means a number of things, including the government signing off a new coal mine further north from New South Wales in Queensland. The then resources minister argued at the time (cue Josh Frydenberg in a cameo picture alongside a quote "I think there is a strong moral case here") that there was a strong moral case for exporting coal to developing countries …
So that's export. Then there's domestic energy use. This is a recent report from the Clean Energy Council, the renewable energy lobby, telling us that fossil fuels made up 79% of Australia's total electricity generation in 2018. The equivalent figure in the UK was about 40%. And if that's the government's approach, well this is the Leader of the Opposition Labor party":
Anthony Albanese: "The road to a low carbon future can be paved with literally hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs … as well as supporting traditional jobs, including coal mining."
BBC reporter: "Clean energy jobs, coal jobs, jobs all round …." (here for those who want a viewing)
Uh huh. Clean dinkum pure Oz coal to the world, oi, oi, oi …oh bliss, oh reptile Poop … and suddenly all that blather about 1 per cent is revealed as undiluted nonsense
It doesn't take much to point out lies, hypocrisies and stupidities, and how the Poms love to do it, never mind their own marvels …
But that's why the pond had to lift these lines from Polonius to highlight them in a pre-emptive way, as he then follows on with other typical Oz distractions, such as clearing fuel loads and blathering on about arsonists, as if completely unaware of all the recent abuse of News Corp for its dissembling distortions and shameless lies in relation to arsonists ...
Poor old Polonius, going the full goose to defend a goose from a goose.
And what a goose he makes of himself, even in relation to his previous attempts to suggest there was nothing to see here …
This time Polonius had to admit that just maybe things might be just as bad, but look on the bright side, we haven't all been eviscerated, and anyhoo, it's all pretty preventable.
It's desperate stuff, and speaking of the Poms, a bit like using a square as a military tactic, and rolling out the Gatling gun.
The trouble is, in the light of current events, unfolding even as the pond types, that particular reptile Gatling and its spray of denialist bullets is now shoddy, out of date, and no longer fit for purpose. In fact, it's jammed, the square is broke, and the country runs a fiery red ...
… which is why the infallible Pope has proposed a new weapon for the reptiles.
Here's hoping Polonius takes it to heart, because defending a goose made to look like a goose by a goose makes you just as much a goose - a fully feathered fowl of enormous futility and pointlessness …
Sheesh, Graudian: "But other pieces have tended to exaggerate the role arson played..."
ReplyDeleteNo folks, the correct expression is "But outright lies have seriously exaggerated the role arson played ..."
But this one from Polonius is a reptile gem, repeated and repeated and repeated:
"She [Tobin] added: "You're not a climate sceptic, you're a climate denier." This, despite the fact that Kelly had accepted Morgan's proposition that the planet is heating at a dangerous level."
That little reptile indirection: "climate" is somehow changing all of its own volition and the planet is getting hotter (but not hot enough to impact the bushfires in Australia). But not because of the human behaviour of flooding the atmosphere with greenhouse gases - primarily CO2 - oh no, never that, so just keep on mining and burning it.
That lovely "acceptance" of "climate change" combined with the total denial that it's got anything to do with human behaviours.
But the real diamond in the Polonial mine is this: "...many fires are started by arsonists or by accident and, consequently, are preventable."
Go for it Polonius, we're all eyes and ears: tell us exactly how you will "prevent" arsonists and accidents and thus free Australia from "many" bushfires.