File this in the “I Wish I Had Written This” file. A UK pundit named Gerald Warner has poured forth a terrific polemic against Copenhagen. I enjoyed it not only because I agree wholeheartedly with his view of what we are beholding, but because it is a splendid example of the sarcastic comment genre. I hope even those who disagree with his opinion can enjoy it on that level.
Let’s start with the truly major league lede, the first paragraph that needs to really grab the reader’s interest. From the column:
When your attempt at recreating the Congress of Vienna with a third-rate cast of extras turns into a shambles, when the data with which you have tried to terrify the world is daily exposed as ever more phoney, when the blatant greed and self-interest of the participants has become obvious to all beholders, when those pesky polar bears just keep increasing and multiplying – what do you do?
Now that’s a polemic! It not only puts down the other view, but it powerfully supports one’s own position.
Warner is referencing the leaked paper I posted about yesterday, the one claiming that even with a deal at Copenhagen, we are all doomed anyway. He continues:
No contest: stop issuing three rainforests of press releases every day, change the heading to James Bond-style “Do not distribute” and “leak” a single copy, in the knowledge that human nature is programmed to interest itself in anything it imagines it is not supposed to see, whereas it would bin the same document unread if it were distributed openly.
After that, get some unbiased, neutral observer, such as the executive director of Greenpeace, to say: “This is the single most important piece of paper in the world today.” Unfortunately, the response of all intelligent people will be to fall about laughing; but it was worth a try – everybody loves a tryer – and the climate alarmists are no longer in a position to pick and choose their tactics.
He’s right. I thought it was hysterical. He expounds a bit, and points out how such a scare tactic could easily drive people to throw up their hands and head for the ski slopes and saunas. He then sticks in the knife:
This “single most important piece of paper in the world” comes, presumably, from an authoritative and totally neutral source? Yes, of course. It’s from the – er – UN Framework Committee on Climate Change that is – er – running the Danegeld Summit. Some people might be small-minded enough to suggest this paper has as much authority as a “leaked” document from Number 10 revealing that life would be hell under the Tories.
Yes indeed. Then the close:
If there were not $45 trillion of Western citizens’ money at stake, this would be the funniest moment in world history. What a bunch of buffoons. Not since Neville Chamberlain tugged a Claridge’s luncheon bill from his pocket and flourished it on the steps of the aircraft that brought him back from Munich has a worthless scrap of paper been so audaciously hyped. There was one good moment at Copenhagen, though: some seriously professional truncheon work by Danish Plod on the smellies. Otherwise, this event is strictly for Hans Christian Andersen.
Read the whole thing. It’s really good writing and a cogent criticism of the farce in Copenhagen.
