One of the primary benefits I hope SHS provides is a real time history of the issues and controversies we discuss here. The Danny Glover foot in mouth nonsense about the earth reacting to the failure of Copenhagen brought two such stories to mind from our archives. First, trying to stop global warming by harnessing geothermal energy has caused earthquakes and resulted in lawsuits. Second, when the media was out to destroy all policies Bush, including dropping Kyoto, CBS and MSNBC swallowed whole a science quack’s claim that global warming would cause earthquakes. From SHS, June 18, 2008:
I would say this is a hoax, but it appeared in the AP so it must be true! Moreover, Dr. Chalko is real. Well, he’s really far out. He’s into space aliens, auras, and believes that global warming could cause the earth to explode. Now space aliens and auras might be real, but someone who promotes their existence and worries that thermal imbalance will cause the earth to explode is hardly an “expert” whose opinions should be quoted by the AP and reported on CBS on global warming! When the media want something to be true–they will print anything! In fact, the AP apparently copied the story whole from Dr. Chalko’s Web page. Or, it wasn’t AP at all and CBS was fooled. Check it out!
Yes it was quite an embarrassment.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
