Tuesday, April 18, 2006

"a man of applied ignorance'



The case Gore makes is worthy of sleepless nights: Our Earth is in extremis . It's not just that polar bears are drowning because they cannot reach receding ice flows or that "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" will exist someday only as a Hemingway short story -- we can all live with that. It's rather that Hurricane Katrina is not past but prologue. In the future, people will not yearn for the winters of yesteryear but for the summers. Katrina produced several hundred thousand evacuees. The flooding of Calcutta would produce many millions. We are in for an awful time.

You cannot see this film and not think of George W. Bush, the man who beat Gore in 2000. The contrast is stark. Gore -- more at ease in the lecture hall than he ever was on the stump -- summons science to tell a harrowing story and offers science as the antidote. No feat of imagination could have Bush do something similar -- even the sentences are beyond him.

But it is the thought that matters -- the application of intellect to an intellectual problem. Bush has been studiously anti-science, a man of applied ignorance who has undernourished his mind with the empty calories of comfy dogma. For instance, his insistence on abstinence as the preferred method of birth control would be laughable were it not so reckless. It is similar to Bush's initial approach to global warming and his rejection of the Kyoto Protocol -- ideology trumping science. It may be that Gore will do more good for his country and the world with this movie than Bush ever did by beating him in 2000.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here is Richard Cohen, who claims to be sooo worried about global warming but maintains two homes (apartments?) -- one in NYC and Washington DC.

How does he get to and from? Does drive? Does he take the plane? Does he walk or bike?

Then instead of blaming the President, maybe he should look at himself. Maybe he should give up one of his places so he uses less oil or better yet, let someone who cannot afford to have a nice place live their free.

Typical liberal. The President is to blame but heaven forbid I should give up my two homes and the lifestyle I enjoy.

Anonymous said...

georgie's a big boy now...but a scientist he's not...he used to be a cheerleader, and very much liked to use drugs...he is probably medicated one way or another now...he serves as president of the usa...he may or may not have ever been elected...i don't think we'll ever really know.