Captain Obvious
03-07-2015, 06:59 PM
A great listen for anyone who considers themselves objective on the subject.
RushBeck listeners, don't waste your time.
http://www.npr.org/2015/03/06/391269315/merchants-of-doubt-explores-work-of-climate-change-deniers
KENNER: Well, really, people who had defended tobacco when they knew for 50 years their product caused cancer and was addictive, they were able to create doubt and say we need more studies, we need more time, when they knew what their product did. They knew before anyone else because big corporations have to have good science.
And so they knew their product was deadly, but they couldn't say it doesn't cause cancer 'cause that's an out-and-out lie. But they could say we need more study and, you know, it can be used now for any industry. And the big money maker at this point and the big payday is climate and energy, and that's why it's out there.
BLOCK: And you quote a line from a consultant's - a PR firm's report to the tobacco industry, (reading) doubt is our product - was their line.
KENNER: And then one man, who was so skillful in slowing down legislation on the slow-burning cigarette, saying it wasn't cigarettes that caused house fires, it was couches. And he went on to make it where we had to have laws to put these chemicals in couches and...
BLOCK: Flame retardants.
KENNER: ...flame retardants. And he went on to say, if you can do tobacco, you can do anything.
KENNER: Yeah, I think I was clear in representing myself. I had made "Food Inc." and people had seen that. And - but I was open to hearing how they did what they did and why they did what they did. But not everybody wanted to appear in the film. There was the man who had been responsible for putting chemicals - flame retardants - into the couches and baby clothing who hadn't spoken to reporters, and he returned my call to my surprise. And when I said that we're doing more than just a film about tobacco and flame retardants, it's also about climate, he said to me, you know, you could take James Hansen, the world's leading climate scientist, and I could take a garbage man, and I could get America to believe that garbage man knows more about science. And he's been very successful at what he does, and there's a group of these people who've been very successful. And hopefully we can get to the real debate, not this sort of fake debate.
RushBeck listeners, don't waste your time.
http://www.npr.org/2015/03/06/391269315/merchants-of-doubt-explores-work-of-climate-change-deniers
KENNER: Well, really, people who had defended tobacco when they knew for 50 years their product caused cancer and was addictive, they were able to create doubt and say we need more studies, we need more time, when they knew what their product did. They knew before anyone else because big corporations have to have good science.
And so they knew their product was deadly, but they couldn't say it doesn't cause cancer 'cause that's an out-and-out lie. But they could say we need more study and, you know, it can be used now for any industry. And the big money maker at this point and the big payday is climate and energy, and that's why it's out there.
BLOCK: And you quote a line from a consultant's - a PR firm's report to the tobacco industry, (reading) doubt is our product - was their line.
KENNER: And then one man, who was so skillful in slowing down legislation on the slow-burning cigarette, saying it wasn't cigarettes that caused house fires, it was couches. And he went on to make it where we had to have laws to put these chemicals in couches and...
BLOCK: Flame retardants.
KENNER: ...flame retardants. And he went on to say, if you can do tobacco, you can do anything.
KENNER: Yeah, I think I was clear in representing myself. I had made "Food Inc." and people had seen that. And - but I was open to hearing how they did what they did and why they did what they did. But not everybody wanted to appear in the film. There was the man who had been responsible for putting chemicals - flame retardants - into the couches and baby clothing who hadn't spoken to reporters, and he returned my call to my surprise. And when I said that we're doing more than just a film about tobacco and flame retardants, it's also about climate, he said to me, you know, you could take James Hansen, the world's leading climate scientist, and I could take a garbage man, and I could get America to believe that garbage man knows more about science. And he's been very successful at what he does, and there's a group of these people who've been very successful. And hopefully we can get to the real debate, not this sort of fake debate.