A Quote by Thomas Schelling
I do think it's often a mistake to call them climate skeptics. I think they're deniers, just as I think president Ahmadinejad of iran who claims not to believe that the Holocaust occurred.
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I really believe that actually Ahmadinejad undermines Iran far more than he enhances Iran's status. And I think we have to go back to what FDR said, you know, speak softly and carry a big stick. I think Iran under Ahmadinejad, they speak loudly and carry a small stick.
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims there are no homosexuals in Iran, just like there are no gay conservatives in the US.
I can't speak for all Iranians, but I think that many of them would be uncomfortable with Ahmadinejad if Iran had nuclear weapons and he had his finger on the button. But the reality is that Iran's system of government is actually very complex. It has a lot of checks and balances, and neither Ahmadinejad nor any Iranian president would ever have his finger on the button. There are too many people involved in a decision of that magnitude.
Climate deniers are less immoral than Holocaust deniers, although they are undoubtedly more dangerous.
There are many more traits that the climate deniers share with the creationists and Holocaust deniers and others who distort the truth.
I think whenever Ahmadinejad opens his mouth in forums, especially in front of the U.N. General Assembly, those that are listening, especially Western officials, European, American, even Chinese and Russian officials, I think, after listening to Ahmadinejad, they have even less confidence that there exists a mature political leadership in Iran which is amenable to some type of a diplomatic compromise.
Despite the international scientific community's consensus on climate change, a small number of critics continue to deny that climate change exists or that humans are causing it. Widely known as climate change "skeptics" or "deniers," these individuals are generally not climate scientists and do not debate the science with the climate scientists.
The climate-change deniers are rapidly ending up with as much intellectual credibility as creationists and Flat Earthers. They are nudging close to having the moral credibility of Holocaust deniers.
The Heartland Institute, which people mostly only know in terms of the fact that it hosts these annual conferences of climate change skeptics or deniers, it's important to know that the Heartland Institute is first and foremost a free market think tank. It's not a scientific organization.
Let's just say that global warming deniers are now on a par with Holocaust deniers.
Our culture is being shaped by trolls and the Holocaust deniers are a very extreme example of the trolls. Ignoring them has not worked. It doesn't mean that confronting them will work completely but I think it's a debate we have to have.
Creationists and Holocaust deniers are both very similar - both are denying what is a perfectly manifest fact. In the case of Holocaust deniers it's more recent history, but in both cases the evidence - in favour of the Holocaust and evolution - is simply overwhelming. That doesn't mean they are morally or politically equivalent. But they are equivalent in denying history.
The most important individual in the Iran is not President Ahmadinejad. It's the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. He was elected, but we're not talking about free and fair elections in Iran. There are certain vetting processes which take place.
The focus, to my mind, is to make sure that Donald Trump does not become president of the United States. I think by temperament he is unqualified to be president. I think his views - you have a guy who's running for president who rejects science, doesn't even believe climate change is real, let alone wants to do something about it, wants to give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the top two-tenths of one percent.
I think that the world will continue trying to grapple with the climate problem, no matter who is U.S. president. But I think that, depending on who that president is, it can have a significant influence on the trajectory.
I don't believe there are climate skeptics. I think there are people who indulge in a culture of what can be reduced to Fox network thinking. That has nothing to do with the politics that apply to the protection of quality of life in any sense. It's like talking to a member of a cult.
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