CFACT: Dumbing the World Down for a Better Tomorrow

     I love internet polls. I think I have an addiction to them. I can't see one online without participating. I think it matters to everyone where I stand on the greatest Washington Capital in history, or whether the original Star Wars Trilogy was better than the prequels. Don't people want to know where I stand on Coke vs Pepsi? Or Marvel vs DC? Or whether Global Warming is real or not?

     As you know, the results of online polls are taken as gospel and rolled out to the greater public to resolve any debate about social issues that exist. Like with Climate Change. The Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT)'s site "Newsmax" recently posted an online poll, asking readers if they thought Global Warming was a hoax. The poll consisted of two questions:


     1. Do you think Global Warming is a hoax?
         - Yes, it is not a real threat
         - No, it is a real threat

     2. Who did you vote for in the last election?
         - Barack Obama
         - Mitt Romney
         - Other

     With that first question, the choices are not confusing and totally straight forward, don't you think? A lot of people (who think that 97% of the world's scientists are right to believe human activities are having a negative impact on the Earth's temperature, climate and seas) will be relieved to know that by casting a simple vote, they can end the debate. Thank God! I was starting to worry there.  For a minute, I thought that all of that hard work in the fields of Climatology, Environmental Science, Oceanography and the other sciences would provide the evidence to warn everyone that our actions are having a negative effect on the planet. Thanks for clearing up that misconception, Newsmax.

     The second question is obviously vital to understanding whether two hundreds years of research and data is right or wrong. Apparently, its wrong if you voted for Obama but you just didn't know it yet. And if you voted for Romney, well, no worries. Glad we could clear up any lingering confusion on that point.

     The article also points out that 5 Pundits say global warming is a lie, so there's the final nail in the coffin. If the Pundits know Climate Change is a hoax, and FIVE of them agree (one of which is the Climatologist Rush Limbaugh), well you can rest assured that the heated debate is over. And not a moment too soon! I am getting a new Schweden Oven for the new house and I wanted to start burning coal. I hear its clean these days. Too bad about the new solar panels. I guess I wasted my money.

     Perhaps the best thing about the "Newsmax" article is the accompanying hashtag. #youdecide Why didn't Al Gore, Lester Brown, the IPCC and the 97% of the word's climate experts let us know that we could decide? We wouldn't have wasted all this time listening to PhDs with their expertise in studying the world's climate systems, armed with heaps and heaps of data and studies collected over decades, all definitively pointing to the burning of fossil fuels and clearing of forests and the continued damage humans are causing on natural ecosystems as the reason for the rise in global temperatures, global sea levels and diminishing glacial and polar ice. All we had to do was "decide" global warming was a total snow job and it would just go away. I wish I had known that before I spent all that money going back to college to get my degree in Environmental Management. Think of the kind of SUV I could have bought instead!

     I'm sure there is good reason why Newsmax's insistence that global warming is a hoax is not supported with any works cited, or studies or names of scientists that provided them the data to help them win the debate. Their polls and hashtags give readers the impression that they can weigh in and make an informed opinion without being informed, which makes it a whole lot easier to win an argument, am I right? I suppose the folks over at the Committee for a Conservative Tomorrow are pretty upset that they have to keep deflecting scientists at every turn. But, they must be pleased that they have finally cracked the code on how to win a debate: ignore the intellectual world and their facts when they don't suit your lifestyle and just contradict them. Game over.

     Well done, CFACT, for striving to make the world a better place. I think I'm dumber for just clicking on the link to your site.


Images courtesy of: 
http://www.englishdaybyday.net/article-death-penalty-for-or-against-preparation-for-your-debate-64765388.html
http://betterparts.org/gallery/hummer-h2-09.html