{"id":813,"date":"2009-05-03T09:26:34","date_gmt":"2009-05-03T16:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/?p=813"},"modified":"2009-05-04T22:57:20","modified_gmt":"2009-05-05T05:57:20","slug":"putting-a-smiley-face-on-carbon-taxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2009\/05\/03\/putting-a-smiley-face-on-carbon-taxes\/","title":{"rendered":"Putting a smiley face on carbon taxes"},"content":{"rendered":"

As most of us know, half the battle is controlling the terms of the debate. And sometimes, it seems, if you want to sell something that few are buying, you need to consult a thesaurus.<\/a><\/p>\n

Environmental issues consistently rate near the bottom of public worry, according to many public opinion polls. A Pew Research Center poll released in January found global warming last among 20 voter concerns; it trailed issues like addressing moral decline and decreasing the influence of lobbyists. “We know why it’s lowest,” said Mr. Perkowitz, a marketer of outdoor clothing and home furnishings before he started ecoAmerica, whose activities are financed by corporations, foundations and individuals. “When someone thinks of global warming, they think of a politicized, polarized argument. When you say \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcglobal warming,’ a certain group of Americans think that’s a code word for progressive liberals, gay marriage and other such issues.”<\/p>\n

The answer, Mr. Perkowitz said in his presentation at the briefing, is to reframe the issue using different language. “Energy efficiency” makes people think of shivering in the dark. Instead, it is more effective to speak of “saving money for a more prosperous future.” In fact, the group’s surveys and focus groups found, it is time to drop the term “the environment” and talk about “the air we breathe, the water our children drink.”<\/p>\n

“Another key finding: remember to speak in TALKING POINTS aspirational language about shared American ideals, like freedom, prosperity, independence and self-sufficiency while avoiding jargon and details about policy, science, economics or technology,” said the e-mail account of the group’s study.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Are Americans really this stupid?<\/p>\n

Well, yes.\u00a0 They elected Obama hoping for unspecified change.\u00a0 Any old direction will do, it would seem.\u00a0 They bought Clinton’s “contributions” for taxes, radical feminism’s “pro-choice” for anti-unborn child and pro-abortion, “gun control” for “guns for criminals only”, and “hate speech” for telling the truth, or at least exercising your First Amendment right to speak your mind.<\/p>\n

One of the best ways to lie is just to pretend not to hear anyone who’s telling the truth, and keep right on as if they never spoke.\u00a0 That’s exactly what’s happening in our national conversation, as the Left rules all the media but talk radio, and is gunning for that, too.\u00a0 So “global warming” has morphed into “climate change” and “carbon taxes” is going to be “anti-pollution fees”, and so on.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, if you had to bet, the smart money is that the earth is cooling, overall.\u00a0 And the smarter money knows that even if it isn’t, the change is very gradual, probably has little to do with human activity, and it isn’t even clear that it will be a bad thing.<\/p>\n

And by the way:\u00a0 there were polar bears around when the earth was so warm that Greenland was verdant farm land, with nary a glacier in sight.\u00a0 (That’s why it’s called GREENLAND.) \u00a0 Somehow, the bears survived.<\/p>\n

I suspect they will again.<\/p>\n

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