Australian environmentalist Xavier Forrest (aka Harry Shortz) takes a spirited whack at the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) on his blog, Typing is Not Activism. Forrest goes after one of the fundamental goals of writers like Lomborg, the creation of doubt, and the complicity of mainstream media in not rejecting, or at least clearly identifying, the distortions Lomborg presents.
"What all lobbyists for unpopular causes aim to do is to create doubt- if not actual doubt, the appearance of doubt will do just fine. Confusion is a beneficial side effect, as are hesitation, anxiety, ridicule, resentment, resistance, conflict - ooh, conflict. Conflict is gold. [Emphasis in original]....
"Lomborg, like any lobbyist for a thoroughly erroneous position, must argue that a cowpat is in fact a lump of chocolate. In our self-defeating state of confusion as to the purpose of tolerance and plurality, we accept this as a viewpoint to be aired, one which by its very existence indicates the need for a reasonable delay before committing to a course of action.
"But it’s not chocolate. It never will be chocolate. The time for considering that it may be a lump of chocolate is long gone. All that Lomborg and his ilk really offer is more bullshit and the fact that they call it anything else is the context in which his efforts should be presented by his host - in this case SMH."
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