REPOSTED: James Delingpole is a UK columnist waging a long personal jihad against wind farms, environmentalists and climate science. A resident blogger and columnist at The Daily Telegraph, Delingpole is probably best known for being among the first mainstream columnists to declare, wrongly as it turned out… CLICK ON LINK TO READ FULL
Statement by WtD: let me state I do not equate climate change denial with holocaust denial. The term “denier” is used to refer to one who denies a consensus position in science. This includes climate change, evolution and Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity. All three scientific theories continue to elicit opposition.
For some time I have been travelling the darker corners of the climate change “sceptic” movement, investigating the some times puzzling and absurd claims of the movement. I have posted extensively on the culture of conspiracy that permeates parts of the sceptic community.
I have stated that the Australian media has ignored the very public, and easily sourced, claims about conspiracies, international bankers and world governments by the likes of Lord Monckton, David Evans and Jo Nova.
However the media is now starting to became aware that this something not-quite-right about parts of the sceptic community.
To his credit Andrew Bolt has distanced himself from the extreme views of the Galileo Movement and Malcolm Roberts.
Bolt reproduces an email he sent to Roberts:
On now receiving an email from Malcolm Roberts, I’ve sent this reply:
Malcolm,
Your conspiracy theory seemed utterly stupid even before I knew which families you meant. Now checking the list of banking families you’ve given me, your theory becomes terribly, shamefully familiar.
Two of the three most prominent and current banking families you’ve mentioned are Jewish, and the third is sometimes falsely assumed to be. Yes, this smacks too much of the Jewish world conspiracy theorising I’ve always loathed.
Again, I insist: remove me from the list of people you claim are prepared to advise you. I’ve never advised you, Malcolm, and would never want to. I am offended to be linked to you.
Andrew Bolt
Bravo Andrew!
But Roberts is merely the tip of the iceberg Andrew… you need to spend far more time investigating the claims of the “sceptic” community to see who you have aligned yourself with.
Without doubt climate change scepticism is held by a variety of individuals, of different political views, religious beliefs, demographics and level of education. I respect that many sceptics are honest – if mistaken – in their scepticism. Ones values will shape the acceptance or rejection of scientific facts.
The climate denial spectrum
On one end of the spectrum we have “luke warmists” such as Bjorn Lomborg, who accept that humanity is having some impact on the climate and that “it won’t be as bad” or we’re better off simply adapting to changing conditions.
The middle position is taken by those like Andrew Bolt who think the science isn’t settled, and somehow its all just a fantasy of those on the left who love government intervention and tofu.
At the other end of the spectrum are the true outliers, the “super conspiracy” theorists like the Australian sceptic Dr David Evans, Monckton and Jo Nova.
If you want to understand how extreme parts of the sceptic movement is, then look no further than the paper published by Evans, “Manufacturing money and global warming” on October 27 2009 through the Science and Public Policy Institute.
This is the same institute that counts Christopher Monckton, Bob Carter and Ian Plimer as personnel. Another recent “convert” to the super conspiracy theory is James Delingpole in his latest work “Watermelons” (more on this coming).
It was this paper that alerted me to the fact that climate change denial had merged with the pulse of conspiracy culture. Indeed, climate change denial slots easily into the pre-existing fantasies of “super conspiracies” and hidden agendas.
New world order and the finance industry
For several decades’ conspiracy theorists have posited a mysterious “them” have been influencing events and shaping history through financial institutions such as banks and the United Nations. No doubt you would have heard of phrases such as “New World Order”: it is the belief that the world is about to be taken over a shadowy cabal that has been planning such a coup for centuries. They work behind “front groups” such as the media, academia, UN… and just about everyone else in the world.
Understanding conspiracy culture
In seeking to understand conspiracy culture I have been guided by the work of Michael Barkun (A culture of conspiracy), Mark Fenster (Conspiracy theories) and Robert Alan Goldberg (Enemies within: the culture of conspiracy in Modern America).
Much of what I will post over the next few weeks is rough drafts and research I’ve accumulated over the past few years. I had hoped to shape this into a more coherent – and published – form.
What is important to note about the work of these scholars is the links conspiracy communities make between banks and the coming NWO. According to the more extreme theorists “they” have been planning a “coup” for centuries.
Sadly, many aspects of this belief draw upon older, and more sinister forms of anti-Semitism.
Conspiracy belief defined
Barkun provides the following definition of what a conspiracy theory is:
“…a conspiracy belief is the belief that an organisation made up of individuals or groups was or is acting to covertly achieve some malevolent end.”
Attributes of conspiracy belief include (again Barkun):
Types of conspiracies
Barkun classifies conspiracies into the following classes:
Thus, some sceptics see climate change as an event conspiracy, i.e. scientists are lying or fudging temperature records to obtain funding. Climategate is an example of an event conspiracy (allegedly) exposed by hackers. This event conspiracy grew in scope as the event merged into the greater conspiracy “narrative” of Evans et.al.
Without douht the writings and activities of Evans and Monckton indicate belief in a super conspiracy:
Manufacturing money and global warming: “gold smiths” and “international bankers control the world
I will state this: the tone and content of Evans paper is very similar to not only “New World Order” conspiracy theories but to the language of anti-Semitism.
It demonstrates all the attributes that Barkun describes: everything is connected in Evans world, and there are conspiracies within conspiracies.
Evans blends “New World Order” conspiracy theories with climate change denial to weave a pattern of events that has been centuries in the making. It would be funny if it wasn’t tragic, given Evans receives the support of the likes of Gina Rinehart.
The following extracts highlight what I regard as deeply concerning, in particular the repeated use of terminology used as “code words” by extremist right-wing groups.
Evans on the “goldsmith” and “international bankers” link
Evans on “gold smiths”:
“…In the Middle Ages, goldsmiths took gold deposits from individuals for safekeeping. The receipts for these deposits circulated as money, because they were more convenient than the metal itself. But the goldsmiths learned they could issue many more “receipts” than they had gold. They would typically lend out receipts for ten times as much gold as they had, on the assumption that not everyone would try to redeem their receipts for metal at the same time. Money was thereby manufactured, or created out of thin air. Furthermore, the goldsmith would charge interest on the receipts they lent out, to compensate for the risk of not being repaid and to make a profit.
For example, if customers deposited 200 ounces of gold with a goldsmith, then the goldsmith would issue them with receipts for 200 ounces. But he would also issue receipts for another 1,800 ounces to people as loans, and charge interest on them — for a total of receipts for 2,000 gold ounces. Notice that 1,800 of the gold ounce receipts that the goldsmith manufactured were for gold that did not exist. For a typical interest rate of 5%, the goldsmith is earning 90 gold ounces per year by lending out these receipts to gold he does not have — pretty profitable eh? If any customer came to the goldsmith with one of the goldsmith’s receipts and asked for “their” gold, the goldsmith would hand over some gold and destroy the receipt. In normal business, they knew from experience that keeping back 10% of the gold was enough to keep this scheme working and, if it wasn’t, they could simply borrow gold from another goldsmith. The only downside for the goldsmith was an unpaid loan—he owed gold on all the receipts issued, so he would ultimately have to pay any unpaid loan out of his own pocket.”
This quote in particular is alarming:
“…Over time the goldsmiths became bankers, governments introduced central banking, and finally, in 1971, the world financial system switched from using gold as its base money to using cash (paper money). The world financial system is now unpinned by cash, which governments can print at will. We have a fully paper system, with no hard constraints on how much money there is.”
In Evans reasoning is that “goldsmiths” from the medieval period – let’s be frank he is clearly talking about Jews – founded a “paper aristocracy” that secretly rules the globe.
Gold.
Smith.
Got it?
Do I really need to spell it out? [1]
Evans use of the “banksters” term: they killed two presidents!
The term “banksters” came into vogue in the 1920s and 1930s at the height of the Great Depression when feelings against banks ran high. It was also a term used by the so-called “Austrian” economists.
However it also has darker connotations in that it is a code word used by anti-Semites for Jews (search Google for “bankster and Jew” for evidence if you must, I refuse to link to such sites).
We see Evans using the term:
“The paper aristocracy has overwhelming wealth. They own or influence all the media – if only because every media organization borrows from banks. They influence almost all the institutions that employ professional economists, by supplying the money for PhDs and providing most of the lucrative consulting jobs for economists. They buy politicians by the truckload. The banksters have even killed the occasional thorn in their side—including, probably, two US presidents, Lincoln and Garfield. If no one knows or objects to their activities, why shouldn’t the paper aristocracy do what they want? If they don’t flaunt it, and the system seems to basically work for most people most of the time, what’s so bad? (In southern Italy some people say the same about the Mafia.) If people don’t know that the system would run better if the paper aristocracy weren’t there skimming off their take, are they really being ripped off?”
Yes, the banksters killed two presidents. Come on really? These people are feted by conservative politicians and the Murdoch Press?
It gets better, as Evans explains just how “cunning” the banksters are:
“Bankers know far more about banking and its subtle ramifications than politicians, and have usually been able to persuade, con, or bribe governments to do their bidding. The politicians, our representatives, are the patsies here. The banksters have conned government big time, including when they talked US President Woodrow Wilson into setting up the Federal Reserve in 1913 (which, by the way, Wilson later bitterly regretted)…”
Climate change and the international bankers
For Evans climate change is a manufactured “crisis” created by the “paper aristocracy” as part of a conspiracy to control the globe. No really, that is what he states:
“Like fiat currency and all the games with money manufacture, this is another game brought to you by the paper aristocracy: you pay, they enjoy. Ultimately people who produce real goods and services will pay—because there be will another bunch of bureaucrats and financial smarties living off our efforts.
Controlling who can emit carbon dioxide gives the government and the paper aristocracy an excuse and mechanism for controlling every activity on the planet. We all breathe out carbon dioxide, and nearly all energy use emits carbon dioxide. Further, the whole world has to be involved for the emission restrictions to be effective, so this will be the start of world government—you will no longer be able to escape by moving to a different country.
Note the “parasitic” metaphors that are sprinkled throughout Evans paper. Clearly he is drawing on much older and darker analogies about “Jewish financiers”.
Paper aristocracy: the inheritors of the “gold smith’s” power
Evans is engaged in broadening and furthering the conspiracy culture in drawing together long-standing views on the roles of Jews, international bankers and the coming New World Order.
This is typical of conspiracy theories: in general they broaden pre-existing theories and reshape them to incorporate contemporary anxieties.
Evan’s chronology of world events posits the “paper aristocracy” as the literal inheritors of money and power from centuries ago and that they have been actively shaping history for centuries:
“There are a small number of families who, over the centuries, have amassed wealth through financial rent seeking. They are leading members of the paper aristocracy. For example, the Rothschilds are the biggest banking family in Europe, and were reputed to own half of all western industry in 1900. That sort of wealth doesn’t just dissipate, because unless the managers are incompetent the wealth tends to concentrate. The banking families don’t work for a living in the normal sense, like the rest of us. They avoid scrutiny and envy by blending in and make themselves invisible. Since they own or influence all sorts of media organizations, it isn’t too hard. There are unsubstantiated rumors and conspiracy theories, but nobody can really credibly say how much wealth and influence they have.
What are the paper aristocracy going to do in the aftermath of the current huge bubble? The course and end of the bubble are quite foreseeable, so they must have a plan.
There are unsubstantiated rumors that they influenced the system to make an almighty bubble, and intend to buy lots of real stuff, such as real estate and businesses, in the ensuing bust, when everything is dirt cheap. By the way, this is how the paper aristocracy has made most of its wealth over the last few centuries, and how those banking families originally became wealthy. Bankers would introduce excess bank money, then deliberately cut it back on it one day, watch prices plummet as businesses failed, then buy distressed assets cheaply. Earning interest was a second way of earning money but less important. Bank fees were just for pocket money and to keep customers distracted.
Perhaps today’s fiat currencies—the US dollar, pound, yen and so on—will go up in smoke in an inflationary crescendo in the next few years, perhaps as planned by the paper aristocracy. Maybe they will reintroduce an asset backed currency. And guess who has all the gold? Those banking families have been salting it away for years. Possibly a global currency, so one cannot escape the predations of the paper aristocracy. This is not just about money, but about power, of course. Anyway, these are only unsubstantiated rumors. We shall see.
Yes, we shall see. Nothing is at it seems, everything is connected…
As I and others have noted, the Rothschild’s have long been the favorite target of conspiracy theorists and anti-Semites for decades.
Evans and the conservatives: why such unqualified support for a conspiracy theorist?
What alarms me is that Evans is treated as a serious commentator on the climate debate.
In addition to written pieces in The Australian and The Age, Evans was one of the “experts” former Senator Nick Minchin took Anna Rose to meet in the show “I can change your mind about climate change”. Andrew Bolt often links to pieces on Jo Nova’s blog.
Let me stress, I do not believe Bolt and Minchin share these views: however I believe the claims of Evans and Monckton are glossed over and ignored because they have proven useful to vested interests and those fighting the culture wars.
Bolt and Minchin are culture warriors, they see AGW as a left-wing “belief” that should be countered in much the same way conservative Christians oppose Darwin’s theory of evolution. It is a case of values driving a world view and the acceptance – or rejection – of a particular scientific theory.
Quite frankly, on any other issue conspiracy theorists such as Evans would be ignored. However because climate change has become so politically charged that Evans scant qualifications (he has a PhD) and his seeming authority on the issue have made him a cause-célèbre in the sceptic community.
His claims are endlessly repeated throughout the climate sceptic echo chamber so by the time it reaches more “respectable” sceptics such as Bolt, Minchin and the pages of The Australian the ugly conspiracy theories are glossed over and weened out to make the climate scepticism of Evans more “respectable”.
Remember this as well: shock jock Alan Jones has been a vocal front man for the Galileo Movement. Jones nursed it into being… and that does my head in.
Think: some of the most powerful media players in the country have thrown their clout behind these people.
Unwittingly Alan Jones, Andrew Bolt, Minchin and the conservative movement have helped the trojan horse of radical conspiracy theories distort public debate in Australia. One wonders how quickly they will come to realise just what they have done.
The sleep of reason produces monsters.
Here Andrew, here Alan – here are your monsters.
[1] This is a bold claim, and thus will warrant further research and investigation. I’ll leave it in here because that is what I published originally, but I will expand on this point and a provide a far more nuanced explanation. At best the claims made by Evans parallel the language and claims made more more extreme forms of conspiracy theory. Mike @ WtD
The world is drowning.
Devastating floods are killing hundreds and causing billions in damage across the globe.
In Sri Lanka at least 27 people have been killed and a million people displaced:
THE number of people killed in Sri Lanka’s monsoon flooding and mudslides has risen to 27 with more than a million people still displaced by the devastating disaster, officials said today.
The Government’s Disaster Management Centre said 27 people were confirmed dead while another 12 were listed as missing following a week of heavy rains that caused floods and earthslips in the eastern, northern and central regions.
“The water levels have begun to go down, but the number of people moving to state-run relief camps is going up,” a spokesman for the DMC said.
He said more than a million people had seen their homes flooded and been forced to move out. The state was running 633 relief camps, more than double the number in yesterday, he said.
He added that 367,000 people were being directly cared for by state agencies at the camps while others had moved in with friends and relatives on higher ground.
The death toll in Brazil has past 600 in what is described as the countries worst natural disaster:
The Brazilian floods that have claimed over 600 lives is the deadliest natural disaster to have hit the country. This comes barely months after an unprecedented drought hit the Amazon region when water levels in the river’s tributaries fell drastically.
Torrential rains inundated a heavily populated, steep-sloped area about 40 miles north of Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday and Wednesday, triggering flash floods and mudslides. The disaster had claimed 610 lives at the last count. Rainfall amounts of approximately 300 mm (12 inches) fell in just a few hours in the mountainous regions. The toll makes the current floods Brazil’s worst natural disaster in history. The total casualties in the 1967 floods was 785. This one, however, is the deadliest single-day disaster.
Floods and mudslides are not new to Brazil. Yet, this is the second major calamity to have hit it in less than a year. Floods and landslides near Rio in April last year claimed the lives of 246 people. Over 80 people died last January during a similar disaster earlier. Another 40-odd people died after rains flooded swathes in the northeastern part of the country in June.
The Guardian has an interesting interactive map that gives some sense of the scale of this disaster.
Note the following video contains images that may be disturbing. It’s from Al Jazzera, a network that has never shied away from showing raw footage:
Note this is the second major incidence of major flooding in Brazil in the last 12 months.
The Queensland floods are looking like Australia’s worst natural disaster. At least 18 dead and the economy to take a $30bn dollar hit:
QUEENSLAND’S flood toll continues to rise – with 18 people now confirmed dead – as federal Treasurer Wayne Swan predicted the economic cost of the disaster will be the highest in Australia’s history.
The body of a middle-aged man was found late yesterday and hours earlier the body of a woman, both in the Lockyer Valley, which Queensland Premier Anna Bligh described as the ”absolute epicentre” of the state’s flood crisis.
Police released the names and photographs of many of the dead and the 14 people still missing, who are from Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley, where a wall of water destroyed homes and buildings last Monday.
My own home state of Victoria is experiencing some of the worst flooding in history. Thousands are fleeing, dozens of towns are affected:
Residents of Victoria’s Murray River port of Echuca are keeping a close watch on local flood defences as the swollen Campaspe River threatens the town.
The Campaspe reached a record peak of 9.17m at Rochester, 30km to the south, last night and the waters were on their way to Echuca.
Remember, the Black Saturday fires of 2009 when nearly 200 Victorians died? As I’ve said before, Australia is the “canary in the coal mine” for climate change.
In less than two years my home state has experienced two serious climate disasters.
So yes, I take this “global warming thing” very personally.
South Africa is also experiencing devastating floods at present:
Meanwhile, 40 people are either dead or missing in South Africa, following weeks of heavy rain and flooding. One of the dead includes a firefighter whose raft capsized during a rescue attempt. Many of those worst affected by the floods are the poor, with nearly 8,500 shacks swept away.
The government recently declared seven out of the country’s nine provinces as disaster zones, with most of the devastation centred the Northern Cape and the North West, as well as the province around Johannesburg. Expected long term effects from the flood include a rise in unemployment and increased food prices.
As I stated in a previous post, a warmer world leads to more flooding.
But the denier echo chamber goes into overdrive, blaming the “greens”
One would think this overwhelming evidence would start make the average climate ‘sceptic” reconsider their position.
Well according to them it’s the fault of the “greens”. With remarkable consistency, climate sceptics have started broadcasting this message.
The charming Andrew Bolt:
Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett on Wednesday said he made the interim decision to reject the controversial $1.8 billion plan to dam the Mary River because evidence showed it could kill off endangered species. He made the interim decision to reject the controversial $1.8 billion plan to dam the Mary River because evidence showed it could kill off endangered species
“The project would have serious and irreversible effects on national listed species such as the Australian lungfish, the Mary River turtle and the Mary River cod – both of those endangered.
Whose post is echoed by the UK’s James Delingpole:
This is a guest post from one of our regular commenters, Memory Vault. He’s understandably upset about the Australian floods, which may have claimed more than 70 lives. But what really upsets him is that this disaster could have been prevented. He blames green campaigners so wedded to their ideology they never stop to consider the human consequences. It is to them his bitter letter is addressed.
Andrew Bolt has similarly harsh words for Australia’s eco nuts. Were it not for the actions of Environment Minister Peter Garrett, for example, the Queensland town of Gympie would not now be underwater.
Focus on the minutia; avoid the truth; shift the blame from yourself
In Australia, an area the size of Germany and France combined was flooded. Two million people’s lives have been disrupted. 20 people are dead. Around the world devastating floods are taking place.
Yes, Andrew it must be Peter Garret’s fault.
Of course this is how the deniers think: latch on to a few facts and hope it explains away all the other inconvenient truths..
Of course yet there is no mention on either Bolt’s or Delingpole’s blogs about the flooding around the world.
Have they missed the news?
Perhaps they’ve failed to notice the millions of lives disrupted, the hundreds of dead and billions in damages.
I suspect not.
They’re trying desperately to shelter themselves from the truth.
To write about these events and to pass them all of as “a great big co-incidence” is a lie they cannot even tell their own selves.
Better to ignore what is going on in the world and retreat into the safe world of denial where there is no such thing as global warming.
It is not just the public they’ve mislead: they’re lying to themselves.
But in blaming the “greens” they’re trying shift their own feelings of guilt.
After all likes of Bolt and Delingpole have been instrumental in misleading the public for years.
Beneath their “sceptical” bravado and willingness to distort the truth lies a slowly growing sense of guilt.
Imagine being Andrew Bolt or James Delingpole. For years you’ve been at the forefront of a campaign to mislead the public.
But then the evidence starts to flood in…
Maybe you start to suspect this “whole global warming scam” is actually real, and that the very fate of our civilisation is in the balance.
Imagine you’ve lined up with the “team” that is happy to watch the planet burn.
Could you live with that knowledge?
No… better to deny.
And deny.
And deny.
And deny.
“There is no global warming… there is no global warming… there is now global warming… oh god, please let it not be true!”
Watching the Deniers 