The More Things Change....

Professor Lance Endersbee, via Tom Nelson:

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the climate in Europe was cold
and unpredictable. Crops failed. Famine followed famine, bringing
epidemics.  There was a belief that crop failures must be due to human wickedness.

But who were the wicked ones? 

It
was believed that there must be some witches who are in the grip of the
devil. Witches were named, Inquisitors tested their faith, and a large
number of poor souls were condemned and burnt at the stake. For decade
after decade, fires burned in most towns in Europe.

Fast-forward to our "enlightened" society today:

"Every time a child dies as a result
of floods in Bangladesh, an airline executive should be dragged out of
his office and drowned
," for causing global warming, rants UK
firebrand George Monbiot. Government leaders "should go to jail" for
failing to act more quickly to prevent planetary climate cataclysm,
insists Canadian eco-zealot David Suzuki. These assertions range from
simplistic and outrageous to straight out of Lewis Carroll.
...
Eco-alarmists
tell impoverished Africans that global warming is the greatest threat
they face "“ when Al Gore uses more electricity in a week than 100
million Africans together use in a year. Those people rarely or never
have electricity and must burn wood and animal dung, resulting in lung
diseases that cause millions of deaths annually. Yet alarmists oppose
fossil fuel power plants, as well as nuclear and hydroelectric projects
"“ guaranteed that Africa's poverty and death toll will continue.

7 Comments

  1. Bearster:

    Don't forget the Frankenstein myth: humans should not have the hubris to meddle with god's creation, or else monsters and evil will result!

  2. Al Fin:

    Excellent call, Warren! Humans have not truly changed from the middle ages, for all the new technology. Blaming witches and witchcraft is still all the rage--even for blue-tooth toting (i)pod-people living on blackberries.

  3. mostly cajun:

    "Monbiot"? That's awfully close to "moonbat", isn't it?

    MC

  4. Mark Alger:

    I believe the term derived from his name.

    M

  5. Kyle Bennett:

    "I believe the term derived from his name."

    Don't know where I read it, but I believe that's a myth. The article linked below, which attributes it to Perry deHavilland at Samizdata as a reference to an uncontrolled reaction such as dogs howling at the moon, is pretty much the story I've heard.

    http://www.mtannoyances.com/?p=364

  6. danbo:

    Using this rational. Everytime a child dies of malaria. We should give malaria to an environmentalist. Or a Hollywood or liberal scaremonger who stood in the way of preventing malaria with DDT.

    These people are nuts