are climate change deniers naturally gullible?, page-112

Jantimot,

The following reference does attempt to describe the greenhouse effects of water as both vapour and cloud.

http://www.espere.net/Unitedkingdom/water/uk_watervapour.html

Your post goes to the title of this thread with bald and misleading statements. Climate change deniers who are gullible may be sucked in by your distortions but certainly true skeptics like Gungho will see straight through them. I see a whole spectrum of climate change deniers.

Sceptics quite properly examine the published literature with a critical eye. Many climate change deniers see themselves as sceptics but true scepticism is accompanied by impartiality. The cutting edge of science is honed on the forge of scepticism. The very best scientific minds view everything they see through sceptical eyes.

Charlatans and some journalists attack global warming to attract an audience at turn a profit. I find myself wondering if Lord Moncktom fits into this category. He seems to have managed to turn a few pennies his way by articulating climate change denial. The News Limited spectrum on climate change seems to reflect their name as well. News on climate change is largely limited to encouraging the denialist viewpoint.

Vested interests want to protect their assets. If you have a 10 billion dollar coal mining business to run, it makes sound economic sense to downplay the dirty potential of your product. If you are an investor with a significant shareholding in coal mining you quite literally have "vested" "interests" as well. You can be reasonably expected to want to protect those interests and if there are negative consequences, at least there are precedents. The courts may look kindly on your actions. For decades James Hardy acted to protect their investments in chrysotile and their actions are currently being viewed favourably by the courts.

Protecting vested interests has always included shooting the messenger. At least on hotcopper the shooting may be a written hot whopper or a negative vote rather than a bullet.

I expect a crowd of gullible wannabes oppose climate change action too. "No new tax!" is an easy mantra to accept, much easier to accept than the possibility that we may be making our home uninhabitable. The thought of climate change inspires fear and many responses are likely to be less than rational. The gullible find a "head in the sand" response very comforting.

At the end of the spectrum of climate change deniers I see religious zealots and fanatics. Did I notice a raging "Do you believe in God?" earlier in this thread. For those who believe the Earth is a gift from God for man to exploit there can be no counter argument. "God said it. I believe it. That settles it." How may more extinctions would it take to overturn this level of fanaticism I wonder?