Is the media over-hyping Global Warming?
It’s hard to walk down the street or watch your favorite TV program these days without getting slapped in the face with Global Warming issues. America has gotten itself into a Green frenzy set about by one thing; the media. The mainstream media has one stance on Global Warming that it stands firmly next to. That stance is that Global Warming is real, it's happening, and we are going to kill the planet and ourselves if we don’t do anything about it.
My problem with that is that they only present one side of the issue; their side, their ‘facts’, their evidence, without giving anyone a broader picture. I respect the fact that there are multiple points of view out there, but it feels like the media is trying to herd us all into one pasture. This is the pasture you want to be in, because we say so, and pay no attention to that other one over there. And most of us go along with it like happy sheep. Or cows.
One thing I'm now learning is that Global Warming isn't quite as open and shut as the media would have you believe. The scientific community is far from decided on what exactly is happening, and what exactly is causing it. It goes back and forth between a chart that shows a rise in temperature over the last 20 or 30 years, then someone will show a chart that shows the rise and fall of temperature over the span of thousands of years, and then the other side will come in and counter that there is no way to accurately tell temperature that far back, and it goes on and on.
My point being that the debate over Global Warming is far from over, and mainstream media is telling us that, yes, it is a real threat and we are the problem as if it was a fact. Reason for this? Well, a lot of people are making a lot of money off of this Global Warming issue. Such and Global Warming poster boy, Al Gore, who has several investments in companies such as Silver Spring Networks that benefit from the focus on energy-saving and clean energy development. Coincidence? Maybe, but we also have proof that politicians are bending the truth in scientific reports to meet their needs, so is it possible that they are giving little guiding nudges to people in the media? Again; maybe. Just saying.
While I'm really in no position to say whether Global Warming is happening or not, let's at least give the American people the whole truth, instead of a small fraction.
I defiantly agree with Joey in that when global warming was first introduced to the world as a "life or death" crisis, mainstream media saw it merely as an opportunity to gain public publicity. Though I do think it is a good thing rather than bad because if they wouldn't have made global warming what it is today we wouldn't have recycling bins around every corner or go green groups fighting for the environment. I do agree with Joey though that they didn't see it as a concern they saw it as a money maker.
ReplyDeleteJoey, great piece. I thought was well written with you expressing your opinion in a way that was easy to connect with. I agree with your statement about the media often times only presenting one side of the issue. Sometimes I feel like the media is reminiscent of the loner at school who wants to be part of the popular crowd so they adjust their actions in an attempt to fit in. If the consensus was that global warming was not real, then the media would side with that belief,
ReplyDeletebut since Al Gore and many others are in an uproar that global warming is occuring then the media automatically agrees with that statement. If you are going to be neutral, then be neutral. If you are going to present a one-sided arguement in favor of your belief than back it up with solid fact and evidence,not just he said/she said and pure specualation, something that the media has failed to do.