The Solution is Who?
Laurie David, the woman who brought Al Gore to a 'theater near you,' is profiled on NPR as part of its Climate Connections series. There's also an excerpt from her 2006 book, Stop Global Warming: The Solution is You. Having quickly scanned it, it seems pretty lightweight, but judge for yourself. Next year, she'll publish another book -- this one aimed at kids and called, "Down to Earth."
David has received her share of criticism, most notably for flying around in a private jet while denouncing SUVs. Media critic Eric Alterman was the writer who first took her to task on this in the Atlantic Monthly. But he tells NPR, "If you judge Laurie on how one citizen holding no office has managed to reach millions of people, then she deserves an enormous amount of credit. After Al Gore, she's probably done more than anyone in America." Much the same dynamic is at play with Gore himself, of course.
So, I'm curious. What do you think? Answer our first-ever Compass poll.
David has received her share of criticism, most notably for flying around in a private jet while denouncing SUVs. Media critic Eric Alterman was the writer who first took her to task on this in the Atlantic Monthly. But he tells NPR, "If you judge Laurie on how one citizen holding no office has managed to reach millions of people, then she deserves an enormous amount of credit. After Al Gore, she's probably done more than anyone in America." Much the same dynamic is at play with Gore himself, of course.
So, I'm curious. What do you think? Answer our first-ever Compass poll.
1 Comments:
This argument needs to be reframed by environmentalists, and it should be easy. The far- and even the near-right have been pulling the hypocracy card a lot on easy-to-attack celebrities. Why? This takes to focus off the real issues.
The solution is simple. Gore and David may be hypocrites on some level, but each of us should be judged by the WHOLE of our actions during our lifetime. In other words, a simple benefit/cost analysis of both Gore and David would show that each has done FAR more good though their numerous environmentalist actions than the harm imposed by their big ugly jet airplanes.
Others use the ends justify means argument daily. Why can't we? If Gore's flying around brings global warming education to millions, it's probably worth it. The net good of his efforts probably outweigh the net bad (millions of people taking action to be greener > 1 rich man's plane full of jet fuel). Do we blame the bus driver for his smelly air-polution when he takes 60 people, who might otherwise use a car, to work each day? Don't fall into the usual right-wing anti-environmentalist trap. I'd rather see Al Gore use his position and public face to say and do something positive about global warming and be called a hypocrite by a bunch of hypocrites than do nothing about such an important issue.
If the facts are on your side, the argument is much easier to win, as long as you don't get pulled into a "somewhat" related irrelevant argument. Be careful, but speak your mind.
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