Climate change: The "non-problem"

Last week, while awaiting a delayed flight at the Sydney Airport, I decided to pick up a copy The Australian - something I had not done for a long time. I've always had an interesting relationship with this broadsheet. On the whole, I consider it to be a fairly respectable newspaper; the reporting is informative and objective, and most of the writers have this uncanny knack for being exceedingly critical about everything and anything on earth, no matter what the issue. And I like that. For instance, on the subject of environmentalism, only The Australian could manage to be critical of Howard, Kyoto, Labor, the Unions, America, and 76 other developing countries, all in one nicely constructed paragraph. Ah, what cynical talent.

But being a Murdoch newspaper, there's always some neo-conservative jargon located in there somewhere just to screw everything up. In this particular edition of The Australian, former Nationals Senator, and fervent anti-multicultralist, John Stone took the baton for the right wing opinion team - and wrote one of the most bizarre, shocking, and intellectually offensive articles I've ever seen published. It was titled "Bigger Storm is Brewing", and you can read it here if you ever feel the need to waste 3 minutes of your life. Personally, I'd consider watching 3 minutes of 'Mr.Bankrupt' ads over and over again as a far more intellectually rewarding exercise; but each to his own.

Anyway, the argument Mr. Stone put forth in this article can be conveniently summarised like this: basically, he was confused as to why there had been so much media attention recently devoted to the climate change issue, when, at the same time, we had Taj Din al-Hilali's making his infamous Islamic "meat for cats" speech (if you would like to read about that particular speech, you should access it here. However, be warned: my 'Mr.Bankrupt' argument applies equally to the crazy rants of al-Hilali as it does to Mr.Stone). Anyway, to use Mr.Stone's own words, he just couldn't understand how concerns over this "so-called pollution of our atmosphere by a gas, carbon dioxide, that's an essential building block for all plant life" could possibly outweigh the newsworthiness of a silly speech made by a religious figure who obviously holds sexist and antiquated views.

Perhaps, Mr. Stone, I can answer this for you. Perhaps the media saw fit to report slightly more on the climate change issue because..... oh, I don't know...... it concerns the fate of our entire planet. This in contrast to the (admittedly insane) views expressed by Taj Din al-Hilali, which, I need not remind you, do not represent the views of most Australian Muslims, and, as far as I can tell, do not pose even a mild threat to the existence of the entire human race or its chosen planet of habitation.

What's more, maybe the notion of religious figures making crazy statements isn't that uncommon an occurrence anyway. We must remember that most religions are thousands of years old. While society has progressed leaps and bounds in those thousands of years.... sometimes religious figures forget that a little bit. Think Peter Hollingsworth. Or, more recently, The Pope. Hell, even the Family First Party slipped up last election and demanded that all lesbians be "burned at the stake".

But, I'm afraid, Mr. Stone just won't agree. Consider these pearls of wisdom from the same article:

In short, we remain officially complacent about the most serious threat to our future, namely the fundamental incompatibility of Islam with Western society, while adopting anti-economic growth policies to address a problem [climate change] that exists chiefly in the fevered minds of its UN and Green proponents.

Yes, he is serious. And no, I've got no idea how he ever got to represent our community in federal politics either. He's was a bloody Nationals senator as well, which means that, right now, most of his former rural constituency is probably half-dying from a drought brought on, at least in part, by climate change. And what's even more perplexing is that, coming from such a rural background, his former constituency probably doesn't even have a Muslim population at all.

Ah I don't know. Yes, there may be a 'Muslim issue' in some parts of Australia. But to compare it to climate change? You gotta be kidding me. This John Stone guy needs to be wrapped up in a straight jacket, and dropped onto a melting icecap in Antarctica, so that he can slowly watch himself descend into freezing water, which, if something isn't done soon, will be the fate of most of the earth's landmass.

So anyway, in conclusion, after being away from this country for a good eight months, that was my first taste of good ol' Australian values. Yep, sure is good to be home.