"An Inconvenient Truth" and the power of one

BobcatJH

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Mon Jun-26-06 11:32 AM
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"An Inconvenient Truth" and the power of one

I had the pleasure of seeing "An Inconvenient Truth" this weekend, a sobering film that, while offering its viewers ample opportunities to retreat into abject pessimism, most likely convinces them to become empowered activists and advocates for environmental change. Never have I felt more distressed about the harm we've caused on Earth. Never have I felt more motivated to do something about it.

I was reminded, however, as I watched painful example after painful example of the stubbornness of so many to see the truth, that we indeed have the power to affect change. We are the ones we've been waiting for. And waiting one moment longer for those deniers, those accomplices to environmental catastrophe, those accessories to murder to come around is a moment we could have spent changing things for the better.

Since "An Inconvenient Truth" became a part of our national consciousness, both the film and its creator, Al Gore, have been under attack. The Big Oil-backed Sterling Burnett, despite admitting he hadn't yet seen the film, still compared Gore to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. Noted intellectual Glenn Beck said the process behind the film was "like Hitler". Tucker Carlson referred to Gore as a "'zealot,' a 'bible-thumper,' a 'wild-eyed religious nut' whose 'religion is the environment'".

In addition to such baseless, below-the-belt personal attacks on Gore, the media have given ample time to global warming deniers, those industry-backed "experts" whose only goal is to make vague a starkly clear issue. Thanks to a huge push from Big Oil, we've seen a barrage of misinformation calculated to cast doubt on global warming. Joining in, of course, has been right-wing outlets like Fox News, whose David Asman wondered whether Gore's film would put "our economy on the skids". To such denials and criticisms Gore responded, "Well, I guess in some quarters there's still a debate over whether the moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona or whether the earth is flat instead of round."

And that's just it. Casting doubt on something so clear as the disastrous, growing effects of global warming has long been a right-wing goal. In the movie, for instance, Gore presents a study done on a large sample of peer-reviewed journals looking at the percentage of articles casting doubt on global warming. The study found no dissenting opinion. None. Gore then presented a similar study of news reports. Approximately half of the reports cast doubt on the issue the scientific community is unanimously behind. So, in this way, the denial lobby has already won, their chief product being doubt, not energy.

If we're going to do this, if we're going to work for a better tomorrow, we're going to do so in the face of such massive opposition. We're going to do so despite the fact that a large proportion of the population is living in complete denial. We're going to do so knowing that our opponents resort to shameful, personal attacks because they can't debate us on the merits of our arguments. We're going to do so while those in our way refuse to become a part of the solution, instead willfully remaining a part of the problem. But make no mistake, we're going to do so.

It shouldn't surprise us when we encounter fervent opposition while we fight for progressive values. When an old way of thinking is rendered obsolete by emerging realities, it's hard for some people to accept change. It's not enough for them to embrace a dying model. No, they've got to fight, tooth-and-nail, to see that we fail. In this case, the incestuous relationship between the energy lobby and the Republican Party has resulted in an ongoing campaign to paint the most important issue of our time as an affront to commerce and an extremist position only debated by radicals. But if you let yourself get caught up in the right wing's tried-and-true disinformation-mongering, it's easy to lose sight of the goal.

And this is one of the many great aspects of "An Inconvenient Truth". Sure, as we know, we'll encounter resistance when we fight for change. That's a given. Some people will never come around. Some people will remain oblivious to the fact that the world is moving on without them. Some people will fight to see that things don't get any better. But we don't fight to change every mind. We can't. Not all at once. When we do, every moment we waste on those who will never come to the light is a moment we don't spend making things better. What we can do starts with us. It starts by our becoming advocates for change at all levels. It starts by our not despairing when we run into opposition. Their protests only mean what we're doing is working.