Bishop Hill BBC attempts to outdo Heartland
May 11, 2012 BBC Climate: Sceptics Is this an attempt to outdo the Heartland Institute? On Thought for the Day, BBC Radio 4's prime time religion slot, John Bell, a church of Scotland minister, discussed men, and in particular their badness:
However the notion that men are inherently superior doesn’t stand up to empirical proof. While in physical strength they might usually have the advantage, in terms of moral fibre and human decency men don’t always come out on top.
No indeed. One aspect of their badness that is of concern to John Bell is of course, climate change:
...the people who are most vocal in denying human responsibility for the disastrous effects of climate change are mostly male.
That's bad, I must say. But there are other equally bad men around, sinners to rank alongside those who are a bit doubtful about whether we are all about to fry. Can you guess what they are?
- people who control factories of wage slaves in the developing world
- the commanders of terrorist regimes
- leaders who threaten or declare war
- those involved in paedophile gangs
- networks of men who organise systematically the abuse of children
Crazy guy.
(H/T Graham)
Reader Comments (74)
I happen to like Lionel Blue. At least he doesn't take himself too seriously.
<psychopop>
People like Bell can be found in all religions. The certainty they have in what is 'right' and their consequent attitude of 'I'm holier than thou, or I know best is what puts most people off religion.
Its a fundamental to all male hierarchy including the BBC, the civil service and ALL political parties. The Royal Society is a classic case. Remember 'Nullis in Verba' take now ones word for it...except they wnat to change that.
Consensus science is built on this attitude. Eugenics, phlogiston, Lamarkism, bleeding etc .. All depended on experts.
I KNOW because I have climbed the ranks and can look down on lesser mortals. therefore you better kowtow or you will feel the wrath of khan.
People who challenge the consensus are destroyed. Witch burning, crusades, jihads.
'Belief ' in heliocenticity, continental drift, blood circulation and 'germs' were given a hard time.
I guess we better behave and listen to the Reverands Hansen ,Romm ,Revkin and Gleick and burn our local sceptics 'cause we are many and we know who you are.
I wonder how many women / Gay clergy/bishops are to be found in the Iona Community ?
So ends todays thought for the day.
</psycopop>
"...the people who are most vocal in denying human responsibility for the disastrous effects of climate change are mostly male."
As are most of the pontificators on TFTD. So what's his point?
I lurk on this site and am an elderly female of Orthodox Christian persuasion& graduate of Prehistoric Archaeology at Edinburgh. and since archaeologists take climate change to have been the norm in prehistory I expect it to change in the future. This oddly enough accords with Orthodox doctrine so you Atheists are not alone.
Robert Burns says it best
Address to the Unco Guid,
Or the Rigidly Righteous.
My son, these maxims make a rule,
An' lump them ay thegither:
The Rigid Righteous is a fool,
The Rigid Wise anither;
The cleanest corn that e'er was dight
May hae some pyles o' caff in;
So ne'er a fellow-creature slight
For random fits o' daffin.
Solomon. (Ecclesiastes vii. 16)
1.
O ye, wha are sae guid yoursel,
Sae pious and sae holy,
Ye've nought to do but mark and tell
Your neebours' fauts and folly,
Whase life is like a weel-gaun mill,
Supplied wi' store o' water,
The heapet happer's ebbing still,
An' still the clap plays clatter!
2.
Hear me, ye venerable core,
As counsel for poor mortals
That frequent pass douce Wisdom's door
For glaikit Folly's portals:
I for their thoughtless, careless sakes
Would here propone defences --
Their donsie tricks, their black mistakes,
Their failings and mischances.
3.
Ye see your state wi' theirs compared,
And shudder at the niffer;
But cast a moment's fair regard,
What makes the mighty differ?
Discount what scant occasion gave;
That purity ye pride in;
And (what's aft mair than a' the lave)
Your better art o' hidin.
4.
Think, when your castigated pulse
Gies now and then a wallop,
What ragings must his veins convulse,
That still eternal gallop!
Wi' wind and tide fair i' your tail,
Right on ye scud your sea-way;
But in the teeth o' baith to sail,
It makes an unco lee-way.
5.
See Social-life and Glee sit down
All joyous and unthinking,
Till, quite transmugrify'd, they're grown
Debauchery and Drinking:
O, would they stay to calculate,
Th' eternal consequences,
Or - your more dreaded hell to state -
Damnation of expenses!
6.
Ye high, exalted, virtuous dames,
Tied up in godly laces,
Before ye gie poor Frailty names,
Suppose a change o' cases:
A dear-lov'd lad, convenience snug,
A treach'rous inclination--
But, let me whisper i' your lug,
Ye're aiblins nae temptation.
7.
Then gently scan your brother man,
Still gentler sister woman;
Tho' they may gang a kennin wrang,
To step aside is human:
One point must still be greatly dark,
The moving why they do it;
And just as lamely can ye mark
How far perhaps they rue it.
8.
Who made the heart, 'tis He alone
Decidedly can try us:
He knows each chord, its various tone,
Each spring, its various bias:
Then at the balance let's be mute,
We never can adjust it;
What's done we partly may compute,
But know not what's resisted.
Alternatively Holy Willies Prayer
BTW - The FULL transcript is here
- I will comment more when I've analysed it
[Snip - manners]
Bell "the notion that men are inherently superior doesn’t stand up to empirical proof.....the people who are most vocal in denying human responsibility for the disastrous effects of climate change are mostly male."
Bish "there are other equally bad men around, sinners to rank alongside those who are a bit doubtful about whether we are all about to fry...:
people who control factories of wage slaves in the developing world
the commanders of terrorist regimes
leaders who threaten or declare war
those involved in paedophile gangs
networks of men who organise systematically the abuse of children"
Equally bad?? Come on Bish are those sins a patch on doubting that we are going to fry?
Most bible thumpers are men too.
[Snip - venting]
This is a very recent british phenomena. I lived in germany for 10 years and this sort of obscenity would never have been broadcast. But I have to say british men have themselves to partially blame for this sorry situation. If you think so little of the achievements of your half of the species you have only yourself to blame. After all Bell is a man not a woman.
I'm more of a Rabbi Lionel Blair fan meself.
May 13, 2012 at 12:00 PM | Michael
Eloquence we have become used to from the warmist side there.
kingkp
Is your comment directed at Bell or at Michael's invective immediately above you?
Those of us (which appears to include femalelurker — fear not; you are not alone) who take an orthodox christian view but also happen to find the AGW meme unconvincing do find it a little tedious to have to pick our way through the mindless (and usually quite irrelevant) ramblings of those who find sneering at religion either "edgy" or "clever", pretty much in the style of those BBC "comedians" who still think that mentioning the word 'Thatcher' is all you need do to get a laugh.
If you wish to be an atheist that's fine but since we spend a lot of time on here criticising those on the warmist side of the debate for ad hominem attacks, and "straw man" arguments it hardly becomes us to use the same tactics especially when the scatter gun effect also hits those who are supposedly in your side.
Mocking clerics is not new as Alan Bennett showed 50 years ago to much more devastating effect than the standard of drivel which passes for mockery today. There are clerics in all faiths who invite ridicule, not by any sort of blind belief in the tenets of that faith but by the inane way in which they try (and usually fail) to make that faith "relevant" to some branch of political correctness. I would hope that even an atheist would agree that the Almighty (if you believe in him) ought not to considered as a sort of adjunct to the local social serves department! Bell is by no means unique in his touchy-feely attitude and his espousal of fashionable causes but that is no reason gratuitously to offend believers in general.
[Snip - venting. If you use langugage like that again, you will be banned]
Come on, he is a Church of Scotland minister. That says it all. Or do I need to elaborate? In my experience CoS ministers are sad specimens. They preside over a church where the average age of those attending is about 70. In a generation it will barely exist. It has no drive and no spirituality. It has for many years been gutless and spineless, doing the bidding of the establishment and would be the last body to take an objective view of AGW. It is part of the Edinburgh establishment that group which includes the Royal Society of Edinburgh, another big AGW fan. It suits churches to take the apocalyptic view on AGW since apocalypses are their business, aren't they? In any case, how can anyone with a degree in divinity make an objective assessment of GW data?
- Those affected by that event in Rochdale are real people. Bell should not have mentioned it gratuitously to make a political point.
He used the piece to point score against his secondary victims men, skeptics & business.
His Message : He ends with his group sin idea, but also uses the RHETORICAL TRICKS of giving your false prejudices credibility by wrapping them up in other things that people will accept as true . Those prejudices were #1 that there has been climate change disasters AND they have been caused by man. #2 Anti-man #3 Anti-corporation
- So smearing and deceit are not evil ?
#1 What do call a man who knows there haven't been any disasterous effects PROVEN to be caused by any RECENT form of climate change, but make accusations that there have been AND they are caused by man ?
... (perhaps he means environmental damage)
If students go through it line by line they will find other factual errors & false dichotomy, smear words, leading words, exaggerration, but once again we are falling for that trick where people attack with SMEARS to divert us into defending ourselves before we point out the flaws in their arguments.
BBC balance doesn't apply cos religion gets it's own progs in return for the unelected archaic religious keeping their oar out of other progs. .....Pity they haven't done this with the CAGW religion.
Roy that was a really nice thumbs-up, thank you very much.
I think I can write to John Bell, wearing (initially) a different hat. But must listen to the dratted beeb slot first. And I'm about to travel to Germany to check out Graeff's amazing experimental work, see TT blog post
- I forgot to say that Bell's tactic of attacking skeptics with smears is BULLYING, something the BBC internally has strong policies against.
Think of the outrage if Minister John Bell had said the following:
"However the notion that women are inherently superior doesn’t stand up to empirical proof. While in physical beauty they might usually have the advantage, in terms of moral fibre and human decency women don’t always come out on top.
...the people who are most vocal in denying human responsibility for the disastrous effects of their rampant consumerism are mostly women....
That's bad, I must say. But there are other equally bad women around, sinners to rank alongside those who are a bit doubtful about whether we are all about to fry. Can you guess who they are?
women who buy products from factories that employ wage slaves in the developing world
mothers who send their 10 year old boys off to die in wars as martrys
female leaders who threaten or declare war (e.g Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, Margret Thatcher etc.)
middle aged women who have sexual relationships with young teenage boys
and women who systematically abuse their children
I've now received a response. Which I posted here:
http://scef.org.uk/index.php/news/1-latest-news/103-thought-for-today
The Alarmist Army really has some very strange friends - along with the BBC panjandrums of course
I note in his reply Mr Bell is confident he will be providing many more Thoughts for the Day, as well he might since he fits so neatly in the BBC meme.
Have any of the people writing hear met John Bell? Or heard him speak? Go to the greenbelt festival website put john bell in the search and down load any of his talks. you can't judge him like this when you have only heard three minutes of him speak.