Global warming and eugenics

Where did the comparison start?

Posted by David Roberts at 5:13 PM on 30 Jul 2007

Read more about: climate | climate change skepticism

Recently, CNN cable TV and syndicated radio host Glenn Beck said this:

Al Gore's not going to be rounding up Jews and exterminating them. It is the same tactic, however. The goal is different. The goal is globalization. The goal is global carbon tax. The goal is the United Nations running the world. That is the goal. Back in the 1930s, the goal was get rid of all of the Jews and have one global government.

You got to have an enemy to fight. And when you have an enemy to fight, then you can unite the entire world behind you, and you seize power. That was Hitler's plan. His enemy: the Jew. Al Gore's enemy, the U.N.'s enemy: global warming.

...

Then you get the scientists -- eugenics. You get the scientists -- global warming. Then you have to discredit the scientists who say, 'That's not right.' And you must silence all dissenting voices. That's what Hitler did.

For some commentary on this lunacy, see David Neiwert, Matt Yglesias, Steve Benen, and elsewhere.

More interesting is Kevin Drum's question (here and here):

Now, here's the thing: Glenn Beck, Yuval Levin, and Ross Douthat didn't come up with this stuff [about progressives and eugenics] themselves. But it didn't just pop up out of nowhere either. It's way too abstruse for that. Rather, some bright boy or girl in the conservative movement dreamed this up and now it's being run up the flagpole to see if anyone salutes. If it gets some attention, it'll be rolled out to a wider audience.

So whose bright idea was this? Is there a proud parent out there who wants to take credit?

My impression was that the recent surge of people comparing global warming and eugenics was prompted by Michael Crichton, who made the comparison at some length in the afterword to State of Fear (reprinted here).

However, Kevin writes to say that an emailer traced the meme back further. Apparently, in Big Coal, Jeff Goodell says it started with global warming skeptic Arthur Robinson in 1998.

Anybody out there have insight on this? Does it go back farther than 1998?

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3 Comments | Post a Comment

Lyndon LaRouche

Here in Australia the LaRouche groups are claiming that environmentalism is synonymous with eugenics and Hitler. They frequently write letters to newspapers and infest internet discussions making these claims.

Some of them were in the audience of a tv-debate over the screening of The Great Global Warming Swindle, there's a video of it on YouTube (about 1min 30secs in, then 5min 10secs and 6min 20secs). They manage to drag Kepler and Prince Phillip into the discussion as well...

However, when I look LaRouche up, it's hard to find his environmental stance in among his other... theories. So it may not be a major platform of his, although he's been around for ages.

---- ---- ---- Go Greener, Australia - you know you want to.

by gogreener at 8:29 PM on 30 Jul 2007

larouche vs the greenies

The Larouche organization is also a big force behind the 'rachel carson killed more people than hitler' 'ddt ban causes malaria' crap you see around. if you look at the article on wikipedia, for instance, there are people who post only to that point, and on the larouche page.

by gzuckier at 6:47 AM on 31 Jul 2007
[ Parent ]

Crichton is an imbecile in sheep's clothing

For those of you who missed this review of his book, enjoy.

"Third, and most distressing, the scientific establishment in both the United States and Germany did not mount any sustained protest."

Scientists also failed to mount a sustained protest when the theory of evolution was first presented, which as any evangelical can tell you, was the root of the eugenics movement. Hmmm...

That's right. Bonehead is advocating for real scientists to mount a sustained protest against the science behind global warming. You can bet your first born that had this dork been alive at the time of Darwin his article would have been calling for a sustained protest against the theory of evolution, using, oh, the debunked theory of something as proof that evolution was bunk.

Bad ideas can propogate for short periods before being rejected. Eugenics was heading for rejection before Hitler came along. Eugenics would not be with us today, just as slavery isn't, had Hitler never been born.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 8:32 AM on 01 Aug 2007

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