Hamish Mykura Responds

Hamish Mykura responds to the egregious Monbiot’s absurd and hyperbolic claims of the other day.

George Monbiot’s claim that “no UK organisation has done more to damage environmental protection than Channel 4” takes the locally sourced, gluten-free biscuit (Why does Channel 4 seem to be waging a war against the greens?, July 22).

Monbiot alleges this documentary had “a huge impact, persuading many people that man-made climate change is not taking place”, but provides no evidence. This film was watched by 2.7 million people – around 5% of British adults. It is difficult to say what “impact” it had on any of them. But it is likely to be the first time some encountered a viewpoint within the mainstream media that went against the prevailing scientific consensus supporting the theory of man-made global warming.

Come on, Hamish… What did you expect? Monbiot is a Marxist, through and through. He will shriek and scream and say anything to get his way. He is an alarmist, and like his equally hubrisitc brethren, has no compunction about twisting facts and figures to make them fit and then embellishing with a little sack-loads of hyperbole. “No evidence” is this man’s trademark. That is the nature of the beast. This man will not rest until our economy relies on the three-field system and we are all pulling ploughshares. Well, apart from him, of course; he’ll still need to fly about the world to promote his latest tedious drivel book.

Of more than 100,000 hours of programmes the channel has broadcast since 1990, Monbiot cherry-picks five and a half hours that were critical of the green movement and claims this demonstrates “a recurring antagonism towards environmentalism” on Channel 4’s behalf.

Again, what did you expect? Monbiot doesn’t want any dissent. Dissent for the greenies is verboten, it is heresy that would be punished if they had their way.

He ignores Channel 4 News’s high-quality coverage and our planned transmission of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth.

Why are you planning to show this hogwash? Unless it is so that people can see that it is hogwash…

It is arguable that it is not the Great Global Warming Swindle that has bred public scepticism, but the desire of some environmentalists – evidenced by the identikit complaints orchestrated against the film – to stamp out dissenting voices. This intolerance undermines confidence in the rightness of the cause.

This, for me is the the crux of the matter. The browbeating, the abuse of the English language in an attempt to stifle dissent and the hectoring that we are assulted with on a daily basis. Not only is this going on in news and current affairs programmes, we are bombarded with propaganda crudely dressed up as drama. Incidentally, I’ll be giving Burn Up a miss because I object (vigorously) to being hectored and lectured by these people.

Back to the point for a moment, when we see the likes of George Monbiot swanning about on aeroplanes to promote their books or Al Gore doing likewise with his film; we, the public, can see them for what they are – rampant hypocrites. We, the public, realise that we are being sold a pup by a bunch of control freaks. When you look at who is screaming that the apocalypse is going to happen if “we” not they, don’t change our lifestyles, we only have to look to realise that it is the usual suspects; the Marxists and the control freaks; the arseholes who want to exercise control over us.

Fortunately, evidence is beginning to emerge that the public are seeing through it – and Hamish is right, it is the behaviour of the green evangelists themselves that is turning people off, it is because we can see them for what they are and it is deeply, deeply unpleasant.

A more sceptical public is a good thing. Scepticism is healthy. Long may it live. Far from Monbiot’s complaint that there is too much challenging of the orthodox religion, we need more programmes that challenge these people – only, this time, please keep it entirely factual. The public need to take Monbiot, Gore and all those other shrill evangelists with a great big pinch of salt. It’s okay, it isn’t as unhealthy as these nauseating control freaks would have you believe

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Update: In a similar vein, The Englishman, Tom Paine and Nourishing Obscurity.