Re: [asa] Carbon Offsets for the Elite (or, How the Wealthy Adapt to Warming)

*An argument is ad hominem if it attacks the person presenting the argument
rather than the argument itself.*

But the argument being attacked isn't global warming qua global warming,
it's Gore's argument that governments should take immediate and drastic
action that is being attacked. In that regard, Gore's energy usage, and the
manner in which he purportedly offsets it, is directly relevant. I think it
illustrates quite nicely the price elasticity of demand problem relating to
carbon trading schemes -- which none of the "ad hominem" tut-tutters here
have tried to address.

It also illustrates quite nicely that many of the people advocating severe,
immediate regulatory action have no clue about the financial struggles of
ordinary people. Al Gore and Leo DiCaprio won't feel the sting of whatever
policy gets adopted -- they'll be sipping daquiris at heated poolside while
us regular Joes try to figure out how to pay our electric bills or commute
to work. That also is very relevant to the policy question.

Finally, I disagree in principle that it's improper ad hominem to question
the motives of a public figure. If Al Gore is a hypocrite when it comes to
energy use, that goes to the overall credibility of his message.

On 3/3/07, George Murphy <gmurphy@raex.com> wrote:
>
>
> You don't have to call a person names to do that & in fact everything you
say can be true, but it's still a dodge. The facts about Al Gore's swimming
pool have nothing to do with the questions of whether or not the earth is
warming, whether or not if it is it's anthropogenic, & what should be done
about it.
>
> Shalom
> George
> http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: David Opderbeck
> To: PvM
> Cc: asa
> Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2007 8:12 PM
> Subject: Re: [asa] Carbon Offsets for the Elite (or, How the Wealthy Adapt
to Warming)
>
> Where's the ad hominem? Nobody's calling him names. The facts are the
facts.
>
>
> On 3/3/07, PvM <pvm.pandas@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I find it somewhat disturbing that when Al Gore receives an award for
> > his groundbreaking work, suddenly these ad hominem attacks appear out
> > of nowhere to try to undermine Al Gore's work. Swift-boating all over
> > again and since there is not much argument against the science of
> > global warming, the obvious course of action seems to be to attack the
> > messenger.
> >
> > Thus right wing news papers and other outlets are quick to accuse Gore
> > of being a hypocrite.
> >
> > I guess when faced with the inconvenient truth, some are quick to
> > attack, at all cost.
> >
> > May God have Mercy on them, for they do not know better
> >
> > To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
> > "unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
> >
>
>

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Received on Sat Mar 3 22:34:52 2007