December 14, 2004

12/14 - Breathing Thin Air: the sad logic of Michael Crichton

He's six foot ten and apparently the air gets a little thin up there. I told you about his wacky ideas last spring, giving you the link to his odd Michelin Lecture at Cal Tech that left scientists miffed. Now he's going to the general public with his belief that global warming alerts by environmentalists are alarmist exaggerations.

There's no doubting it's a complex issue, but why in the world does this highly credentialed former doctor feel the need to throw all his mass communications clout AGAINST the environmental movement? He's just plain wrong in much of what he says (can anyone deny the correlation between elevated temperatures and elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide? not that its causative, but it does justify concern). And given the obstinance of the Bush Administration to climate science in general, who needs him feeding their fires? He was on ABC's 20/20 last week talking about his new novel in which he uses narrative fiction to communicate his anti-global warming argument.

The only thing worse than his ill logic is the wussy response of the Union of Concerned Scientists who say, "We hope Michael Crichton fans enjoy his new science fiction thriller, while keeping in mind ..." Oh, come on, have some balls and say, "Michael Crichton is writing hogwash." This is why nobody wants to support the Democratic party, because they use this same sort of spineless indirect language. Give us straight talk.

Oh, and as the final compliment to Michael Crichton, he now has ABC consumer bean brain John Stossel as his biggest fan. That's something to be proud of.

crichton.jpg
Michael Crichton: apparently he DOES need a weatherman to know which
way the wind blows.

Posted by Randy Olson at December 14, 2004 12:47 AM
Comments

And furthermore ...

I heard yesterday that people at SEVERAL environmental groups are very upset about Crichton's book. Well, if these groups were as powerful and successful as some of them think themselves to be, there would be no audience for his book.

But they're not. They ALL need to study Mark Dowie's book, "Losing Ground," commit it to heart, figure out why they have prompted such a backlash from American society, go buy themselves a television, get in touch with American culture, go to a NASCAR event, eat a Big Mac, and figure out how to communicate (rather than condescend) to the masses.

And realize that USA Today just gave Crichton's book (as crappy as it is) a favorable review. Score: Mass Audience 1, Environmentalists 0.

Posted by: Randy Olson at December 14, 2004 11:50 AM