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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAl Gore: 'Big money has so much influence now. Our democracy has been hacked'
Al Gore: 'The rich have subverted all reason'Brexit, Trump, climate change, oil producers, dark money, Russian influence, a full- frontal assault on facts, evidence, journalism, science, its all connected.
Link to tweet
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Large carbon polluters have spent up to $2bn spreading false doubt
Its the reason why we are all here his foundation, the Climate Reality Project, an initiative that grew out of the film, provides intensive training in talking about climate change, combating climate change denial and the tone might be described as activist upbeat. This is a crisis that is solvable, were told. Trump is just another hitch, another hurdle to overcome. And it will be overcome. Only occasionally does a sliver of despair leak around the edges. You have to stay positive, a man called David Ellenberger tells the audience. Though sometimes, he admits: Theres not enough Prozac to get through the day.
Its almost a relief to hear someone acknowledge this. Because before there was FAKE NEWS!!! and the FAILING New York Times! Trump was tweeting about GLOBAL WARMING hoaxsters! and GLOBAL WARMING bullshit! The war on the mainstream media may capture the headlines currently, but the war on climate change science has been in play for years. And its this that is one of the most fascinating aspects of Gores new film, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power. Because if the US had a subtitle at the moment, it might be that, too, and the struggle to overcome fake facts and false narratives funded by corporate interests and politically motivated billionaires is one that Gore has been at the frontline of for more than a decade.
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Brexit, Trump, climate change, oil producers, dark money, Russian influence, its all connected
The nightly news, Gore says, has become a nature hike through the Book of Revelations. But what his work has shown and continues to show is that evidence is not enough. The film opens with clips from Fox News ridiculing global warming. In recent weeks, the New York Times has started describing the Trump administration as waging a war on science, a full-on assault against evidence-based science that runs in parallel with his attacks on evidence-based reporting. And Gore is in something of a unique position to understand this. What becomes clear over the course of several conversations is how entwined he believes it all is climate change denial, the interests of big capital, dark money, billionaire political funders, the ascendancy of Trump and what he calls (hes written a book on it) the assault against reason. They are all pieces of the same puzzle; a puzzle that Gore has been tracking for years, because it turns out that climate change denial was the canary in the coal mine.
In order to fix the climate crisis, we need to first fix the government crisis, he says. Big money has so much influence now. And he says a phrase that is as dramatic as it is multilayered: Our democracy has been hacked. Its something I hear him repeat to the audience in the ballroom, in a room backstage, a few weeks later in London, and finally on the phone earlier this month.
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The Rest:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/30/al-gore-interview-our-crumbling-planet-the-rich-have-subverted-all-reason-al-gore
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Al Gore: 'Big money has so much influence now. Our democracy has been hacked' (Original Post)
kpete
Jul 2017
OP
Imagine. But he still could be. I'd support him in a heartbeat. Gore/Harris 2020. or ASAP
chimpymustgo
Jul 2017
#4
ms liberty
(8,572 posts)1. K&R. n/t
Funtatlaguy
(10,870 posts)2. What a waste of talent and intellect
that this country didn't have this man as President.
Bluepinky
(2,268 posts)3. He should have been our President.
All of these awful things likely wouldn't have happened had he not been robbed of the presidency: 9/11, Iraq War, Citizens United, rise of ISIS, Trump as President and all the horror of the last 6 months, including Russian takeover of our government.
Ahh, to think what could have been.....
chimpymustgo
(12,774 posts)4. Imagine. But he still could be. I'd support him in a heartbeat. Gore/Harris 2020. or ASAP
We need a thinker and a doer. And we almost need to start from scratch to repair our republic.
Bluepinky
(2,268 posts)5. Yes, Gore/Harris would be a great ticket!
Hieronymus
(6,039 posts)8. A great ticket.
Chemisse
(30,807 posts)6. This has been true for decades, regardless of party.
The only difference now is that the GOP isn't bothering to hide it anymore.
Hieronymus
(6,039 posts)7. Gore is right, of course.