Dealing in Deception
Last Updated on October 10, 2020
Film Recommendation
Merchants of Doubt (2014)
How Special Interests Buy Doubt
I watched this documentary again last night, and it’s still amazing! What the writers and filmmakers were able to expose is truly impressive. Merchants of Doubt is based on the book (same name), written by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway. The story covers the marketing and confusion peddled by the fossil fuel industry. The goal of these marketeers is to sow deception around man-made climate change, and buy the fossil fuel industry more time.
This is primarily (but not uniquely) done through creating controversy around the topic of global warming. Those that profit from the fossil fuel industry (see The Koch Brothers), spend vast sums of money on influencing both public opinion and national policy.
These special interest groups channel enormous amounts of money, sponsoring spokespeople and making substantial payments to key influencers. This aggressive lobbying helps maintain the status quo, obstructing key legislation that might be relevant to public health or environmental action.
As Real As It Gets
Most educated people are keenly aware that climate change is real. There is no controversy! Humans have clearly changed the face of the planet. What’s more, we have impacted it in ways that are creating increasingly dire repercussions. There really isn’t any doubt about it.
You can’t expect to cut millions of trees, burn copious amounts of fossil fuels, and release multitudes of chemicals into the atmosphere daily, and not expect it to have adverse effects on our very unique life supporting systems (learn more about The Interconnected System). It’s fairly logical even before looking at all the overwhelming scientific consensus.
Welcome to the Danger Zone
The documentary covers the transition of corporate denial in tobacco companies (despite said companies being blatantly aware of the evidence), as they sought to mask the harm that their products provoked. This was also true for a number of chemical companies (flame retardants for instance), and is currently true for the fossil fuels industry.
Rather than argue the science head on, they learnt that they need to merely sow doubt and deception. With the public caught up in all the noise, they need not even bother with the science at all!
Masters of Deception
To perform this nefarious task is a crew of well paid commentators. Their goal is to slow down and immobilize any climate change action. The film clearly demonstrates that many of these debilitating orators happen to be the very same people that had spoken up for the cigarette and chemical (flame retardant) companies. These are the deception dealers.
Truly an enlightening documentary! The information was very clear and unpleasantly startling. It’s somehow both alarming and unsurprising to learn that there are these manipulations in play. The delivery made it abundantly clear. Indeed, the film itself does a nice job playing with the analogy between magicians and these purveyors of doubt and deception. It makes for a slightly less dire format given the material. I highly recommend watching it.
16 Responses
[…] immediate action and attention are needed. The alarms were met with cool cynicism and doubt (See Deception Dealers). Rather than act on the information, the truth was warped and censored in order to maintain the […]
[…] network with the obvious intent to influence the public opinion on climate change (see Dealing in Deception). According to their mantra, climate change is dubious and government action is a threat to […]
[…] on the planet, and a taste of the forces at work looking to keep climate action at bay. See Deception Dealers for […]
[…] information or taking preventative measures, they have been promoting a campaign of denial (see Merchants of Doubt). Decided to build a […]
[…] what information you determine to be true and relevant, while discarding much of the noise (see Merchants of Doubt). Taking this approach can also boost your confidence as well as work to diminish some anxieties as […]
[…] is pretty significant (The New Republic), as is the might of fossil fuel industry dollars (see Deception Dealers). But there are other aspects to consider as well. Including human psychology (see In Denial). […]
[…] Click here for more details & the film trailer. […]
[…] It seems pretty evident that knowledge isn’t particularly useful if we don’t apply it. Unfortunately, this is precisely what we’re doing with regards the climate crisis. We know that human activity is generating copious amounts of greenhouse gases, that are in turn warming the planet. We are literally changing the earth’s climate. The science tells us we need to stop, or face the dire consequences. The political will however is still severely lacking as the people & organizations that profit most from the status quo actively work to prevent the changes we need. […]
[…] Carl Sagan shared his opinion on the need to search for and face the truth. In these times of doubt and deception, it is vital that we persist in our quest for the truth. As he shared, “it is far better to […]
[…] of the overwhelming data however, climate change is frequently misportrayed by the media as a debatable issue. That’s when it actually makes it to the mainstream channels! Otherwise, it’s all too […]
[…] Written by science historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, this book packs quite a punch! If the climate crisis is so terribly frightening, and there are so many awesome opportunities in our transformational shift to sustainability, then why haven’t we done it? This book provides you with the details on why public consensus has been so slow and those in power have yet to decarbonize. It’s an immensely enlightening read. There’s also a corresponding documentary that is a must watch. […]
[…] it is. That means listening to the actual scientific community, rather than the media debates and oil-funded skeptics. Just this morning, I read of climate scientist, Dr. Katherine Hayhoe, who’s CNN interview […]
[…] Compounded to this is the fact that such change threatens some of the wealthiest people and corporations in human history. The very organizations that have profited so greatly from the status quo. They will not go quietly into the night. Instead, they are spending enormous sums of money to influence politics and manipulate public opinion. […]
[…] represents some of the wealthiest companies in all of human history, have been spending a lot on climate deception. That’s on top of all the other money the fossil fuel industry is already dishing out in […]
[…] 14 […]
[…] us who wish to continue living on a stable climate planet, alarms were met with cool cynicism and manufactured doubt. Rather than acting urgently on the science, the truth was distorted and buried. Top government […]