The Heartland Institute has decided to remove the disgusting billboards comparing those who accept global warming to terrorists, dictators and serial killers. But they are doing so with no contrition whatsoever and no recognition of their own vile behavior.
Heartland Institute President and CEO Joe Bast has issued the following statement:
We will stop running [the billboard] at 4:00 p.m. CST today. (It’s a digital billboard, so a simple phone call is all it takes.)
The Heartland Institute knew this was a risk when deciding to test it, but decided it was a necessary price to make an emotional appeal to people who otherwise aren’t following the climate change debate.
Interesting. Not because it’s dishonest. Not because it’s irrational. Not because it’s demagoguery and utterly repulsive. Hey, it was just a risk they took! But the problem is that any sane person could possibly think this is okay, ever, under any circumstances. I don’t give a damn that they pulled them down. A major boycott needs to be launched of every company that has given a dime to this organization.
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Ellie
May 4, 2012 at 5:02 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You know who else took risks? Hitler.
The Heartland Institute wants to steal my water (Lake Erie) and ship it to Asia. Do I really need to know anything more about them?
Michael Heath
May 4, 2012 at 5:33 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Heartland Institute’s argument on the billboard published at the WaPo states:
Hitler probably concluded that he shit out his ass; so I guess that makes me no better than Hitler.
holytape
May 4, 2012 at 6:16 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Only killers believe in Gravity.
Area Man
May 4, 2012 at 6:24 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Shorter: We were desperate for attention.
Ichthyic
May 4, 2012 at 6:26 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
But they are doing so with no contrition whatsoever and no recognition of their own vile behavior.
Haven’t we always been at war with Eurasia?
Ichthyic
May 4, 2012 at 6:36 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Seriously, if a think tank can at all conclude it could get traction with a message of this type, it tells me that there are WAY too many authoritarian personality types who simply will accept the message at face value.
Ed is right to suggest crushing the purveyors of such messages, but at the same time, realize that there is STILL a huge swath of authoritarians that must be reached with a different message; to that, you will have to work through the channels these authoritarians already rely on for “trusted” information. You will not convince them of ANYTHING through reasoned argument. Yes, that’s right, if we want to influence authoritarians, we have to play the same game as the Heartland Institute.
Hercules Grytpype-Thynne
May 4, 2012 at 6:55 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Slightly longer: We knew we couldn’t make an argument on the merits.
paulhutch
May 4, 2012 at 8:45 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Here’s a list of 19 corporate sponsors.
eigenperson
May 4, 2012 at 9:39 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Looks they lost this round pretty badly and they know it.
llewelly
May 4, 2012 at 9:42 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
John Mashey, as always, has an excellent summary of what you need to know about the Heartland Institute:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/04/the-heartland-institute-sinks-to-a-new-low/#comment-513890
teawithbertrand
May 4, 2012 at 10:17 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
This campaign was not only repugnant, but quite ill-conceived. It seems to me that anyone dumb enough to buy their argument might very well lack an awareness of who Ted Kaczynski is.
dan4
May 4, 2012 at 11:32 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Mitt Romney didn’t want think heaven and earth should be moved to get Osama bin Laden. Osama bin Laden also obviously didn’t think heaven and earth should be moved to get Osama bin Laden. Same, ahem, “logic.”
left0ver1under
May 5, 2012 at 2:10 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You can’t unring a bell.
It’s easier to tell the lie than it is to refute it.
A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.
If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.
—–
Without “wisdom” like that, the nutbags could never convince anyone.
lancifer
May 5, 2012 at 10:37 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
They should apologize and admit it was a clumsy and repugnant ad campaign, instead of saying it was just an “experiment” gone awry.
Just as the Climate Change Advocacy group 10:10 should have immediately apologized for their repugnant ad campaign featuring the “No Pressure” video instead of saying it was just trying to be funny and had been misunderstood.
The 10:10 group suffered the loss of many sponsors for their stupidity as I’m sure the Heartland Institute will for theirs.
Michael Heath
May 5, 2012 at 12:17 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
lancifer writes:
The Heartland Institute is purposefully dishonest which is by design – it is a feature and not a bug. So my confidence they’ll act with integrity on any matter approaches zero; except if they conclude a tactical concession of wrongdoing will help them better promote their strategic falsehoods.
The only two viable alternatives they have to gain integrity they’ve never possessed is to either disband or fundamentally reform to the point their distribution of information and arguments are both honest and cogent. I think the odds of that happening in the short-tem approaches zero given the lack of character of their financiers and the people who work there.
pipenta
May 5, 2012 at 12:27 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I don’t expect these creepazoids to apologize. That would be like expecting them to spontaneously generate big brains and hearts to replace the stunted organs they now have. It is not realistic.
The important thing is the toxic trashy signs have been removed.
Uncle Glenny
May 5, 2012 at 2:50 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Or might be aligned with his cause.
Reginald Selkirk
May 5, 2012 at 8:44 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
We do not apologize for running the ad
Well then fuck you.
joseph
May 5, 2012 at 8:46 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Grist has responded with some billboards of their own:
http://grist.org/climate-skeptics/nine-out-of-10-psychos-agree-heartlands-bonkers-climate-billboards-need-company/
robertc
May 6, 2012 at 12:12 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The Discovery Institute thinks the signs are SOO funny, they’ve adjusted them to be anti-evolution….
http://darwins-god.blogspot.com/2012/05/evolutionists-caught-againbut-they.html
democommie
May 6, 2012 at 7:02 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“The 10:10 group suffered the loss of many sponsors for their stupidity as I’m sure the Heartland Institute will for theirs.”
Do you mean that the 10:10 group lost some sponsors for clumsily and tastelessly telling the truth whereas The Heartless might lose theirs for clumsilly and tastelessly lying?
lancifer
May 6, 2012 at 7:23 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
demmocommie,
Blowing children and coworkers, that refuse to accept your ideologically driven agenda, to bloody bits is hardly “telling the truth”.
But feel free to alienate more people if you like.
dingojack
May 6, 2012 at 8:36 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Lancifer – You are aware that is an advertisement, a piece of fiction right?
Dingo
Michael Heath
May 6, 2012 at 2:39 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
dingojack,
I just watched the video. I have no idea who this group is and would be shocked to learn they have any influence given how idiotic this ad is, especially this sort of thing doesn’t work on the left like it can on the right – at least not in the U.S., e.g., PETA is a fringe movement. So why are you apparently attempting to legitimize this by rationalizing it’s merely fiction? That’s obvious to anyone plus it avoids why the video’s obviously self-defeating.
Che delusione » Ocasapiens - Blog - Repubblica.it
May 4, 2012 at 8:20 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
[...] Romm come Anthony Watts (eh sì, sebbene accusasse il primo di ipocrisia…), Tamino, Ed Brayton, Desmogblog, Climatecroks, Lucia Graves (altre parodie), Washington Post, Guardian, Media Matters [...]
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May 5, 2012 at 7:54 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I Have Man Boobs…
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