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The Art Of The Inconvenient Question
Whatever you think about what causes global warming, are you making the same mistake art critics make? 
In social situations over the holidays, when the subject of global warming came up (as it often does), I would ask one key, clarifying question that proved to be vital to knowing where the other person was coming from.
And the question was this:“When you say global warming, do you mean the natural cycle the planet periodically goes through, or do you mean the humans-are-to-blame version which has been popularized and monetized by Al Gore and crew?”
It makes a difference, you know. I’m shocked by the number of times I’m met with a
blank look after I ask The Question. It’s as if they’d never considered that their cause célèbre of the moment could be simply a natural cycle of events.
And of course, you know me, I’m always happy to introduce The Question.
An Inconvenient Art Critic?
I wonder if how we think about what causes global warming is very much like critiquing a famous painting? I wonder if the widely varying reportage on the causes are simply the same data, only looked at through different filters?
After all, a Van Gogh painting doesn’t physically change with each new person looking at it. The only thing that changes is what each has to say about it. And what they say and think about it is shaped by how they perceive the data — i.e, how we filter it through our mental prejudices.
Are global warming proponents and opponents like art critics who critique paintings according to whatever discipline they favor? Some prefer Expressionism, while others are abstract Cubist fans, for others it’s Impressionism or nothing; while yet others favor Art Nouveau-some-such-nonsense that I don’t recall.
But they’re all looking at the same physical painting you and I are looking at, but each brings their own interpretation to it. And, depending on how much of a businessperson they are, each has their way of cashing in, possibly exploiting how they can get others to look at the same data in the same way.
Could the whole ‘what is causing global warming’ controversy be defined this simply?
What do you think?
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By Walter |
Topics: Inside The Mind, Lessons Learned |
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