Heartland Ads Compare Climate Science Believers To Murderers, Tyrants

It’s no secret that anti-climate change action “activists” have little, if any, rational and credible arguments left to defend their often ridiculous claims. Now, right-wing extremist group the Heartland Institute has confirmed they’re using little more than pure ignorance and hate with their latest ad campaign.

Last Friday, the Chicago-based group did an “experimental” ad campaign where they plastered the face of Ted Kaczynski, The Unibomber, who apparently believes in global warming, on billboards along the Eisenhower Expressway. The billboard was graced with the message, “I still believe in Global Warming. Do you?”. Future billboards in the campaign were to include the faces of Hitler, Charles Manson, Osama bin Laden, and “other global warming extremists”.

The almost immediate outcry at the campaign led Heartland to take the billboard swiftly down, but it could still be viewed on their website (now gone), along with a response to the controversy.

“We know that our billboard angered and disappointed many of Heartland’s friends and supporters, but we hope they understand what we were trying to do with this experiment. We do not apologize for running the ad, and we will continue to experiment with ways to communicate the ‘realist’ message on the climate.”

Aside from their non-apology, they’re also still spewing out incredibly toxic rhetoric such as,

“The most prominent advocates of global warming aren’t scientists. They are murderers, tyrants, and madmen.”

Murderers! Tyrants! Madmen! I had no idea I was in such company.

The good (well, as good as it can get) news is that this negative press seems to be causing some serious fallout between Heartland, its sponsors, and its speakers. Just two weeks before their 7th International Conference on Climate Change, several corporate sponsors have wisely abandoned the organization, and scheduled speaker Donna Laframboise has cut her ties. Strangely enough, they don’t want to be linked to an organization that compares the opposing side to psychopaths, mass murderers, and terrorists!

I’m sure plenty of people who are concerned about climate change wouldn’t mind creating retaliation billboards using Westboro members, Koran-burning religious zealots, and abortion clinic bombers as the face of right-wing climate denial, but that would be in very poor taste.

Considering a majority of Americans now claim to have experienced the effects of climate change, I have to conclude that we must be living amongst a LOT of mass murderers and psychopaths! Shouldn’t Heartland be more concerned about THAT?

via Thinkprogress