The Assault on Reason by Al Gore

Now I’m not the biggest Al Gore fan in the world and even in this excerpt I found a few things a little out of whack but overall I’d have to say…I’ll probably read this one.

Excerpts:

In practice, what television's dominance has come to mean is that the inherent value of political propositions put forward by candidates is now largely irrelevant compared with the image-based ad campaigns they use to shape the perceptions of voters. The high cost of these commercials has radically increased the role of money in politics—and the influence of those who contribute it. That is why campaign finance reform, however well drafted, often misses the main point: so long as the dominant means of engaging in political dialogue is through purchasing expensive television advertising, money will continue in one way or another to dominate American politics. And as a result, ideas will continue to play a diminished role. That is also why the House and Senate campaign committees in both parties now search for candidates who are multimillionaires and can buy the ads with their own personal resources.

As a result, our democracy is in danger of being hollowed out. In order to reclaim our birthright, we Americans must resolve to repair the systemic decay of the public forum. We must create new ways to engage in a genuine and not manipulative conversation about our future. We must stop tolerating the rejection and distortion of science. We must insist on an end to the cynical use of pseudo-studies known to be false for the purpose of intentionally clouding the public's ability to discern the truth. Americans in both parties should insist on the re-establishment of respect for the rule of reason.

I found it funny that Algore would talk about the distortion of science since he has become the number one distorter of science in the world…he replaced those cold fusion guys right about the time he won an Oscar for “An Inconvenient Truth”…but he does make a great point. Carl Sagan warned about the road we were heading down pointing out that we are focused more on pseudo-science instead of science.

The words Al Gore writes here are true but my question is does he truly believe them or is this just another way to manipulate society into seeing his way?