The Great Global Warming Swindle, a UK-produced documentary, has garnered widespread publicity thanks to sites such as YouTube. The polemic film takes several controversial stances ' primarily that environmentalists are anti-human and that global warming is the biggest scam of modern times.
The politics of filmmaker Martin Durkin clearly trump his desire to produce a credible documentary. Unfortunately, Durkin is making a universal dilemma something political.
Durkin's hatred for the environmental movement borders on paranoia. In his film he attempts to blame environmental initiatives for the plight of developing countries in Africa. He implies environmentalism is an industry that needs to lie to maintain financial stability.
Swindle is full of questionable science, inflammatory claims and is bad for anyone who buys into its agenda. Scientists have stepped forward demanding the removal of apparent misrepresentations that are the basis of Durkin's argument in the film. If anything, Durkin's work should primarily be watched as an example of documentaries' capacity for deception and propaganda.
I fear this film will play to people's desire to believe humans can't possibly be held responsible for their actions. People want to believe global warming is not a problem. I'm sorry. It is.
' Matt Irwin is a freshman film major.
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