This Guy Just Summed Up America’s Climate Inaction Beautifully in 15 Lines

"Is there consensus among the crew?"

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Pretty much as a rule, the comments section below any post on climate change will contain all the same dreary back-and-forth about how the world hasn’t actually warmed in 15 years, or some thing; how fat cat Al Gore is profiting off global warming; and all those petty attacks over intellect/punctuation/spelling. That was certainly true for my recent post about Australia’s climate politics, and the ongoing craziness Downunder that has resulted in more than a little political bloodletting in recent years. And then, reading down through the comments, just when I was giving up hope…a sudden bolt, as if the clouds parted and a little (uncharacteristic) humor was allowed to shine down upon all the silliness. Thank you “ThatDudeOnABike”, for neatly summarizing some of the ridiculousness with this 30-second double-hander. A micro-Tony Award for you!

“Captain, there’s a large iceberg ahead that will cause us to sink.” 
“No there isn’t” 
“Yes, captain, it’s right there.”
“Ice berg schmice berg. Oh, that berg. Right. It’s not our fault.”
“Regardless, sir, It will still sink us.”
“No it won’t”
“99% chance.”
“So you don’t know. Is there consensus among the crew?”
“We don’t really have time…”
“If we stop the ship it will cost jobs and the economy will tank.”
“We don’t have to stop, just change course if we do it right away, before it’s too late.”
“You liberal elites just want to scare us.”
“I’m not liberal, I just looked off the starboard bow and there it was.”
“So it just appeared? You made it up. Why do you hate America?”
CRASH!

[Aaand, scene—thanks ThatDudeOnABike!]

And a reminder, we do love your comments. In fact, we once tracked down our biggest troll… and kind of liked him. You could be next:

More Mother Jones reporting on Climate Desk

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate