.Review: ‘Merchants of Doubt’

MERCHANTS OF DOUBT: Mark Morano, right, debates the veracity of human caused climate change with Bill Nye in a CNN clip used in the new documentary ‘Merchants of Doubt.’

Argue the facts, argue the cause, argue the ability to do anything about it—and then argue that the Commies are trying to hoodwink us all: Merchants of Doubt explores climate-change denial for fun and profit.

The only time I ever saw Stephen King, he was likening then-President Ronald Reagan to a magician—”distracting the public with one hand, stuffing a pigeon up his ass with the other.” The subject of deception in the political and social field is the subject of two documentaries released back to back.

An Honest Liar concerns James Randi, the professional skeptic who has kept his own career as a magician while investigating legions of pretend psychics and faith healers. Introducing director Robert Kenner’s Merchants of Doubt, the magician Jamy Ian Swiss also describes himself as a magician who deceives to entertain: “an honest liar.” Swiss is alarmed by the professional dishonesty in the world of think tanks, recognizing their methods as sourced in in his own métier. Even if you’ve developed a thick skin to the public-interest documentary that starts with lively computer graphics and ends with a soulful ballad, Merchants of Doubt is a rich, infuriating study of cynicism.

The scientists who covered up the tobacco industry’s secrets were the pioneers. In the field of climate change denial, self-anointed experts and oil-industry-funded scientists follow the leads of doctors who saw no link between smoking and cancer. Mark Morano of climatedepot.com, a self-described “environmental journalist,” opens up about his methods of fighting the opposition; “Communications is about sales…” Using cherry-picked info to shout down actual scientists, Morano also sics his fan base on legitimate researchers by publishing their email addresses.  

The hustlers argue the facts. Then they argue the cause. Then they argue the ability to do anything about climate change. Then they argue that it’s all about freedom, and maybe they argue that the Bolsheviks are behind it all; here’s a montage of Fox-shouters describing environmentalists as “watermelons—green on the outside, red on the inside!”

Of all human endeavors, nothing ages as fast as propaganda, and today’s blusterers will someday look as quaint as the clips we see from old-style television commercials used to deceive. In the meantime, the new Congress was bought and paid for to do nothing about the deteriorating environment. Too bad for Merchant of Doubt’s subject, six term Republican congressman Bob Inglis, who changed his mind about climate change and was voted out.  The oil companies already know privately about the rising waters. You hope the flacks seen here aren’t deliberately conspiring in the drowning of their own grandchildren just to make a buck. Different asses; many, many more pigeons.

Merchants of Doubt

PG-13; 96 Min.

Camera 12

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