Opiate of the People wrote:
Saw this today regarding the scientist who started it all, James Lovelock
https://www.torontosun.com/2012/06/22/green-drivel
Green ‘drivel' exposed
The godfather of global warming lowers the boom on climate change hysteria
Well, for f**k's sake... if you quote are most retarded, most left wing, hard toilet paper of a news rags in this city, of course, you're going to find this kind of garbage... This is the only local paper I WILL NEVER subscribe to, because they are a bunch of Israel-hating, left-hugging morons... Our other three local papers actually had balanced, non-biased reporting on Lovelock's comments, one even going so far as to quote him on his belief that many climate 'pundits' aren't actually scientists or climatologist, but political "scientists" and commentators, and no more... and those who are actual scientists are so terrified of losing their government grants that they won't go against the status quo... they're living would go away, along with their reason for existing, and they'd have to justify themselves by doing real science, in effect...
Right now I'm getting the last three daily papers... one because it's a free 3 month trial that I'll cancel next month, and the other two because they're balanced and worth getting.. and as I said, I'd never subscribe to the first, The Toronto Star. It also happens to be the only one of our four local papers that aggressively tries to recruit new subscribers so I get a phone call at least once, if not twice a week from some poor sod sitting in some call centre, just trying to make a living... The conversation usually proceeds something like this:
CALLER: Hello, I'm calling from the Toronto Star. I'd like to offe....
ME: No, thank you.
CALLER (asking apparently required question according to script): It really is a great deal. May I inquire why you're not interested in trying a trial subscription as this reduced rate?
ME: Sure, and please feel free to record my response word for word.
CALLER: Okay!
ME: I won't ever give The Toronto Star a cent of my money because it is a racist, anti-semitic, biased rag that, in my opinion, publishes hate literature.
CALLER: Gobsmacked silence....
ME: You asked, so I assume you record my comment... I'll repeat it for you if you like so you can get it exactly... word for word...
CALLER: Ooookay... go ahead...
(I can hear them typing it out... for a long time I couldn't imagine anyone actually read them because they call twice a week and I repeat this exercise at least twice a month and they still call me... I've even made a point of asking why, when I say the same thing over and over, and my comments are so strident, and they faithfully record what I say, they continue to call me, but they just tell me they work at a call centre... )
ME: Okay... so... you getting all this?
CALLER (typing madly): Mm-hmm...
ME:...because it is a racist, anti-semitic, biased rag that, in my opinion, publishes hate literature. Got that?
CALLER: Uh-huh...
ME: Great! Can I speak to your manager please? It's nothing to do with you and I understand you're just doing your job. I just have a question for them. In fact, I'll tell them how polite and patient you were with me.
CALLER: Okay.... Just a sec...
(Muzak on the line... )
MANAGER: Hello Ms. Sister Massively Opiated. How can I help you today?
ME: Well... first, just to let you know, Mandy (or John, or Francine, or whatever the employee's name was) was very polite and patient and I didn't ask to speak to you to complain about them, so please know that they are an excellent employee.
MANAGER: Well thank you for letting me know that. That's excellent to hear.
ME: I was just wondering, because you guys call me twice a week and at least a couple times a month you record my comments on why I won't even accept a free trial subscription to the Toronto Star, why you keep calling me. So first, I wondered if anyone ever reads my comments?
MANAGER: Well, yes... we pass them along to circulation and management.
ME: Okay... Because I'm pretty strident in my point of view... some might say offensive, even. So I'm wondering if they think that I'll one day capitulate on the basis that I might want to know what my enemy is thinking...
MANAGER: Pardon?
ME: Can you see my comment?
MANAGER: Um... yes...
ME: Can you read it back to me?
MANAGER: Um... Okay... (reads it back to me)...
ME: Well, it's pretty strong, don't you think?
MANAGER: Um.... Yes... I suppose...
ME: But yet, you, and by you, I mean the Toronto Star, still calls me at least twice a week, and at least two or three times a month when you ask me why I don't want a subscription, I make you guys write down this long, opinionated comment, so I'm wondering if they believe that one day I'll say yes to the subscription on the basis that I'll want to know what the enemy is doing... Do they actually read my comment?
MANAGER: I believe so...
ME: So that's what it is then....
MANAGER: I guess. I can't really say. We're just a call centre.
ME: So you don't know if they actually read my comment!
MANAGER: I'm pretty sure they do. They wouldn't waste time having us collect the information if they didn't.
ME: Okay... So that's what it must be. Thanks!
MANAGER: You're welcome.
ME: Well... Have a nice evening.
MANAGER: You too!
ME: Bye.
MANAGER: Bye.
Just to make myself sound more like a complete conspiracy theorist, it's the only reason I can think of that they keep calling, especially since I take up so much of their time, and they try and bang out as many calls as they can, and I've never once said yes... So, it's the only reason I can think of... They actually think that one day I'll want to know what the enemy is thinking, because otherwise, I'm wasting a lot of their resources, over and over... but it won't happen because they are so predictable I don't need to. And because they are so predictable, I wouldn't even accept a free trial subscription from them as it would require me to disinfect the area outside my apartment door in the same fashion as if someone had placed a burning paper bag of dog excrement on it, forcing me to stamp it out for the safety of not only myself but the entire building, yet they still call and they still faithfully type out my comment... I know because at one point I stopped believing they were actually typing out exactly what I was saying because I believed that they couldn't possibly be continuing to call me if someone actually had read my comment, and the manager read my comment back to me word for word... So they actually do record what I ask them to... and the managers always say that someone does, in fact, read the comments of people who turn down their excessively good subscription deals... and yet so aggressive are their subscription campaigns that not once has anyone ever asked me if I'd like to be taken off their calling list, and I've never requested it, because I figure if they call me and make me an offer and ask me why I don't want it, and are wiling to record what I say, I might as well take a few minutes to say it...
I have, however, threatened them with calling the police when they knock on my door every couple weeks, as there's a "No Soliciting, No Canvassing" sign on the front door of the building, and so they're trespassing and I don't answer my door unless I know someone is coming because they've phoned to tell me they are, or I've buzzed them in... and everyone that knows me knows to call and/or buzz first because if I'm having a bad day and having trouble walking, they don't want to disturb me... my friends in the building always call if they want to come by because they know this, and anyone else would buzz... So the only people who knock on my door unannounced are people soliciting or canvassing.... selling papers or trying to sign my up to lock in my hydro rate or religious canvassers, and none are welcome...
In any case, it's a small pleasure to tell anyone from the Toronto Star... even someone working in some call centre... what I think of their excremental publication... You might as well have quoted People's Tribune...