Our presidential election has made the case that political correctness isn’t necessarily a terrible thing, but most would agree that political correctness is running amok. If we agree that political correctness has gone too far, can even more evidence of the thought police be far behind? Perhaps so. Fifteen state attorneys general are working together to sue Exxon Mobil. What is there crime? Misleading the public about global warming. 

Global warming doubters are no longer simply considered ignorant and unaware. They are, in fact, dangerous and perhaps even criminal. While drug dealers and tobacco companies are villains for selling products that harm their customers, to some, those who are skeptical that humans are the cause of global warming are far worse, as we are harming the entire planet.  

The political correctness movement was always about ostracizing and marginalizing those who held a minority opinion or don’t subscribe to the opinions held by the “elite.” The effort has been quite successful in some respects; few people speak about their faith or belief in traditional values without concerns about how it might affect them adversely. But we are now entering into a much more dangerous phase. 

Not only are certain parts of our society attempting to dictate views and beliefs through political correctness, but now are looking for the law to help enforce conformity of thought. It is one thing for a professor to jeopardize his academic career by saying he has doubts about global warming. It is quite another if he was to risk jail by raising his concerns.

Freedom of speech and thought has always been under attack by the political correctness movement and those who ascribe to it, but their power was derived through coercion of the conscious and peer pressure. While the mainstream media, government regulations, federal funding and academia were the entities that sought to enforce conformity of thought and eliminate dissenting views, the political correctness movement has stopped short of using the legal system against popular views. That time is over, and with it our freedoms.  

I’m one of those doubters. Of course, I believe in climate change and I don’t dispute that greenhouse gases probably could have a warming effect. But given the fact that not one single model has been able to predict it, and has universally overestimated the impacts, I also don’t believe the predictions for the future or the risk assessment produced by these models. And yes, I totally disagree with the politics and economic agenda of those who have pushed so hard for drastic policies to curtail climate change. 

There are a few things I can count on to overload my email with complaints, and questioning man-made global warming is one of them. I’ve always been comfortable with that and accept the repercussions, as I have spent a lot of time looking at the science. But when it comes to facing civil or even criminal prosecution for those views, then sadly I will likely find myself falling in line. Those who engage in social engineering don’t require advocacy of their views, just silence if you don’t hold them.   

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