Mudhead: “But what were you doing before?”
Peorgy Tirebiter: “Oh, I remember! I ss …”
CLICK!
TV Game Show Host: “… ssold out! Now let’s see just what you’ve bought on this, your third day of Hawaiian Sellout!”
– Firesign Theatre, “Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers“
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At various times over the past several years, Your Friendly Neighborhood Amoeba has had occasion to mention Jeff Masters, a Ph.D.-holding meteorologist and founder, in 1995, of the Weather Underground website.
Those of us whose memories, to paraphrase Ambrose Bierce, encompass both the time and the fact that we were rascals, remember how the term “underground” connoted the necessarily-secret conveyance of truth among those who knew it (i.e., those under the age of 30), and resistance to those (generally over 30) who would suppress the truth. And indeed, Masters used the Weather Underground to convey to its audience the truth about anthropogenic global warming and the manufactured doubt campaign that has emerged to suppress that truth.
If you, dear reader, wish to see what Dr. Masters has had to say on these subjects, I suggest you act fast.
For, as Masters announced today (2 July 2012), with a fanfare that YFNA finds unseemly but about which Masters probably had bugger-all choice, The Weather Underground has been sold to the, em sorry, The Weather Channel.
That very same Weather Channel that turned weather forecasting into a 24/7/365 media phenomenon, and (of course) profit engine. Brought to you mostly by celebrity Weather Girls, right out of the 1950s Vast Wasteland era of television.
The very same Weather Channel whose founder, John Coleman, famously labelled anthropogenic global warming a “scam”.
To be fair, Coleman (a) made his proclamation in 2007, and (b) is no longer with the company. Perhaps his successors have figured out that telling the truth about global warming and the manufactured doubt industry that has arisen around it might actually help The Weather Channel turn (more of) a profit.
But YFNA doubts it. The purchase is too consistent with the general trend in American media, where a small number of companies own most of the outlets, and make sure that those outlets make money by telling Us what We want to hear. And mostly, what We want to hear are tales of the latest weather disaster, told by a sweet made-up-to-look-young thing in a tight skirt. Who will tell us that all that weather destruction is just so awful, but has nothing to do with that malicious global-warming fiction.
YFNA understands that Jeff Masters made something of a bundle through the sale of Weather Underground, and has been told that he will be able to continue with his work more or less as he has been.
Dr. Faust, may I present to you Dr. Masters. Dr. Masters, Dr. Faust.
Another sell out. That’s the new American Dream.
whaaaat?!