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Evils and Designs of Conspiring Men
Aside from the health hazards that have become evident from using substances prohibited by the Word of Wisdom, one argument for the prophetic nature of the revelation comes from verse 4.
Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you: In consequence of evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarn you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation--Do we need to revisit the sins of the tobacco industry?
[Judge] Kessler wrote: "Over the course of more than 50 years, defendants lied, misrepresented, and deceived the American public, including smokers and the young people they avidly sought as 'replacement smokers,' about the devastating health effects of smoking and environmental tobacco smoke."I wonder how many Mormons are aware that some of the same people who helped cast doubt on the bad health effects of smoking are now doing the same thing for global warming? Last year the Union of Concerned Scientists issued a report (summary here) showing that Exxon Mobile was using the tobacco industry's tactics to cast doubt on climate science. In fact, some of the groups it helped to fund include former tobacco industry defenders.
"They suppressed research, they destroyed documents, they manipulated the use of nicotine so as to increase and perpetuate addiction, they distorted the truth about low-tar and light cigarettes so as to discourage smokers from quitting, and they abused the legal system in order to achieve their goal -- to make money with little, if any, regard for individual suffering, soaring health costs, or the integrity of the legal system[.]"
If you would like some historical perspective on this, the below presentation by professor of science history Naomi Oreskes is interesting. For those who don't have an hour, here are the main points:
1. Although confidence that global warming was a problem was very high by the late 1970s, it was not yet a political controversy.
2. Many scientists (such as Carl Sagan) were opposed to Reagan's SDI program. Several scientists, motivated by anti-communism, banded together to take on the much larger group of critics and formed the George C. Marshall Institute.
3. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Marshall Institute turned to climate science. Meanwhile, Fred Singer, an otherwise distinguished scientist, began to work with the Marshall Institute in its battle against climate science and also defended the tobacco industry in regard to second-hand smoke.
4. In their various causes, these people employed the same tactics of sowing confusion and controversy, and disguised a political debate as a scientific debate.
5. The ideological thread running through their work is anti-government regulation, and unbridled faith in free-markets.
(This post was prompted, in part, by a post at Mormon Metaphysics.)
2 comments:
Although confidence that global warming was a problem was very high by the late 1970s
Riiiggghttt. Some of us are old enough to remember that the climate change scare of the 70's and 80's was global cooling and that by the end of the century (8 years past) we would be in another ice age.
Hmm. That sounds like tobacco-talk to me. (Just kidding.)
The ice age scare is dealt with here.
In Episode 4 of Cosmos, which aired in 1980, Carl Sagan expressed concern about both possibilities. (See min 1:50-2:50 here. But see also his update starting at min 4:30.)
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