Ad Hominem Backfire in the Energy/Climate Debate

Social media exchanges between free market and government energy/climate proponents are an excellent way to understand the arguments and politics and motivations of all involved. Here is a LinkedIn exchange of note, where I (and others) rebut a familiar ad hominem. In this case, one Thomas Ortman just … disappeared.

The exchange occurred with a post by Gavin Mooney, self-described “energy transition optimist,” here.

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Geoffrey Lakings: what needs to be understood in regards to IER & their bias can be summarized in this one statement, “The Institute for Energy Research (IER) is a nonprofit ‘partner’ organization of the American Energy Alliance, which is a 501(c)(4) grassroots organization designed to communicate IER’s policies to voters. The groups are run by Tom Pyle, a former lobbyist for Koch Industries.”

Mark Rohrbacher: All non profits have their benefactors, Greenpeace, Tides Foundation, Rockefeller, etc. Is it really necessary for us to “tit for tat” Soros and company vs. “ The Koch Brothers”?

I am so sick of “green advocates” painting their opposition as “evil” or posting with a ulterior motive just because of the organization that they belong to. It’s repeated over and over on LinkedIn and cheapens the level of discourse.

Rob Bradley: Geoffrey S Lakings Classical liberal on the education and public policy advocacy sides. Pro consumer, taxpayer, freedom, and environment. What is your beef? Our several thousand supporters want to know.

The idea that wind, solar, and batteries are ecological and that government should override consenting adults with their energy choices put the burden of proof on you.

Thomas Ortman: Thank You Geoffrey S Lakings. This makes all the sense in the world having watched Rob Bradley tossing hand grenades into any clean energy/ clean tech discussion for years.
It was clear that there was a major bias, but I did not know the backstory.
Rob, we all have biases. Mine is strongly pro-climate and I am not paid to promote what I believe to be true and ethical. The difference is that you are clearly well informed on the subject and yet often toss out misinformation/disinformation which I find to be very disingenuous. It appears you take pleasure in tossing out an ounce of malcontent and generating five pounds of response. I suppose that as yours is a paid position, it would be reasonable to ask for you to declare your position and to come out in favor of *something*, ( as opposed to your constant brush fires with nothing constructive to offer).
If your bias/employer is to support oil and gas – fine, have sufficient integrity to claim as much. Then we can have an honest discussion regarding all of the critical areas that the O&G sector can provide critical and profitable contributions.

Mark Rohrbacher:

Rob Bradley: Thomas Ortman Wrong. You have reversed the causality. Beliefs first, funding last. And no, I do not carry the water for any company or industry but for consumers, taxpayers, freedom, and … the environment against wind, solar, and batteries.

 I have been classical liberal since high school and through a corporate career where I challenged my Enron superiors who were pushing climate alarmism and promoting government subsidies for their wind and solar investments.

Read the emails here to judge for yourself. http://www.politicalcapitalism.org/enron/

Rob Bradley: Thomas Ortman Your business profile includes “Goal of expanding this base into related areas of … clean energy products, including; Solar Energy, Solid State Lighting, Energy, Energy Storage and Clean Technologies led to a merger with Voltabox of Texas, Inc.”

So note that I do not use ad hominem against you for your bread-and-butter. In fact, I never do so except in certain instances, such as the conflict of interest with Chris Tomlinson, business editorialist at the Houston Chronicle.

https://www.masterresource.org/houston-chronicle/tomlinson-houston-chronicle-confession/

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