Climate debate is fine, but not when it turns personal

I’M sure I’m not alone in wondering what a new day will bring in terms of climate change discussions on the letter’s page.

In general, the deniers will outnumber the believers, and the fact that the letters often come from the same group of men says something about the enthusiasm and shared ideology of the group.

It’s clear these men will not change their minds no matter how convincing the evidence that contradicts their beliefs. In fact, the better the evidence, the more they’ll deny it.

They also spend a lot of time accusing those who have different views as being “loony”, “lefties” and having no firm evidence to advance their arguments.

It all makes for mild entertainment until things turn nasty and so contrary to ‘common sense’ – a term they love – that some kind of counter argument is called for.

Such was the case when on Tuesday KW wrote that Greta Thunberg was “an illiterate …. poor performer in the classroom”. His source? None other than the apoplectic climate change denier Andrew Bolt. If you search the internet for statements like these, the only ones you’re likely to find are pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets. In other words, no credibility at all.

KW is right on one thing, however – people with Asperger syndrome/ASD are sometimes able to focus on a particular topic and may acquire a great depth of knowledge about it. This may explain the brilliance of people like Albert Einstein or, more recently, of animal expert Temple Grandin. Both of these people are considered to be on the autistic spectrum.

So, is this a deficit or an advantage? Whatever the answer, there is no evidence to support the claim that Greta is “illiterate”, in fact, quite the opposite.

Nonsensical accusations of ‘illiteracy’ of bright people are bad enough, but on Wednesday a new low was reached.

Esteemed wildlife researcher and advocate Sir David Attenborough, is described by one PC of Tolga as not only being “wrong” about his lifelong work but also lacking in common sense.

One has to wonder how many years PC has worked studying animals and the environment that he feels qualified to make this judgment?

Has he reached such a pinnacle in his career, he has also had a knighthood bestowed upon him by the Queen?

I think we all know the answers to these questions and, because we do, we can either choose to laugh at how ridiculous they are or rush off to write another letter to support them.

For the moment, I choose laughter.

YVETTE DEMPSEY, CARRARA