Gerd Leipold, executive director of Greenpeace International appeared on the BBC show “Hardtalk”.
When pressed about a specific issue where Greenpeace appeared to have exaggerated their claims, Leipold admitted they are “emotionalizing issues”, and that they do it willfully and consciously. He went on to defend this practice saying that they do not feel they gain enough sympathy for their statements if they do not “emotionalize” their messages.
We, as a pressure group, have to emotionalize issues, and we are not ashamed of emotionalizing issues.
Gerd Leipold – Executive Director of Greenpeace International, 2009
He may call it “emotionalizing”, but that is merely a euphemism for scare-tactics, FUD and propaganda. When he calls it “emotionalizing” he is in effect green-washing the act of lying.
Greenpeace was not late to react to this and the signature “Brian” posted a blog entry lambasting BBC, saying they got it wrong about the factoid that triggered the confession. But while that blog post may be technically correct, it is insignificant because Leipold still admitted that “emotionalizing” is indeed a Greenpeace tactic.
If Greenpeace cannot argue their cases without “emotionalizing”, they are not only justifying skepticism, but rather necessitating it. This confession shows that scrutiny is long overdue. It proves it’s time we started looking at if they know what the heck they are talking about or just bilking sympathizers for money with whatever fairy stories they can come up with.
After all… we don’t exactly lack examples of “emotionalizing” in the nuclear issue from Greenpeace…
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George Monbiot: “…the anti-nuclear lobby has misled us all”
Published by Michael on April 6, 2011George Monbiot, environmentalist and journalist… and once a strong opponent to nuclear power has faced an “unpalatable truth”: the anti-nuclear lobby lied to us.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/05/anti-nuclear-lobby-misled-world
The article is only about 30 years overdue… but I cannot stop smiling when I read this. Monbiot did what everyone should do: check the facts, think for yourself, dare to think you may have been either right or wrong.
The unpalatable truth is that the anti-nuclear lobby has misled us all
I’ve discovered that when the facts don’t suit them, the movement resorts to the follies of cover-up they usually denounce
Over the last fortnight I’ve made a deeply troubling discovery. The anti-nuclear movement to which I once belonged has misled the world about the impacts of radiation on human health. The claims we have made are ungrounded in science, unsupportable when challenged, and wildly wrong. We have done other people, and ourselves, a terrible disservice.
Thank yo so much for this George. Along with Mark Lynas and Patrick Moore, you have shown that “green” does not have to mean “unscientific zeal”.
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