Saturday, July 08, 2006

LANGUAGE MANGLE ACCUSER MANGLES LANGUAGE

Not being much of a writer myself, I generally try to avoid making fun of the writing of others. Well Okay, I do frequently make fun of language mangler extraordinaire Antony Loewenstein but that's because he bills himself as an author and journalist. It just seems petty to focus on how someone makes a point rather than on the point he is trying to make. That said, I'm now going to make fun of computer scientist Tim Lambert for screwing up mightily in a post making fun of noted language mangler George Bush.

Lambert's entire post:
In an interview with People Bush says:
I think we have a problem on global warming. I think there is a debate about whether it's caused by mankind or whether it's caused naturally, but it's a worthy debate. It's a debate, actually, that I'm in the process of solving by advancing new technologies, burning coal cleanly in electric plants, or promoting hydrogen-powered automobiles, or advancing ethanol as an alternative to gasoline.
He's solving the "debate" about whether its caused by mankind by advancing new technologies? Maybe he meant to say that he he's solving the problem by advancing new technologies. But that would only solve the problem if warming is caused by mankind. And the technologies he suggested aren't going to solve the problem. Burning coal cleanly doesn't make any difference to the amount of CO2 produced. Hydrogen powered cars won't make any difference to CO2 emissions if the hydrogen is produced with energy obtained by fossil fuels. Ethanol could make a small difference, but it's not going to make a big difference to CO2 emissions.
It seems to me Bush's point is that he wants to short-circuit the anthropogenic global warming debate by introducing new technologies that will render moot the humans-are-screwing-up-the-atmosphere point. It's a simple point really, and one Bush has made repeatedly.

Now, let's take a closer look at what Lambert wrote:
He's solving the "debate" about whether its caused by mankind by advancing new technologies?
Bush said that the problem could be solved by advancing new technologies but Lambert gets the point arse-about in his great big head and asserts that Bush says the problem is caused "by mankind by advancing new technologies." Oops.

Lambert continues:
Maybe he meant to say that he he's solving the problem by advancing new technologies.
He he, indeed.

Update: Ever on the ball, Lambert has removed the superfluous "he".

Update II: Journalist and author Antony Loewenstein isn't about to let Lambert out mangle him:
As I’ve written before, journalists have a responsibility to challenge, provoke and reveal government “secrets”, use of excessive power and potential illegality.
The only reason to read Loewenstein is for a laugh.

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