Why Does Everyone Hate Al Gore?

Yesterday, 75 protesters showed up in Monterey, where Al Gore was giving a lecture at the Panetta Institute. Signs read "Stop Teaching Our Kids Junk Science" and "Stop GoreBull Warnings." Even GOP congressional candidate Jeff Taylor got on board, by marching with a sign reading "Do Not Tread on Me."

The episode came on the heels of a protest last Friday, when a crew of fired-up activists stormed the University of Tennessee campus to oppose an honorary doctorate awarded to Gore. Some wore masks or waved signs with proclamations such as "Phony science." The maker of an anti-Gore documentary called Not Evil, Just Wrong donned a polar bear costume and held a sign that said "Al Gore, why won't you debate anyone?" A plane flew over the ceremony with a banner asking "Mr. Gore, why send jobs to China?"

These are just the latest incidents to raise the question: Why does everyone hate Al Gore?

It's almost easy to forget that just four years ago, this same man was one of the biggest and most respected stars in the world. When he came out with his doc An Inconvenient Truth—a startling look at the impacts of global warming—Gore earned a Nobel Prize, Oscar, and the friendship of Hollywood's elite. More importantly, he ushered in a renewed sense of environmental stewardship. Suddenly, people the world over were invested in one of the greatest threats of our lifetime, an epidemic scientists had been warning about for years.

Cut to today, and you're likely to read that the former veep is a liar, money grubber, or any number of other drag-through-the-mud insults. One protester at the University of Tennessee told Fox News, "He flies in private jets, just bought another mansion, yet tells working people their houses are too large, their showers too warm, their cars too fast and our economy too free. We should give him a doctors in hypocrisy."

When the GOP went off about Snowpocalypse—their conjecture that snowy weather disproved global warming, never mind the facts—their vitriol was largely directed at Gore. "It’s the most severe winter storm in years, which would seem to contradict Al Gore’s hysterical global warming theories," said Sean Hannity. "Historic snow storm in Washington—third this year—where is Al Gore to explain it snows this heavily as a sign global warming is imminent?" cried Newt Ginrich. Even Donald Trump got on board, requesting that Gore's Nobel Prize be rescinded in light of the snow storms.

Similarly, after it was revealed the IPCC misstated a fact about melting Himalayan glaciers, the public violently lashed out against Gore, who used the figure in his documentary. A single article about the scandal in The Telegraph elicited some 20 comments directly attacking Gore, with insults such as "conman," "scammer," "criminal," the top of a "stinking pile of fraud," and "disgraceful."

Indeed, Gore's downfall over the past few years has been epic, like something out of a Shakespearian tragedy. How did it happen?

The answer, I fear, has to do with a larger crisis of faith in climate change. Skeptics (both duplicitous and sincere), the GOP, Big Coal and Big Oil, and the IPCC and Climategate scandals have successfully commandeered the debate, so much so that a recent poll revealed belief in global warming has hit a new low. Gore is an easy scapegoat for people attempting to convince the public that global warming is a massive fraud. And those who once believed in climate change but are now doubtful consider Gore a false prophet.

But here's the thing: What Gore said back then is still true today. Gore talked about the affects of carbon dioxide on rising temperatures and the occurrence of natural disasters; associations like the World Meteorological Organization and NASA continue to support this premise. He talked about the threat of climate refugees; in the past few years, inhabitants of low-lying nations like Tuvalu have been forced to flee their home. He talked about sea level rises; recently, a Yale University researcher wrote that levels could rise three to six feet this century.

In other words, it's increasingly looking like Gore's fame was a flash in the pan. But unfortunately for us, his cause was anything but.

Photo credit: Ttan