This editorial is a couple of days old and, frankly, I have been trying to ignore it, but people keep writing to me about the Vancouver Province newspaper’s insistence on keeping a vacant mind on climate change.
This most recent editorial makes two points:
1. Complicated stories are difficult for editorial writers to understand; and
2. โโฆ crying wolf too loud (sic) and too often may be as bad as doing nothing at all.โ
On the first point, I have to agree. As a former editorial writer at the Province’s sister newspaper (The Vancouver Sun), I know that opining on every newsworthy issue is a daily grind. The complex stories are, of course, more difficult. And I imagine it must be more difficult yet when you refuse to, say, read a book or consult a a reputable expert on the matter at hand. So much easier to rely on that old editorial cop out: one the one hand โฆ and on the other โฆ.
On the second point, crying wolf is only a bad thing when there is no wolf.
It may not be too late to address climate change, but I fear it’s way too late to save the Province Editoral Page Editor Jon Ferry from public humiliation.
