When Climate Rhetoric Becomes Offensive

Of all the rhetorical excesses associated with the climate debate, I find the overt Nazi/fascist/Holocaust allusions the most offensive. Both sides are guilty. Christopher Monckton, the darling of climate skeptics, has becomenotorious for his Hitler references and use of swastika imagery. It almost seems like a tic he can't shake. In a similar vein, those who are passionately concerned about climate change have made unseemly Holocaust comparisons. For example, several years ago, James Hansen coined this metaphor: