“Anyone who believes that there is no such thing as global warming must be blind or unintelligent,” entertainer Stevie Wonder (shown) declared in leading off a benefit concert Tuesday night for victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. He was joined in his politicization of the twin natural disasters by Beyoncé, who echoed Wonder’s political posturing by insisting, “The effects of climate change are playing out around the world every day.”
Many other celebrities performed to raise money for victims of the hurricanes, including climate-change activists such as actor Leonardo DiCaprio, and also others such as country music star George Strait, a Texas native who did not feel the need to interject left-wing politics into what should have been a non-political event.
Wonder, however, is among those who just cannot resist using a national tragedy to promote the human-caused global-warming position, as well as other liberal social and political views. While he began his performance talking about “love,” it quickly became apparent that such talk was just a ruse to get to the politics.
“When love goes into action,” Wonder asserted, “it preferences no color of skin, no ethnicity, no religious beliefs, no sexual preferences, and no political persuasions.” But he then immediately added, “It just loves. As we should begin to love and value our planet.”
Wonder did not show much “love” for those who hold a different political viewpoint from his — at least on the issue of “climate change. When he said that those who don’t believe in global warming are either blind or unintelligent, there was a certain irony, as of course Wonder himself is blind; but of course he means that a person who does not believe in man-caused global warming just doesn’t see his version of the truth. Doesn’t sound like a very “loving” thing to say.
Beyoncé’s comments expanded the negative consequences of such supposed blindness or unintelligence. “Just this past week,” she stated, “we have seen devastation from the monsoon in India, an 8.1 earthquake in Mexico, and multiple catastrophic hurricanes. [I guess we have to concede that two is technically “multiple.”] Irma alone has left a trail of death and destruction from the Caribbean to Florida to the southern United States. We have to be prepared for what comes next. So tonight, we come together in a collective effort to raise our voices, to help our communities, to lift our spirits and heal.”
Exactly what “global warming” could have to do with an earthquake in Mexico, Beyoncé did not bother to explain; however, she should have, because after all, not everyone in her audience possesses the intellectual capability of Wonder, DiCaprio, and herself.
It might be news to “intellectuals” such as Wonder and Beyoncé, but hurricanes existed long before the Industrial Revolution, and really cannot be blamed on the free enterprise system. For example, a hurricane off the coast of Ireland destroyed much of the Spanish Armada when it attempted to invade England in 1588. That powerful storm is still one of the northernmost ever recorded. One would think that if human-caused global warming was somehow the reason for more intense hurricanes, we would see multiple hurricanes off the coast of Ireland and other such far-north latitudes today, and not just centuries ago. But we don’t.
The charities benefiting from the event include the United Way of Greater Houston, Habitat for Humanity, Save the Children, Feeding Texas, and the Mayor’s Fund for Hurricane Harvey Relief. It was truly a noble cause, and celebrities such as Robert DeNiro, Matthew McConaughey, Blake Shelton, Reese Witherspoon, and others should be commended for participating. But using a hurricane for political gain is not to be commended.
And, as far as Beyoncé’s comments about “climate change” as the cause of earthquakes today, devastating earthquakes were known in the ancient world, several centuries before the Industrial Revolution — as were tropical storms.
Perhaps it is time for celebrities to check their politics at the door if their major concern is helping the victims of natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes.
Image: Screenshot of a youtube video by ABC
