Media left ‘scratching their heads’ after Texas Rep. Joe Barton cites Bible

A little tip on how to recognize media bias: What they think is news, and why they think that, is just as important as how they write a particular story. In the case of comments made yesterday by U.S. Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) concerning the Keystone XL Pipeline and global warming, both types of reporting bias come into play.

Remember: They don't report the planes that land safely. That's what they always say when defending themselves against the charge that they are too negative. What they're really saying there, and it's a fair enough point in its context, is that they don't report normal, everyday occurrences. They report what's outside the norm, or what they think would strike people as odd. So it tells you a lot about their view of faith that they thought this was news:

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"I would point out that people like me who support hydrocarbon development don't deny that climate is changing," Barton, 63, said. "I think you can have an honest difference of opinion of what's causing that change without automatically being either all in - that's all because of mankind or it's all just natural. I think there's a divergence of evidence." But it was his reference to the biblical flood that left people scratching their heads. Although Barton acknowledged the changing climate, he compared the changing environment to the biblical story of Noah's Ark and the Great Flood in an attempt to defend his claim that natural tendencies can perpetuate climate change. "I would point out that if you're a believer in the Bible, one would have to say the Great Flood is an example of climate change, and that certainly wasn't because mankind had overdeveloped hydrocarbon energy," he said. The Bible teaches that God created the flood to destroy the world because of mankind's evilness.

It sounds like ABC may be gleaning its biblical knowledge from the New York Times. God did not "destroy the world." He destroyed all life save for those who went into the ark. The world itself survived the flood, just as it will surely survive whatever Al Gore is carping about. What really matters here is that ABC thought the biblical reference was newsworthy, simply because Barton made it. A Republican global warming skeptic citing the Bible fits an established media narrative that the Bible is a collection of fairy tales, and those who take it seriously are nuts. That's why the writer claims Barton's reference "left people scratching their heads," even though no such people are mentioned or cited. It's simply understood. The Washington world (especially its media element) simply looks on in utter confusion when someone starts quoting the Bible or citing God as a greater authority than man. It is understood to be odd, delusional behavior, and is thus worthy of a news story in its own right. He actually believes that stuff? Yeah. He actually does. So do I. So do a lot of us, media, because everything in the Bible is plausible given what we know about the mighty power and character of God. But thank you for at least letting us know where you stand so we can judge your work accordingly. Oh, but lest you worry that Bible-thumping Neanderthals are scoring rhetorical points, fear not. Extreme athletes to the rescue! From the same story:

Seventy-five Olympic medalists sent a letter to President Obama urging him to take action on climate change. X Games champions and World Champion snowboarders who have signed the letter say "winter is in trouble" for the very reason that Barton is disputing. "We know this warming is human-caused," the athletes wrote. "We can do something about it and it can be done, now, from limiting carbon pollution from our nation's dirty power plants to rejecting the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline."

So the same reporter who thinks it's weird that Joe Barton cites the Bible cites "extreme athletes" as authorities. Got it. By the way, Barton's comment is a perfectly reasonable one. He is pointing out that all kinds of climate tumult has occurred throughout the Earth's history, brought on by many different kinds of forces, and there is no reason to freak out over any one apparent example, nor is it a justification for ill-advised public policies that hubris-fueled activists tell us will actually alter the climate of planet Earth. You seriously think your carbon tax and whatever other public policy you want can trump the force of nature itself? Can trump God? Well. Yeah. A lot of them do think that. And these same people think it's odd, weird and thus newsworthy that Joe Barton quotes the Bible.