Unrelenting wildfires, torrential rainfall bring new meaning to “unprecedented” extreme weather events

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Wildfire smoke blankets much of North America Sunday, August 20,2023. Wildfires rage in the Southwest even as Hurricane Hilary slams into the coast, bringing torrential rainfall.Wildfire smoke blankets much of North America Sunday, August 20,2023. Wildfires rage in the Southwest even as Hurricane Hilary slams into the coast, bringing torrential rainfall. (Source: https://fire.airnow.gov/)

Posted By: George Thomas Jr. 20 August 2023

Week after week we’re alerted to some “unprecedented” extreme weather event. Yet the corporate media references the climate emergency barely at all.

In the days following the catastrophic wildfire that wiped out Lahaina, Hawai’i, climate change was referenced a mere 4 percent in national TV news segments, a Media Matters analysis found.

So how are we expected to confront such relentless climate chaos when major news outlets collectively minimize the obvious impact of the climate emergency?

Related: How settler colonialism, oligarchy, and the climate emergency fueled catastrophic Maui fires

We are living in our own disastrous “Truman Show,” except we’re not a fictional character struggling to escape some sort of celebrity captivity. Instead we are trapped in a bubble of obfuscation undermining the urgency required to tackle the climate emergency with the vigor it demands.

In the 1997 film "The Truman Show," written by Andrew Niccol and directed by Peter Weir, Jim Carrey's character is confined to a world of deceit -- until he slowly discovers his life is filled with lies and manipulation by the people he loves and trusts.

In the 1997 film “The Truman Show,” written by Andrew Niccol and directed by Peter Weir, Jim Carrey’s character is confined to a world of deceit — until he slowly discovers his life is filled with lies and manipulation by the people he loves and trusts. (Image: Paramount Pictures/Scott Rudin Productions)

The smoke from Canada’s “unprecedented” wildfire season brought the impact of the climate emergency to the doorsteps of New England residents this summer, but the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation at least is transparent reporting the climate change connection.

Across the pond, the British Broadcasting Corporation has been linking extreme weather events to climate change for years, and most noteably in its July 25 story about the worsening impact of increased greenhouse gas emissions.

Related: How climate and wildfire risk are linked

Are we to be the nation that champions climate idiocy?

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, also a candidate for President, wants to make all of the U.S. like Florida, a state that recently approved the use of videos that compare climate activists to Nazis — videos for school children.

Record heat continues to scorch much of the southern states, yet right-wing groups are conspiring to dismantle U.S. climate policy. Fossil fuel companies all have pledged to invest in clean energy, yet their decades of disinformation have brought us to the extreme weather events of today, and the future.

Paul Giamatti and Ed Harris in "The Truman Show."

Paul Giamatti and Ed Harris in “The Truman Show.” (Image: Paramount Pictures/Scott Rudin Productions)

In “The Truman Show,” Christof, the character played by Ed Harris who leads the manipulation of Truman, at one point says, “We accept the reality of the world with which we’re presented. It’s as simple as that.” As we enter what is sure to be an unpredictable, contentious election cycle, one can hope voters will accept the reality of the link between increased greenhouse gas emissions and extreme weather events, despite the apparent “move along, nothing to see here” idiocy that abounds, manipulates, and deceives.

Related: All climate change is local

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