To the editor:

“An Inconvenient Truth” can withstand the critical scrutiny George Gurley calls for. The same can’t be said for Gurley’s column (Journal-World, July 2).

First, Gurley’s hostility toward “the left,” which he characterizes as a monolithic, intolerant group, clouds his thinking. According to Gurley, liberals have blind faith in Gore’s agenda. If so, why are these sheep paying to see the film? Why would Gore even bother making his case, and why would anyone document it?

Gore’s argument includes an impressive number of facts that don’t impress Gurley, who prefers opinions to facts. For instance, Gurley complains about David Denby’s fawning review of “Inconvenient Truth.” We are asked to believe that Denby speaks for all liberals and that all liberals speak like Denby. We are asked to believe this because Gurley believes it, not because he has supporting evidence.

Gurley is confused and self-contradictory. At one point he suggests Gore is misanthropic; at another, he denounces Gore for putting human beings at the center of the universe. Which is it? How can the person you accuse of hating the human race celebrate it at the same time?

Gurley’s bias is most obvious in his misinterpretation of a cartoon Gore used to satirize the idea that environmentalism is bad for business. Instead of listening to what Gore says, Gurley projects his own assumptions onto the sequence and makes a factually untrue statement about its intent.

Obsessed with the biases of others and oblivious to his own, Gurley isn’t the credible critic that “Inconvenient Truth” needs.

Ray Pence,

Lawrence