Former US vice president Al Gore on Friday criticized the ‘trivialities and nonsense’ of celebrity gossip in the media and called on people to focus instead on issues like Iraq and climate change. Gore, who is promoting his new book ‘The Assault on Reason,’ made the comments at a book signing in New York, where he was treated to a rock star reception by more than 1,300 cheering and screaming fans. ‘What is it about our collective decision-making process that has led us to this state of affairs where we spend much more time in the public forum talking about — or receiving information about — Britney Spears shaving her head or Paris Hilton going to jail?’ Gore asked. He lamented what he described as the ‘destruction of the boundary between news and entertainment’ and said the United States was ‘vulnerable as a democracy to mass and continuing distraction.’ His new book draws parallels between the US government’s approaches to climate change and the war in Iraq. ‘Just like the facts available before the invasion of Iraq, these facts about the climate crisis have been repeatedly brushed aside and ignored as inconvenient,’ he said. ‘In […]