As I noted at the top of Lord Monckton’s 5/30 piece, it is my goal to have guest posts here about how enviro-activists are enslaved to character assassination as a first-resort tactic for avoiding genuine debate on the science of global warming. Jonathan’s is the second in what I hope will be an ongoing series. I’ve had my own fun with the ‘ignorant’ commenters he speaks briefly about in this guest post.
On being a heretic
As a hobby, I write the WryHeat blog for the Tucson Citizen: http://tucsoncitizen.com/wryheat/. * [GelbspanFiles’s note: new link is http://wryheat.wordpress.com/, with explanation below] I also write for some other publications that actually pay for articles.
On the WryHeat blog I cover many subjects. Since I’m a geologist. I write on that subject, and also on the natural history of the Sonoran desert in Arizona and Mexico. I write also about climate change and energy policy. It seems that in those last two categories I disturb the fragile orthodoxy of believers in catastrophic anthropogenic global warming (CAGW) and “green” (i.e. heavily subsidized) energy.
Some who disagree with what I write are civil and try to change my mind with factual data. Their interpretations of that data are often askew but that’s fine. I enjoy the debate. Others, however, call me names and claim that I am paid by the oil and coal companies or the Koch brothers (I wish). They are outraged that I would dare to question the orthodoxy and the “consensus.” That latter group are the ignorant, fact free, true believers, steeped in their religion. Their syntax is often the same; they seem to be copying from the same sources. They can’t think for themselves. I always ask them to provide physical evidence to support their belief in CAGW. None has ever has provided such evidence. Probably because there isn’t any.
They appeal to an assumed authority and invoke a mythical consensus as if consensus makes something true (see On Consensus in Science). They display their ignorance of how science works. In the past I’ve let them go on to display their ignorance, but lately I’ve taken a harder line and commenters are now warned: keep it civil or be banished.
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*[GelbspanFiles’s note: As seen at Jonathan’s new homepage, “Wryheat was formerly hosted by TucsonCitizen.com which abruptly and without warning dumped all its bloggers and took down the site on Jan. 31, 2014 ….” Very uncool, but Jonathan rebuilt his content and I’ve fixed the web links above.]