Skip to main content

Typos Don't Make Climate Change a Myth [Science]


"I'm a natural sceptic," a British-born web publisher says to explain his recent Tweets expressing doubt about the validity of the science behind climate change. Coincidentally, that's the same argument used by everyone who prefers conspiracy theories to science.


Autism conspiracists tell you to be skeptical of the entire medical community (they are pretty sure some of them are paid by drug companies!) and to trust, instead, in Jenny McCarthy. 9/11 truthers tell you to be skeptical of the government (which is often a good default position) and also of most professional engineers, aviators, and other assorted experts (a little more dodgy). Birthers are skeptical of reality. Skepticism is certainly a virtue, but in the internet age, it basically means "preferring to believe what one guy tells you over what the so-called establishment tells you." And the guy often has a vested interest in telling you not to believe the so-called establishment.


Take climate change skeptics. They would prefer to not ever have any aspect of our unsustainable society reined in, at all, especially the bits that involve burning coal and driving cars and stuff.


Over in Britain, their papers have been going nuts over the revelation of errors in the last report form the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. There were two legitimate (but fairly inconsequential) errors in the report that were promptly corrected. The errors did not have anything to do with the question of whether or not climate change is real and human-driven. But, whatever! Cry "scandal" and let slip the "-gate" suffix!


When it comes to the question of climate science, I trust climatologists a lot more than British journalists. Have you ever met a British journalist? First of all, they're all alcoholics. Secondly, and more importantly, journalists the world over don't understand science. I don't understand science! I rely on scientists for that. But journalists do understand scandal very well. They are experts in scandal.


So what you have here are basically conservative bloggers relying on the scientific illiteracy of journalists to trump up errors (real and wholly imagined) in a report that is a summary of established science, which reliably turns into stories asserting that the evidence behind climate change is "in doubt."


And now the same British people who are all getting the measles again because they're scared of autism don't believe in global warming anymore, because it snowed.


One of this British publisher's examples of supposed major threats that turned out to have been overhyped (by the generalist media, keep in mind, and not usually by those cursed "experts") is "acid rain." The funny thing about that particular overhyped threat is that it went away because it was combated by determined government action. Our government-hating Libertarian friends at Reason magazine actually just named acid rain reduction as one of their five reasons Libertarians shouldn't hate Big Government!


(Also of note: the fact that a local internet entrepreneur saw some snow in SoHo was for some reason newsworthy enough for Tucker Carlson's Daily Carlson to make it their lead story this morning. Haven't any more of your contributors been hit by cars or anything?)


[Pic Via]









Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How to find ideas to post new article in your blog

How to find ideas to post new article in your blog    阅读原文»   It is true that sometimes being a blogger may face situations where I would personally like to call it your brain juices got dried up as you have pretty much ran out of topic to blog and you are in crisis as your readers are anxiously waiting for your new posts but you are unable to give in. That’s when you will probably come with excuses like I just posted last week although that post was more directly towards the newbies who stop themselves from making money but it’s still pretty much the same even though you consider yourself not a newbie. The fact is that ideas are everywhere and I mean everywhere if you know where to find it and know how to leverage it. You may be surprised that sometimes these ideas are just right in front of you but you are not observant enough to convert these ideas and turn it into your blog post. Today I will share some tips on where to get these ideas and...

Lindsay Lohan Breakup Confirmed by Lohan, Locksmith, Police [Gossip Roundup]

Farewell, last season's Suri Cruise fashions. Goodbye, Amy Winehouse's bathing suit. Adieu, humanoid version of Lauren Conrad. And so long, LiLo and SamRon's fairytale romance. Lindsay Lohan confirmed her split with Samantha Ronson and insisted the decision was part of a very healthy and mature effort to " focus on myself ." Upon hearing this, Ronson changed her locks and discussed a restraining order with police, so confident was she in Lohan's ability to turn productively inward. Lohan promptly had a run-in with the police . Who would have imagined such a messy breakup for this model relationship? Courtney Love's lawyer, on her client's drug-fueled plunge into broke-ness: ""Courtney noticed the money was gone when there wasn't any left." Deadpan gallows humor: the only possible response to having Courtney Love as a client. (Besides asking for a hefty retainer.) [ P6 ] Before Lauren Conrad's contract expired in March, MTV...

New Theme: Chteau

New Theme: Chteau    阅读原文» Today we are introducing an elegantly designed and typographically pleasing theme, Chteau . The Chteau Theme Designed by Ignacio Ricci , Chteau has been crafted with close attention to detail and typography. Its beautiful, minimalist look allows you to make your content the focal point of your blog. Aside from a brilliant design, this theme offers many cool features that help you to personalize your blog. There are two color schemes, three layout options, custom accent color, Custom Header Image , Custom Background, six widget areas, and three post formats ― Aside, Gallery and Image. It's loaded with options that make the theme flexible enough to fit a variety of sites. Read all about Chteau's features on the Theme Showcase . Announcing Support for OAuth2 and New Developer Resources    阅读原文» We love developers and the applications they build to help extend WordPress.com in new and meaningful ways. To continue provid...