Shewonk has something to add to the analysis as well.
In her
Climate Denial Chum: It’s pretty self-explanatory, but just to be clear, people like McIntyre, Watts and Curry throw bait out there knowing full well (or at least, they should know full well) that when they do, the sharks will come. Then, they do little in the ensuing frenzy. Hey – it feeds the tip jar and garners trafficThen she does
Finally she rescues from oblivion Another Michael's discovery of another pillar of denialism:
And here is the ultimate Catch-22 of the game. The Chum is not about ideas, processes, strategies, risks. It is about Trenberth, Mann, Jones, Schneider, Hansen...Michael | January 15, 2011 at 10:08 am | ReplyThe ‘skeptics’ seem to have a visceral need for a face to direct their bile towards.
May have something to do with what appear[s] to be a great deal of identity politics that motiv[ates] them.
They complain constantly about doors being shut and their participation being dismissed. But anyone whose name they recognize becomes something of a target.
So another pillar:
There are identifiable bad actors that cause the science to be distorted.And a subtheme (Roger Junior's Corrollary):
Any scientist publicly supporting the idea that there is any policy implication to any science is no longer eligible to do any science.Update: Don't miss Sou's comment #15 at the Shewonk thread on the delicate balancing act of the denier sites. I hadn't thought of this. It argues against participating.
Denier forums and denier chum forums run a very fine line. They need intelligent people to survive as they are. They can’t rely on the denier rabble alone or they would degenerate (even further) into weirdo conspiracy forums. Denier forums could not be maintained if they stuck to mainstream science because it conflicts with the objectives of the forum owners. Neither can they post only denier rubbish – they need to attract just enough normal knowledgeable people so their target audience has someone or something to bash.(There's more.)
7 comments:
Also known as "Al Gore is Fat!"
If you don't have the science on your side, which is not about personalities, you'll try to have the politics on your side, which often is.
I've always been intrigued by Curry's take on Michael Mann and his role in the IPCC TAR. She seems to take umbrage that Mann was given a prominent role despite his junior status. Shewonk's analysis helps to put this into context.
Yes Deech56,
Genuine scientific talent, when you're looking from way in the back of the Peleton of your field, peddling furiously but futilely, can be darned infuriating for the slightly unbalanced. ;-)
Sou's comment #15 is spot on. By promoting the science on these sites you are granting them some level of legitimacy in the eyes of unbiased third parties.
Yes. Sou's comment has the *great* advantage of alleviating my occasional uneasiness at having abandoned a couple of sites.
I sort of had a version of sou's notion, just not so clearly thought through.
Seems to me (though I rarely do it) that it is helpful to participate there minimally, by just providing a link to relevant substantive discussion over at a more reputable blog. Then you're at least leading the innocent visitor to a better info source.
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