Mar 12 2007
Scientific Free Speech Is Dead – Part II
A while back I posted on the death of free speech in one area which demands open and honest debate: science. Science, by its very nature, is the consensus of what is a fact in reality. Courts use it remove all doubt. Science is not something you can will one way or another when it has become established fact. For example, we all know gravity exists and works. If you doubt this I offer you to debate it as we jump off a 100 story building. What is not a scientific fact is the existence of gravity waves. A conceptualization that attempts to connect the four primary physical forces into one unifying theory. I happen to not buy into the theory (I, of course, have my own unifying theory I developed when I was in my early 20’s – which means it probably is nothing). But the theory and many others are openly debated so that the truth can be distilled out of the discussions.
Not so anymore. With the politicization of atmospheric science and the use of PR instead of facts to drive the discussion, free speech can be deadly:
Scientists who questioned mankind’s impact on climate change have received death threats and claim to have been shunned by the scientific community.
They say the debate on global warming has been “hijacked” by a powerful alliance of politicians, scientists and environmentalists who have stifled all questioning about the true environmental impact of carbon dioxide emissions.
Timothy Ball, a former climatology professor at the University of Winnipeg in Canada, has received five deaths threats by email since raising concerns about the degree to which man was affecting climate change.
Al Gore had nothing to do with the Internet, but he sure as hell is responsible for the climate of debate surrounding climatology. The liberal lunatics (who honestly are just not educated enough to even join this debate in many cases – especially those with Hollywood home addresses) have decided their ignorance can only be offset with intimidation. The eco-fascists are clearly losing the scientific debate, so they rush to their only remaining option – to shutdown free speech and the process of science itself. Pathetic.
What’s new? Liberals hate free speech, if it stands in their way. Just watch your country become less free, because of someone’s political agenda.
You know, it’s funny. I have never ever heard of Republicans or Conservatives ever issuing death threats because someone disagreed with an economic, scientific, or any other policy. It is only the left that does this. And they do it with Orwellian gusto … accusing the right of being “mean spirited” while themselves doing things such as issuing death threats, squashing opposition opinion on websites (the Digg scandal) and generally attempting to prevent anyone from being exposed to any alternative information at all.
Couple of recent things … scientists are now going back into the temperature recored and “adjusting” past temperature data. These “adjustments” are reducing the temperature readings in the past and increasing the temperature readings of recent years. Also, the publisher of a widely quoted climate paper sponsored by the US Government after refusing requests to see the raw data he used to come to his conclusions has now refused a formal “Freedom of Information Act” request for the data.
I think the entire Global Warming thing is modeled on the “Cold Fusion” episode of the 1980’s. Nobody can shoot down your conclusions if you don’t reveal your data and methods. The data and software used by “Global Warming” researchers is a closely guarded secret. Wonder what they are trying to hide.
Don’t be ridiculous, Free Speech is not dead, it’s “settled”. Now that we have the truth, we don’t need anymore input. Of course that makes sense. What, you don’t agree, then you must go to the ‘training camp’.
end sarcasm.
Liberals really are facists. It is the ultimate arrogance to see what you think as the only right point of view. God knows, I have disagreed with many people on this site, usually on immigration, and I don’t intend to shut up about it. But I realize that everybody doesn’t see it the same way that I do, they are just wrong. 🙂 Although the conversation can get heated, I still would never want anyone to have the ability to just silence someone. That is the scariest most easily abused power in the world. I think this whole move against FOX is something totally new, it is the left trying to deligitimze a whole network because it is the only one that has two points of view presented. I suggest we start a brown shirt campaign and mail brown shirts to all of these facist assholes who are trying to stiffle debate. Second thought, that might not be a good idea, they might just put them on.
Also, the publisher of a widely quoted climate paper sponsored by the US Government after refusing requests to see the raw data he used to come to his conclusions has now refused a formal “Freedom of Information Act” request for the data.
Crosspatch, are you referrring to Michael Mann, and, if so, do you have a link to his refusals?
Is that why so many scientific ‘realities’ are called ‘theories’?