Bullying is not science

Science is broken. Bloggers are paid to smear scientists, and rather than decry the intimidation and bullying, groups like the David Suzuki Foundation, New Scientist, the UN and Nature (the journal!) actively support it. DeSmogblog is run from a PR firm “Hoggan and Associates”, and Jim Hoggan is on the Suzuki Foundation board. Professional marketing types attack scientists for any mistake on any topic they may have ever made, for their funding, their religious beliefs, and they scorn their credentials (that’s rich, coming from PR graduates). If they can’t find “funding”, they imply it anyway. Who needs evidence?

How many Greenpeace or Suzuki supporters know that their donations fund ad hominem smear campaigns against scientists?

Meanwhile James Hansen from NASA calls for people to be jailed for “denial”. One green candidate in Australia has suggested we may need to suspend democracy — sure, lets have a totalitarian emergency state to save the climate. It’s chilling.

Usually people who point out flaws are called “whistleblowers”, but in climate science, they’re “deniers”. If the crisis-team had evidence, they would provide it. Instead they call people names. Gore’s staffers were so outrageously viperous about one eminent physicist, Fred Singer, that he sued them for libel and won. But how many scientists would be willing to fight for their names against lies from the Vice Presidents’ staff? Singer won the case, but the power of the bully-boys was made clear.

Pat Michaels lost his job as Virginia’s state climatologist, so did the chief scientist of the US Department of Energy, Will Happer. This set the scene in the early 90’s.

Why would any scientist want to raise doubts against well funded, well organised autocrats with no scruples? Many scientists wait till they retire so they can speak freely. Despite the intimidation, thousands are rising up in protest, so great is their concern.

Convince us with evidence not with threats.

Science is not just a subject in school. Lives depend upon it.

There is no civilization without science.

There is no science without civility.

When we slow science, people will die who could have been saved. There is no aspect of science that is improved by bullying and threats.

Science is nothing without polite discussion.Those who mock, scorn, and attack researchers are not scientists but stone age thinkers. They try to push us back to a new Dark Ages for their own personal gain of money, power or status.

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This is page 3 of The Skeptics Handbook II, a 20 page PDF.