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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
 Posted - 11/25/2008 : 13:14:13
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Yup, Matthew "Frame It!" Nisbet is giving science deniers (and AGW deniers in particular) a big ol' hug, promising to never call them "deniers" again because it hurts their widdle feelings.
Actually, he claims that calling them "deniers" does nothing more than make the deniers screech that they're not Nazis, and so distracts away from the debate. The problem, of course, is that the deniers aren't interested in any debate. Distraction is all that they've got.
Mark Hoofnagle has a long write-up on this, which is a very good read.
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- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 11/25/2008 : 14:51:24 [Permalink]
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| Good article. I think Nisbet has lost it. He dug in so far defending his position that he has now taken it to the absurd... |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Simon
SFN Regular
USA
1992 Posts |
Posted - 11/25/2008 : 15:35:03 [Permalink]
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While I respect Nisbet position, I agree that it is going to far.
It IS denialism. They reject overwhelming evidences and fact just 'cause they don't like them. From a methodological point of view, they are no more justified than Holocaust deniers or flat-earther.
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Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996 |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 11/25/2008 : 22:02:46 [Permalink]
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I especially liked this succinct thinking, from the OP's Denialism Blog link:| If a doctor confronts an alcoholic about their denial of their alcoholism, they're not suggesting they hate Jewish people too. When a psychiatrist tells their patient they're in denial, that's hardly comparing them to the Nazis. When we say a public figure has issued a denial of some scandal, we're not suggesting they advocate a new holocaust. And finally, when we suggest any number of other people are denying reality, whether it be holocaust denial, evolution denial, HIV/AIDS denial, etc., the point is clear that we are referring to their methods more than their motives which are necessarily varied. |
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 11/25/2008 22:02:59 |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 11/26/2008 : 18:21:15 [Permalink]
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| Nisbet responds, completely ignoring the fact that name-calling works pretty well for the denialists. If "denier" is name-calling, then so are the labels that the denialists apply to scientists and others standing opposed to the denialists, including (but not limited to) "brainwashed" and "sheep." If Nisbet wants to simply claim the "moral high ground" in the "debate," that's what he should be arguing, instead implying that people who find the word "denier" acceptable are doing something that the deniers are not. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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Nisbet and deniers in love-fest
