Another Top International Climate Change Denier Silliness or Two!

BPSDB

“Another Top International Scientist Jumps off Global Warming ‘Titanic’” screams one headline, “New peer reviewed study: global warming lowers death rates” claims another.

Is it any shock that more accurate titles would be “Another Top International Scientist reaffirms basic, commonly known facts of accepted climate science!” and “Two year old study shows adaptation, not climate change, explains difference in death rates.“?

Yup, the climate change Deniers are outright, flagrantly lying again (shock, horror, disbelief … say it ain’t so!). So what are the facts behind this latest silliness?

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Potholer54 climate videos, new and some less so

BPSDB Regulars will know that I have been a huge fan of Potholer54 who has done some excellent climate science videos:

• • • 1. Climate Change — the scientific debate
    • 2. Climate Change — the objections
    • Climate Change — Those hacked e-mails
    • Climate Change — isn’t it natural?
    • Climate Change anatomy of a myth

I was not at all pleased with his fourth, “Climate Change — Gore vs. Durkin” where he looks at both “The Swindle” and “An Inconvenient Truth.” Potholer seems to have fallen into a trap of attempting to seem even handed, not favouring one side of the issue or the other, see ‘Very disappointing‘ for the discussion.

I found his most recent one also somewhat disappointing even though it is mostly pretty good.  “11. Climate Change — Hurricanes, atolls and coral” was also released as “Climate Change Are we all going to drown?”

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“Alarmist”: a Freudian slip?

BPSDB There is that group of people who use the uncritical nonthinking process of denialism when dealing with climate change science. These people are commonly, and correctly referred to as “Deniers.”

In the ongoing culture wars the Deniers have been casting about for a suitable pejorative with which to dismiss those who use facts and logic, and they seem to be gravitating towards “alarmists.”

Now being an alarmist is not necessarily a bad thing (cf Paul Revere – Alarmist!), but I believe there is something far more interesting going on here.

In seeking to characterize a group we tend to focus on what stands out and is of significant to us. The Deniers share a particular anti-intellectual, irrational process when dealing with the climate change issue, and it is for this process that they are known for to those who accept the facts of climate science.

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Denier vs Skeptic IV: Get a dictionary!

BPSDB

de·ni·er

dɪˈnaɪər/ [dih-nahy-er]

–noun

a person who denies.

Origin:

1350–1400;  ME; see deny, -er¹

Dictionary.com

 

When a Denier’s behaviour is correctly identified and named the standard response is to plead that they are the victims of an attempt to associate them with Holocaust denial because that is what the word means. Well as it happens, no … that’s not what it means. Actually it means “denier” (see above).

Yes, yes, I know … the climate change Deniers never check anything with accepted, credible sources and reject the legitimacy of any source that contradicts what they believe.

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The 1970s ‘Ice Age 9’ Myth

BPSDB

• Apples and ice
• Cherry picking
• Back to the future
• In search of…
• The Schneider fallacies
• Denier logic fails

If there are 7 apples in a barrel and someone says “Oh look, there are some apples.”, how many apples are there in the barrel?

If someone else also says “Oh look, there are some apples.”, how many apples are there now?

And if yet a third person does?

If you are age 4 or older you undoubtedly said “7” each time since the number of apples has not changed, that is unless you are a climate change Denier. Apparently Deniers believe that repeatedly reporting on the same 7 items by different sources somehow increases the number to the point that by the third or fourth repetition the barrel is full to the brim with apples.

Think I’m kidding? Read on …

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Greenfyre, greenfyre, where have you been?

BPSDB

Not in London,

nor visiting a Queen

.

HUGE, HUGE, HUGE thanks to S2, truesceptic and all the others who worked to keep this space going. I am truly grateful and nothing I ever do can repay the debt I owe you. You are awesome people of the highest order.

You are also owed an explanation, but I fear it is rather mundane and dreary (and not even in the least bit sordid, which might have spiced it up a bit and made this more entertaining for you).

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