[Vision2020] 739 Responses to "Free speech and academic freedom": Threats Against Climate Scientists Like Soviet Union
Paul Rumelhart
godshatter at yahoo.com
Tue Mar 13 16:56:10 PDT 2012
I don't condone sending death threats to anyone, especially over something like climate change science. I also don't condone the harassment of climate scientists because of their views on the subject, whatever they may be.
Just thought I'd throw that out there, since I seem to be the token "climate denier" on this list, though I don't think of myself as such.
Paul
________________________________
From: Ted Moffett <starbliss at gmail.com>
To: Moscow Vision 2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 2:24 PM
Subject: [Vision2020] 739 Responses to "Free speech and academic freedom": Threats Against Climate Scientists Like Soviet Union
Pictures and captions left out of body of text pasted in below...
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2012/02/free-speech-and-academic-freedom/#more-10829
Free speech and academic freedom
Filed under:
* Communicating Climate
* RC Forum
* skeptics
— rasmus @ 12 February 2012
Update: Some related concerns from deepclimate.org, if these claims can be verified.
In a recent interview for a Norwegian magazine (Teknisk Ukeblad, 0412), the IPCC chair Rajendra Kumar Pachauri told the journalist that he had
received death threats in connection with his role as a head for the
IPCC. There have also been recent reports of threats and harassment of
climate scientists for their stance on climate change (Kerry Emanuel. Katharine Hayhoe, Australian climate scientists, Phil Jones, Barton campaign, and Inhofe’s black list).
These incidents appear as an unpleasant deja vu from my
past, smacking of attempts to suppress the freedom of speech. They
remind me of the days when I did my national service as a border patrol
at the Soviet-Norwegian border in 1988-1989 (Norway and Russia – then
Soviet – share a 196 km long common border in the high north), where we stood up for our freedom and democracy.
Freedom of speech was tacitly implied as one of the ingredients of an
open democracy, which in our minds was the West. There was an
understanding that the other side of the iron curtain represented an
oppressive regime.
If the people who threat and harass climate scientists were to have
their way, I fear we would be heading for a world resembling the other
side of the iron curtain of 1989. The absence of oppression and
harassment is a prerequisite for sound and functioning science.
Oppressive regimes are not known for producing good science, and blind
ideology have often been unsustainable. Therefore, threats and such
dishonorable campaigns represent a concern.
Another unpleasant aspect of the direction taken by the public discource is the character of the rhetoric, which too exhibit similarities to that of the cold war. I still
remember some of the propaganda that could be heard on the radio –
translated to Norwegian. Too often these days, the debate is far from
being informative but has turned into something like a beauty contest
and he-said-she-said affair.
So it is important to keep in mind: Don’t shoot the messenger who is
only doing her/his job. It would really be a disservice to the society.
Any open and free democracy has to be based on true information and
knowledge. When big and powerful media corporations start to look like
past state-run propaganda machines, where slogans have replaced common
sense and expert knowledge, then we’re heading in the wrong direction.
In Norway, the there were calls for enhanced openness and respect (by our prime minister) after the terrible July 22 (2011) terrorist attacks (the terrorist also disrespected climate science). In this sense, the
openness also means exposing all levels and all aspects of matters being disputed. As in sciences, it is important to elucidate the situation,
and see if the arguments stand up to being critically scrutinized. This
also means that all relevant information must be included – not just
those which support one stand.
I think that the science community needs a louder voice in the
society, and there is a need for bringing some of the science-related
debates closer to true science. We need to explain the virtues of the
scientific method, such as transparency, replication of past results,
testing and evaluating the methods and conclusions. These virtues lead
to the most credible answers.
For example, we need to focus on question like the following: Is the
strategy adopted objective? Does it give robust results? Or do the
result depend on the context in which the analysis was carried out? In
other words, we need to question whether the conclusions are generally
valid.
Focusing on the real questions and doing science means being free, critical and sceptical – and not a climate of fear.
---------------------------------------
Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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