Denialism

Month: May 2007

  • All quiet on the denialist front

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    MarkH
    in

    This is good. I’ll get some writing (non-blog) done. However I’d like to pose the rare political question based on the coverage of last night’s debate. Everyone from CNN to the National Review is all atwitter over Giuliani’s brash response to the question about whether the first Gulf War might have had something to do…

  • Denialists’ Deck of Cards: Responsibility’s Good, Except for Us

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    Chris
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    This pair should sound familiar. Industry lobbyists love the idea of individual responsibility. And so they will argue that individuals should be responsible for addressing a problem (paired with the 4 of Clubs or the 6 of Clubs). But in other contexts, accountability goes out the window. They need total immunity from lawsuits.

  • Hey Framers, what do you think of this?

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    MarkH
    in

    Here’s an interesting article in BBC which suggests that more hysterical messages on climate change might fall on deaf ears. Professor Mike Hulme, of the UK’s Tyndall Centre, has been conducting research on people’s attitudes to media portrayals of a catastrophic future. He says strong messages designed to prompt people to change behaviour only seem…

  • IDFilter

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    MarkH
    in

    A fun thing about reading things on the ID sites and then actually checking primary sources is how bizarre Uncommon Descent is as an information filter. I guess this would be an example of the dreaded “framing” of science which I don’t want to fight with my sciblings over. Take for example their discussion of…

  • Denialists’ Deck of Cards: The 7 of Hearts, “Jobs!”

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    Chris
    in

    The trick to using the “Jobs” card is to totally over inflate the size of your industry and the number of employees it has. It’s quite a compelling argument, and sometimes it’s true. But I’ve seen many cases where a regulation creates new jobs and economic development. A great recent example of the 7 of…

  • Get off the damn cross already

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    MarkH
    in

    All the evolution denialists are up in arms because one of their own, Guillermo Gonzalez, was denied tenure. It’s persecution they cry! Let’s write a letter to ISU they cry! And now Denyse O’Leary says, “It’s a conspiracy!” How tiresome. Could a kind reader make me an animated gif of a man climbing up on…

  • Denialists’ Deck of Cards: Too Much Regulation, or No Regulation

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    Chris
    in

    Many cards in the Denialists’ Deck allow one to make a bogus argument no matter the situation. So, with the Six of Spades and the Seven of Clubs, you use one card if your industry is highly regulated, and the other if it isn’t.

  • Who are the denialists? (Part I)

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    MarkH
    in , ,

    “It’s just murder…It’s really just that simple.” -Anthony Fauci on the HIV/AIDS denialist Peter Duesberg I think that one of the clearest examples of denialism, and of the harm that anti-scientific attitudes can have, is in HIV/AIDS denialism. But who in this day and age can continue to promote such a thoroughly absurd idea that…

  • Myths about Divorce

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    MarkH
    in

    Happy Mother’s Day this weekend! In honor of the day I’d think we should talk about divorce myths. I was scanning the Family Research Council blog and they repeated the commonly-believed myth that half of all marriages end in divorce. But what is the evidence this is true? *Updated with cohabitation information*

  • Environmentalists caused 9/11!

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    MarkH
    in

    Is it the 9/11 cranks saying it? Of course not. Instead it’s the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page featuring Peter Hoekstra. And you wonder why we call the WSJ editorial page a denialist organization?