Category: Denialism
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Denialists should not be debated
Orac has brought up the interesting point that debating the homeopaths at U. Conn might not be a good idea. On a related note, in a post derriding attacks on consensus I was asked by commenters if isn’t it incumbent on science to constantly respond to debate; to never let scientific questions be fully settled.…
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Credit Freeze: An Example of How Regulation Gives Consumers Choice Where the Market Wouldn’t
Brian Krebs reports good news: Trans Union, one of the three major consumer reporting agencies, will offer all consumers the option to freeze their credit files in order to prevent identity theft: A credit freeze directs the credit bureaus to block access to a consumer’s credit report and credit score. At present, at least 39…
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WSJ: Oppose CAFE! Ignore Reality! Why, Because I Know Econ 101!
In today’s Journal, Robert Crandall and Hal Singer argue that America shouldn’t drink the corporate average fuel economy standard (CAFE) Kool-Aid. Why? Well why do you think? Because the market is perfect and thus there is no problem! Bring on the Econ 101! …if there was [sic] fuel-saving technology out there that cost $1,000 but…
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Denialism in the news
Alert readers have brought to my attention two articles of interest to the study of denialism. First a big fat article in Newsweek entitled The Truth About Denial is a good overview of the anti-scientific crusade of conservative crank tanks to dispute global warming. It has a nice timeline of the development of the denialist…
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Hire Google for your denialist campaign!
An alert reader noticed that when he performed a Google search on ‘Sicko’, guess who pops up in the sponsored links? Why, our good friends at AEI, a denialist organization second only to CEI, but since they have a lot of the same people working for both it’s really just academic which one you’re arguing…
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A scientific study of overvalued ideas
Corpus Callosum points us to a review in science entitled Childhood Origins of Adult Resistance to Science (Chris at mixing memory also has coverage of the article). This is a perfect study to emphasize a critical aspect of denialism and crankery, that is, the central role the overvalued idea plays in the evolution of a…
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Denialists’ Deck Applied: Lobbying Reform
The Newhour had a debate tonight full of denialism provided by Paul Miller, former head of the American League of Lobbyists. It’s an excellent opportunity to demonstrate how the lobbying tactics outlined in the Denialists’ Deck of Cards can be employed to fight a proposal without really dealing with the merits of it. The issue:…
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Who are the denialists? (Part III)
Who are the global Warming Denialists? A tougher question is, in a discipline as complex as climate science, how do you tell who the legitimate skeptics (those that ignore the reporting at the Independent for instance) are versus who are the denialists? Again, it’s simple, because denialism is about tactics. Which global warming critics are…
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I guess this was inevitable
“Heliocentrism is an Atheist Doctrine”. I’ve just got to say, wow. I read it at first thinking, “hey, this is hysterical satire”, then I read the comments and thought, “wow, these guys are dedicated – this is pure performance art!” Finally, I started going through the archives with a sinking feeling, “holy crap, these guys…
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Who are the denialists? (Part II)
What kind of family value is lying? That’s the foremost question in my mind when I consider the family values organizations that use false research, lies and denialism to justify their agenda of disparaging contraception, sex education, homosexuality, and exaggerating the dangers of abortion. In light of Falwell’s death, I thought it would be appropriate…