02/26/2011
Prof. John Beddington, absolute authority on climate science, the scientific method, and disinterested scholarship.
âUh oh. Just how evil must I be? Not only it seems are we âclimate scepticsâ the equivalent of Holocaust deniers and paedophiles, but also of gay-bashers and racistsâŚ.
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We have this from no less an authority than the Governmentâs chief beardie-weardie science advisor Professor John Beddington. Earlier this month, Prof Beddington told a meeting of 300 science civil servants in London:
âWe are grossly intolerant, and properly so, of racism. We are grossly intolerant, and properly so, of people who [are] anti-homosexuality⌠We are not â and I genuinely think we should think about how we do this â grossly intolerant of pseudo-science, the building up of what purports to be science by the cherry-picking of the facts and the failure to use scientific evidence and the failure to use scientific method.â
âOne way is to be completely intolerant of this nonsense. That we donât kind of shrug it off. We donât say: âoh, itâs the mediaâ ⌠I think we really need, as a scientific community â and this is a very important scientific community â to think about how we do it.â
The solution, according to this man, whose generous salary and ring-fenced pension is kindly provided by the British taxpayer, is less tolerance:
âI really would urge you to be grossly intolerant,â he said. âWe should not tolerate what is potentially something that can seriously undermine our ability to address important problems.â
Beddington also had harsh words for journalists who treat the opinions of non-scientist commentators as being equivalent to the opinions of what he called âproperly trained, properly assessedâ scientists. âThe media see the discussions about really important scientific events as if itâs a bloody football match. It is ridiculous.â
In closing, Beddington said: âIâd urge you â and this is a kind of strange message to go out â but go out and be much more intolerant.ââŚ
Well, I agree with Prof Beddington on one thing â as Iâm sure do all of us evil, paedophilic, homophobic, Holocaust-denying, racist climate sceptics. If thereâs one thing we absolutely canât stand its scientists who âcherry-pick factsâ, who fail to use âscientific evidenceâ and who fail to use âscientific method.â Thatâs why we got so worked up over the Climategate emails, which very clearly revealed those âclimate scientistsâ whose expertise Prof Beddington so reveres committing the very crimes he so deplores.
So doesnât that mean that by effectively endorsing the Climategate scientists disgraceful behaviour and by actively promulgating their shoddy, mendacious work, Prof Beddington is the moral equivalent of a double-double-extra racist, and a paedophile, and a Holocaust denier and homophobe too? Just asking.â
[Climate scepticism: not just the new paedophilia, but the new racism and homophobia too! by James Delingpole, The Telegraph, February 14th, 2011.]