James Randi hijacked by AGW “skeptics”
You might be familiar with James Randi, the grandfather of the organised skeptical movement we see today, and his recent blog post about anthropogenic global warming (or AGW), which was rather critical of the mainstream scientific opinion. It caused quite a stir on the Internet, as you would expect it would, so much so that he felt compelled to clarify his statement in another blog post.
As various people, myself included, predicted on Twitter, the AGW denialist crowd were quick to capitalise on a leading “legitimate skeptic” sympathising with their position, starting with James Delingpole over at the Telegraph. He accuses Randi’s pro-AGW followers of being “Warmist thugs” and “eco-facists”, and backs up the claim with these comments left on Randi’s blog post:
“It would be hard to imagine Randi siding with one of the many similar petition projects against evolution instead of accepting the consensus of biologists.”
Err, that’s an excellent point.
“What disturbs me is the phrase, “Warming will not be disastrous”. Tell that to the millions in Pakistan, India, and South America whose river sources will die with the glaciers from which they spring. Tell that to the thousands of parents whose children will die of malaria, dengue fever, and the other tropical scourges whose ranges are increasing as the climate warms.”
Facists, the lot of them!
“Objections to Randi’s position have been duly noted here and elsewhere, and they are not new — and neither is Randi’s cynicism disguised as skepticism. The logical fallacies are numerous in his post, and easy to identify, should someone wish to play a game of AWG-denial Bingo.”
Watch where you’re swinging that trident, you common thug!
Come on. Seriously.
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