The Anti-Free-Speech Brigade

I have put this in Fragile Earth because to be honest I don't know where it should live, and climate change is definitely a Fragile Earth subject. (Move if necessary please Mods)

Before I lay out the item let me say this. I am not advocating one or the other side here. I am merely making the statement that it is inherently wrong that any group should seek to silence another group's opinions.

Last week more than 18,000 people apparently signed a petition that was sent to the ombudsman of PBS – an American television station whose full name is the Public Broadcasting Service. Here’s what that petition said:

Immediately investigate the NewsHour segment featuring climate change denier and conspiracy theorist Anthony Watts for violations of PBS standards on accuracy, integrity, and transparency, and recommend corrective action to ensure that such reporting never again occurs on PBS. [source, backup link]

If I were serving as ombudsman I doubt I would take seriously anyone who couldn’t make their point in a professional and polite manner. Was it really necessary to insult Watts, who runs the most-read climate change blog in the world? What purpose was served by labeling him a climate change denier and a conspiracy theorist? And shouldn’t people who hurl such accusations be required to supply some sort of proof?

Source

Irrespective of whether you agree the the contents of the blog or not the reportage of this 'incident' highlights a serious trend in the lengths that some with go to in order to silence opposition.

As was stated in another document, and is a sentiment I completely agree with:....

But if we are never willing to listen to each other, especially to opposing views, then we can never actually learn anything!

Source: Open Letter to the Electric Universe and Expansion Tectonics Theorists.pdf

The document is worth a read in it's own right by the way.

I have no problem with someone taking an opposing view to me, this is only to be expected and the world would be a very dull place if we all agreed on everything! What I do have a problem with is where someone takes an opposing view and is not prepared to back up their stance with evidence.

The attempt at suppression of another view by manipulation of the media is disgraceful, even disgusting and, as Donna says:

Those 18,000 petition signers should hang their heads in shame.

There seems to be a lot of labeling going on at the moment in what seems like an attempt to suppress opposing views.. I guess it shows have fragile and fractured our society is at the moment.

I have often wanted to discuss that with someone more knowledgeable than I on these topics to see if this phenomenon is evident at other time-frames in history. As I can't help but feel those if they are that those times-frames will show similar changes to the environment that are happening to ours (ranging across the board from political to meteorological).

I have often felt all these changes to our planet and our minds are almost in-tune with each other.... Sorry Puterman I suspect my meandering thoughts are probably off topic.. none the less, an interesting thread, thanks and it is interesting that the climate topic is seemingly becoming almost a religion to some, in context to how they respond and that there is a need to shout down anyone who opposes their view.

reply to post by thoughtsfull

There seems to be a lot of labeling going on at the moment in what seems like an attempt to suppress opposing views.. I guess it shows have fragile and fractured our society is at the moment.

I wonder? I actually wonder if it is that it is more fractured, or if this is by design - the dumbing down of the people to where they believe what they are told without question. Next comes "those over 65 must be euthanased as we cannot support the old age population."

Response = "Oh yes great idea let's do it. Anyone who does not believe this should happen is anti-society and wants to see the world fail."

(Guess I have about 6 months left then!)

I have often felt all these changes to our planet and our minds are almost in-tune with each other....

Not quite sure where you are going there but I do believe we are, some of us, at one with the Earth.

Sorry Puterman I suspect my meandering thoughts are probably off topic.. none the less, an interesting thread, thanks and it is interesting that the climate topic is seemingly becoming almost a religion to some, in context to how they respond and that there is a need to shout down anyone who opposes their view.

That in itself is a serious state of affairs that people feel the need to shout down another's religion and off topic? No, not at all, as that is exactly what is being pointed out.

reply to post by PuterMan


I guess where I am coming from is a place I can not (at the moment) back up with evidence which makes it hard to converse without sounding like I am piddling in the wind with theories.. but I believe there where an unusually high number of temperature extremes in the years 1933-1938.

As I say I have no real evidence to back up my thoughts, but I have been wondering if we are susceptible to these weather extremes, and that in turn changes our natures, we become more combative/defensive of our points of view.

In our politics it seems those periods also produce mice for leaders when we need giants which leaving some to seek/get drawn into "other" places to find for want of a better word, faith.. climate change certainly seems to fit that bill.

As I say my thoughts on this have no real evidence based foundation (at the moment), but I do feel we are in tune with the planet and each other.. miserable days (hot or cold) seem to leave people miserable/aggressive and I wonder if on a protracted scale, also makes us stupid and prone to doing illogical things like euthanasing the elderly, infirm, disabled or just about anyone that opposes our viewpoint.

As for it all being planned, perhaps, dumbing down does make people mailable, and we are certainly being sold an ideological rather than scientific view on climate change, but then again the same was happening in the 1933-1938 time frame.

Welcome to groupthink politics and the age of the industrial guilt complex. Climate change denier, oh I think I like that title - where can I get me one? Truth is Watts doesn't deny changes in the climate but the extent that man made gases, particularly CO2 effect it.

Americans are so easily led around by their egos these days - sign a petition and save the world mentality. Reality is such a remote concept that the establishment has little trouble playing pied piper and running our modern lemmings off whatever ideological cliff they so desire.

The more they push this denier crap the more I know I've been lied to,