Really Good Thread

I'm almost done reading a great thread on Pandagon. This is just one of the comments that I'd like to share. I would post others, but there are so many.

I am a climate scientist in the US. Over the last several months I’ve watched colleagues and friends get slandered, have their private communications completely misinterpreted, and been variously called a hack and a fraud. Already most of my colleagues have decided not to participate in the next IPCC assessment report, since all it does is make us targets for the most vicious personal attacks. We’re expected now to respond to the most assinine, ill formed, and usually wrong criticisms from bloggers. And, except for a few people stepping up to help, we’re largely being thrown to the wolves by the media, public, and politicians.

Here is my prediction. In fifty years time, when climate change is real and apparent right before everyones eyes, there will be all sorts of hand wringing and concerned comments from people on the tv. And everyone will soberly talk about how nobody could have predicted what was happening (much like the levee comment after Katrina).

And I’m gonna have a really, really hard time caring at all.
Comment #70: TransientEddy on 03/12 at 12:31 AM

This post is illuminating so many things about me, my life, my family, former friends, acquaintances, frustrations that I have had. It is about, on the surface, climate change denialists, but the thread gets into the basic motivations of the denialists themselves. Pandagon is a both/and blog, so as long as arguments are in logically and rationally sound, they're an awesome add. Unsound arguments are shut down at one comment so far. I'm actually looking forward to a response just to see what angle they go down this time. It reminds me of the report I gave and the book on which I gave it back on the 2nd. I found this book on Feb. 28th after shopping all day with a friend. I skimmed it that night and bought it the next day.

Friday, I talked with protestant evangelical teenagers about science and religion. The arguments were all either cruel (maiming and death are adequate punishment for not wanting to be pregnant was one), stupid applications of science (an anti-gay marriage argument from the standpoint that same sex couples cannot reproduce), or unsuccessful attempts to find holes in scientific explanations. It was a great experience to have, and also very draining. Rational claims are pretty awesome. The Pandagon thread is rife with these.