Since he decided to sue me, I've been checking in from time to time on Michael E Mann's Twitter feed. Yesterday, Kyle Gardiner alerted him to the presence of a "climate skpetic" [sic] at Dr Mann's "old back yard" of the University of Virginia, and literally a minute later Mann had dropped whatever tree ring he was working on and rushed to respond:
Denying the reality & threat of climate change is a rejection of science.
— Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) February 17, 2014
So I clicked over to the piece Mr Gardiner had referenced - an op-ed in the student newspaper The Cavalier Daily by Thomas Forman, President of the University of Virginia Environmental Sciences Organization, arguing that the traditional deference to freedom of expression should not be extended to those who disagree with "former University professor Michael Mann, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Academy of Sciences and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change" (all government bodies, except for Dr Mann, who's a divine being):
I contend the issue of climate change is not like any other issue that we may normally debate or discuss on Grounds, such as foreign policy, the national debt, gay marriage or income inequality. Climate change is not a subjective issue; it is proven science, backed by hundreds of studies and research full of empirical data. Climate change has been proven by researchers such as Prof. Mann, government agencies such as the EPA and many private universities and institutions. Hard science is not something that should be debated the same way we debate other topics, such as those found in political science. Subjects such as politics or philosophy have no clear definite answer; either side can make a compelling case as to why its beliefs are correct. However, the same cannot be said for climate change. There is one proven answer, and it is protected by scientific fact.
This is madness, and indeed ("There is one proven answer! It is protected by scientific fact!") totalitarian madness. But it is the world Dr Mann hath wrought. The other day I compared the climate cultists to the Islamic enforcers who insist the Koran cannot be questioned. If your response to a cartoon or a novel or even a teddy bear is to insist that somebody has to be beheaded, it's not a sign of intellectual confidence but of great insecurity. Likewise, when the mullahs of climate change insist that the Ice-Coran cannot be questioned, it is not a sign of strength but of profound weakness. Science advances through dogged contrarians testing the "settled science", not through glassy-eyed consensus acolytes prostrating themselves before "one proven answer". Like Thomas Forman at the University of Virginia, Dr Mann at the DC Superior Court is demanding the authorities enforce a one-answer world.
~In the real world, meanwhile, the oceans may be rising, but the waters are murky. Dr Mann's co-author on a 2005 Journal of Climate paper, Tim Osborn:
I do wish Mike had not rushed around sending out preliminary and incorrect early responses – the waters are really muddied now.
And sometimes even Supreme Ayatollah Mann himself admits that it's all a bit complicated:
I'm really confused by this.
And that's just by the multiple "proven answers" he gave to queries about one data file. As to Mr Forman's bigger point, Judith Curry, an actual scientist whom Mann dismisses as "anti-science" because (unlike "pro-science" Jessica Alba) she has the impertinence to disagree with him, has her own answer to the "one proven answer" totalitarians in this post on "the limits of climate models for regional adaptation decision making". Just so.
~As Mr Forman demonstrates, the real issue here (as it always is with ideological enforcers) is freedom of expression. The new Kindle edition of my book on the subject, Lights Out: Islam, Free Speech And The Twilight Of The West, was released at the weekend at Amazon.com and Amazon's sites worldwide (full list below), and happily the proceeds will be bolstering my pushback against Mann and the US "justice" system. Diligent "reader" Tricky Nicky contributes a "review" of the book
Before I begin, I must say that I'm not exactly a fan of Islam or any other religion. It's all nonsense to me. That being said, I find Mark Steyn's selective and isolated outrage toward Islam very dangerous, especially considering the only people who follow him are right-wing Teabagger Christians. All he does is fan the flames of hate, and you know what ends up happening? Gullible conservatives start thinking that people like President Obama are Muslims and are out to destroy America.
But here's the rub. The conservatives and Teabaggers are the true enemies of America. They are looking to do what the Taliban can only dream of--destroy the American government from within. They are doing this by electing right-wing nutjobs like Ted Cruz, by listening to right-wing blowhards like Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin, and buying and believing the nonsense put out by all of them, including Mark Steyn.
If Mark Steyn can't see this, it appears that his lights are out and no one is home.
Thank you for finding this review helpful.
I don't think "Tricky Nicky" made it all the way to the end. Or the beginning. For you right-wing Teabagger Christian enemies of America who prefer Nook and Kobo, those versions will be out any day now. And don't forget personally autographed copies of the good old-fashioned print version are available exclusively at the SteynOnline bookstore, where sales of our new lawsuit-funding gift certificates are giving us a sporting chance of a landmark victory at the DC court. Finally, here's the full list of direct Amazon links to that new Kindle edition of Lights Out:
Amazon US: Lights Out
Amazon Canada: Lights Out
Amazon UK: Lights Out
Amazon Australia: Lights Out
Amazon India: Lights Out
Amazon France: Lights Out
Amazon Germany: Lights Out
Amazon Italy: Lights Out
Amazon Spain: Lights Out
Amazon Japan: Lights Out
Amazon Brazil: Lights Out
Amazon Mexico: Lights Out
