ericgrimsrud

In a previous post entitled, “James Hansen, the Jackie Robinson of Climate Change”, I described how we can expect to see increased personal attacks on the preeminent climate change scientist, James Hansen, now that he has retired from his day job as Head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City and will now be devoting all of his time to “bridging the gap” of understanding that exists between the world of science and the general public.  These attacks are entirely expected and are in accordance with the ancient adage, “kill the messenger”.  In this case, the smearing and personal attacks will be made by those who have absolutely no scientifically valid responses to the message itself – as you will see in this post.

Thus, this “game” is presently in full stride with respect to the proposed construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline which Hansen has strongly opposed for scientific reasons. In this post I will provide a clear example of this provided by a recent post run at what is possibly the most viewed AGW Denier’s blog in the world called Watts Up With That. Before reading further here please have a look at this WUWT post at http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/04/27/hansen-unleashed-people-he-disagrees-with-are-neanderthals/   Be sure to read the entire post and to view the entire Video provided there of an interview with James Hansen and then please come back.

OK, now if you have done as I asked above, let’s consider some questions concerning what you just read and saw.  The bulk of Dr. Hansen’s remarks concerned specific scientific points associated with the AGW issue, did they not?  His comment were literally chock full of physical details concerning this environmental problem, were they not?  At the same time essentially all of the comments made by both the editors at WUWT and those reported to have been made by the Canadian Officials were of a personal nature directed at the messenger, were they not.  They did little more that suggest that Hansen is an “exaggerator”, did they not?  without explaining in any scientific terms whatever why they thought Hansen’s view was flawed.

You will also note that towards the end of the interview, the moderator presses Hansen to imagine why the representatives of the Conservative Party now in power in Canada are so hostile to him and his message.  Hansen responds by saying he believes that the ruling Conservatives of Canada are essentially in the “hip pocket” of the fossil fuel industries and that they have adopted what he calls “neanderthal” views of the science of climate change – that is, views are exceedingly out of date.  One only has to consider the report from the USA Academy of Science that I provided on another recent posts here at ericgrimsrud.wordpress.com, in order to understand why Hansen’s use of the word, neanderthal, is appropriate in this case.

So what is the headline of the WUWT post we have been studying here?  It is “Hansen unleashed: people he disagrees with are ‘neanderthals’.  That’s the best the Deniers can do in response to Hansen’s scientifically rich explanation of his position on the Keystone Pipeline – that is, make a big deal and headline out of one word Hansen used and furthermore to misrepresent even that tiny bit of the interview. What Hansen said in answer to the moderator’s question was that he considered the controlling Conservative government of Canada to have “neanderthal” views concerning the science of AGW and immediately added that he was not referring to the people of Canada, in general, or to anyone else.

What a waste of an opportunity.  Here we had a very focused discussion with someone who is generally considered to be the leading climate change scientist of the world, and what does the editor of WUWT come away with?  Hansen’s use of one word which effectively, if not politely, summarized a set of Canadians politician’s limited knowledge of the science associated with climate change.  The fact that the Canadian officials in question and the editors of WUWT did not even dare challenge Hansen’s characterization of their ignorance is telling.  As evidence for man-caused global warming continues to pile up, “Killing the messenger” appears to be the only game the Deniers know how to play.