Monckton's climate denial is a gift to those who take the science seriously

[depakid]

Christopher Monckton continues to dig his own hole.
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Monckton repeatedly exposes the shallow fallacy of climate denial, dragging down those stupid enough to believe him

The longer this goes on, the better it will be for all those who take science seriously. Lord Monckton is digging his hole ever deeper, and dragging down into it everyone stupid enough to follow him. Those of us who do battle with climate change deniers can't inflict one tenth as much damage to their cause that Monckton wreaks every time he opens his mouth.

He has now answered the devastating debunking of his claims published by the professor of mechanical engineering John Abraham with a characteristically bonkers article. It conforms to the cast iron rules of climate change denial, which are as follows:

1. Falsely accuse the other person of ad hominem attacks, while making vicious ad hominem attacks of your own.

I have seen it done many times before, but never as blatantly as this. Monckton manages to pack his double standards into a single sentence:

"So unusual is this attempt actually to meet us in argument, and so venomously ad hominem are Abraham's artful puerilities, delivered in a nasal and irritatingly matey tone (at least we are spared his face — he looks like an overcooked prawn), that climate-extremist bloggers everywhere have circulated them and praised them to the warming skies."

Those who have followed Abraham's destruction of Monckton's wild claims will know that he doesn't make any ad hominem attacks at all: in fact he goes out of his way to be civil and courteous to his subject and does his best to give him the benefit of the doubt. Unlike the bad-mannered lord, he sticks to the facts. Just for the record, Abraham looks nothing like an overcooked prawn, but quite normal and pleasant.

Does Viscount Monckton possess so little self-awareness that he couldn't spot the contradiction between the standard of argument he expects of others and his own behaviour? Or does he take his followers for morons?

2. Ignore or gloss over the most substantial criticisms. Monckton concentrates on some of the least damaging of Abraham's revelations. Abraham has replied to him. You'll note that, unlike Monckton, he remains courteous and calm. And that he swiftly destroys the viscount's specious responses.

3. Never admit that you are wrong. Even when your errors are staring you in the face, do not acknowledge them. Never apologise, never concede. This is the crucial difference between scientists and charlatans. True scientists welcome challenges to their work, admit their mistakes and seek to refine and improve their hypotheses in the light of them. Charlatans raise the volume and denounce the people who expose their errors. Or they quietly drop their claims, without ever acknowledging that they were wrong, and replace them with a new set of implausible assertions.

I have now read thousands of articles by climate change deniers - far more than I would like to have done - and have never come across a single admission that they have got something wrong. I challenge the deniers who are about to populate this thread to produce an example of someone on their side of the debate acknowledging an error.

4. Project your worst characteristics onto your opponent. Without providing any evidence to support his claim, Monckton repeatedly accuses Abraham of being a liar and of using "flagrant and deliberate misrepresentation". This comes from a man who has, among other interesting assertions, falsely claimed to be both a member of the House of Lords and a Nobel laureate. He also lambasts John Abraham for not being a climate scientist, though Abraham does in fact work in closely related fields. Monckton's own qualification, of course, is a classics degree.

To these well-trodden tactics Monckton adds one of his own: run to daddy.

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2010/jun/08/monckton-gift-climate-denial

[Nihil]

1. Monckton is ...

... an arsehole of the first order (quite apart from any climate
denial aspects of his character) and deserves to be one of the first
"up against the wall" (if anyone could justify wasting even a bullet
on the twat).

:grr:

[hatrack]

2. Nuked - and recommended!!

Outstanding demolition job here.