November 9, 2016

Image Copyright Bill Mauldin 1963

Mr.Thiel, you are a foolish man. Allow me to explain.

Driving home this evening I heard the NPR story “Peter Thiel Stands Out In Silicon Valley For Support Of Donald Trump” (Laura Sydell | October 31, 2016), in the story the man demonstrated such childish logic for such a big man that when I got home I couldn't help pound out the following response.

Mr. Thiel, you’ve taken offense that many say you show significant “lack of judgement” by coming out in support of Donald Trump the gold plated narcissist who would be President. 

On Monday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., you defended your position: "It's not a lack of judgment that leads Americans to vote for Trump.  We're voting for Trump because we judge the leadership of our country to have failed.”

I thought you said you were a man of good judgement?  What's with that yuge non sequitur?  What does Washington DC leadership failures have to do with being suckered by a big talking hustler like the beauty pageant magnet Donald Trump? 

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To quote from the NPR story:

#8 Dunlap, Jacques - History of Climate Science Denial, Notes and References (with links)

This is the eighth and final installment of Dunlap, Jacques' (2013) study of the history of our dysfunctional public climate science education dialogue.  They focus on the influence of "conservative think tanks (CTTs) on the output of "skeptical" climate science book publications.  

This installment is a copy of their Notes and Reference sections. I have added links to the references. 

With these sources you can learn about how out and out lying became the mainstay of the Republican climate science contrarian PR strategy. 

Given that the study has a CCA License I decided to Repost their interesting effort over here.  It makes worthy addition to my collection.  I thank Riley Dunlap and Peter Jacques for the opportunity to Repost their impressive work.

#8 Notes and References

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The American Behavioral Scientist

Climate Change Denial Books and 

Conservative Think Tanks

Exploring the Connection 

Riley E. Dunlap and Peter J. Jacques

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3787818/

#7 Dunlap, Jacques - History of Climate Science Denial, Freedom from Peer Review and its Implications

This is the seventh installment of Dunlap, Jacques' (2013) study of the history of our dysfunctional public climate science education dialogue.  They focus on the influence of "conservative think tanks (CTTs) on the output of "skeptical" climate science book publications.  

In this final section they look at conservative think tanks’ uncritical contrarian approach of accepting whatever argument sounds convenient, even when internally inconsistent.  It’s superficial projection and PR mileage they are concerned with.  Undergirding the whole thing is a personal conviction that wishing it hard enough can make it so.  Thus they arrived at a mental landscape where Faith Trumps Facts. 

We should recognize how profoundly different things are in the scientific community with its built-in self-skepticism and their peer review processes.  

Both formal prepublication - and of course the constant unofficial peer review process of scientists communicating with each other, going to conferences to argue with each other, while learning from each other.  Independently cross checking each others work. The constant hum of healthy constructive skepticism driven by a thirst for ever better understanding.  

That special dynamic something is totally lacking within the Republican PR effort - and it’s time the intelligentsia start doing a better job of proclaiming why they should be trusted, but I digress.

Here you’ll find out about how out and out lying became the mainstay of the Republican climate science contrarian PR strategy.  Facts that it would be good for younger activists to be aware of.  Given that the study has a CCA License I've decided to Repost the complete text in a few installments.  I thank Riley Dunlap and Peter Jacques for the opportunity to Repost their impressive work.

The excerpts and related links will be added shortly…

#7 Freedom From Peer Review and Its Implications

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The American Behavioral Scientist

Climate Change Denial Books and 

Conservative Think Tanks

Exploring the Connection