Thursday, December 10, 2009

An Elaborate Conspiracy? Not So Much.

Our good friend, the Leftist Blogger who hates me and yet can't stop talking to me (oh, and lying about me), keeps asking two questions: "How can ALL these climatologists be in one huge, elaborate conspiracy? And what would they ALL have to gain from it?"

It's not an elaborate conspiracy, Mr. Leftist Blogger. In fact, it's quite simple.

Money: As much as the AGW proponents love to point at any scientist or commentator with connections to industry as being "paid for by Big Business," it's important to point out that there's a lot of money to be had by pushing AGW in the form of grant money. Academia is not immune to the charms of greed, as grant money is a gravy train for anyone willing to sign onto whatever "hot" notion is making its way through academia. And then, it's only a matter of coming up with a paper agreeing with the dominant notion and you're set.

Prestige: With grants come prestige for the people who received them, and for the academic institutions they represent. Academia is full of egos, egos that will do anything to be stroked. What better way to get your ego stroked than to be the center of attention by releasing a paper that "confirms" what the rest of academia already believes to be true?

Uniformity: Academia used to be an area where different thoughts could be debated on their merits. Over the past two or three decades, academia has turned into a conformity factory. If you don't agree with what the prevailing idea is, you're often branded as a troublemaker, a fraud, or even as someone worthy of being ridiculed and blackballed. Even if the prevailing idea in academia is built on a house of cards, there will be a backlash against anyone who points it out, regardless of the factual information he or she brings to the table.

Put simply, any dissent costs academia who have bought into a prevailing notion money, prestige, and uniformity. Greed, pride, and conformity.

That's what your "science" is really promoting with its religious fanaticism over a debatable premise, Mr. Leftist Blogger. And, yes, I find the irony of you carrying water for the green religion after bashing me for my Christian beliefs quite delicious.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Doesn't the original question of "how can they ALL be wrong" sort of prove that Lefist Blogger already drank the koolaid, and is spewing the propaganda even though he has no clue about it's veracity? Perhaps it's all bunkum. :) But he doesn't even bother to verify. He just plays Pavlovian Dog and barks what he's been told to bark. What ever happened to their need for intellectual curiosity? Or at least intellectual honesty?