UPDATE: As is typical with alarmism, some people with a dislike for me and WUWT are spreading rumors on other blogs that these are my words, not of a commenter. And that I’m calling people on those blogs “cockroaches”. Not true. Of course they don’t take time to read the comments, they only run off and spread what they perceive at first, so I’m elevating yet another comment. In my response in comments here, I made it clear what this comment from Alexander Feht is about:
Anthony reply: It is an apt metaphor, one that caught attention of a lot of people prior to it being elevated, and you are reading way too much into it. He sees the USSR politics and Socialism as that. Do I think cockroaches accurately describes people I and many other here disagree with, no. Is it a metaphor for the instruments and actions that oppose freedom, tolerance, and open discourse, yes. Of course it doesn’t matter what I answer, some people will happily run off and distort it. In fact they already are.
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This may or may not become a new weekly feature, but I thought this comment was worth elevating to post status:
Alexander Feht says:
July 14, 2010 at 11:18 pm
I completely understand, why Christopher Monckton felt a need to make an example of a typical reprehensible representative of modern Academia. People like Christopher Monckton make me hope again that not everything is lost yet under the Moon.
And yet… I spent first half of my life battling liars and cockroaches in the former USSR. I would win against any individual liar or cockroach, no sweat. But year after year after year, I was getting more and more convinced that I didn’t want to die in this battle, overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of my enemies.
So. I live in a quiet valley now, in Colorado Rockies. Grass is green, air is fresh, sky is huge. But what is this constant swish and rustle coming from the East Coast and from the Left Coast? I know this sound well! There is no escape from the battle: cockroaches are coming.
He adds in comments:
I am completely embarrassed by all this attention.
My heartfelt thanks to Mr. Watts and all the commentators.
The only thing I would like to add:
I’ve noticed that many comments on WUWT (and in other places) are based on the unshaken assumption that the existing framework of democracy, including the established peer-review and other mechanisms in Academia, would somehow, even if only in a long run, fix our worst problems, and extricate the good name of science from the rotten mire it has found itself in today.
The question is obvious:
How the same framework and the same mechanisms that resulted in today’s lamentable situation, are going to have a healing effect?
In other words, are you sure that we have at hand something to populate the house with, after we would have “cleaned the house”? Where are Mozarts, Darwins, Teslas and Rembrandts in our cherished established institutions? And, most importantly, what fundamental (and, preferably, bloodless) changes in our society are necessary to bring Mozarts, Darwins, Teslas and Rembrandts up, and to bring Bushes, Obamas, Blairs and Prince-Charleses down into oblivion? That is the question.
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Good choice for the 1st Comment of the Week, Anthony.
With a worldwide readership here at WUWT, some will cheer and some will jeer at your comment, but that was one very powerful comment, Mr. Feht. It’s a sobering reminder that CAGW isn’t necessarily all about CAGW.
Yes, that is definitely the comment of the week and then some. I could not agree more.
Quite a shame they banned DDT and not cockroaches.
I’m sorry Anthony but what is the added value of this? No news value, nothing to debate. Just the personal story of one of the readers. I’ve read some OT comments here that are much quotewurthier / food for thought.
But thats just my humble opinion.
Too depressing, and makes me glad I’m 49 and on the back end of things. Very glad I was born when I was, though a decade earlier would have been nice. Really, REALLY glad I wasn’t born a decade later.
Ah yes, Darkness at Noon…
Better perhaps to watch Milos Forman’s excellent film The Fireman’s Ball, the last film he made before leaving The People’s Paradise. If there’s one thing the cockroaches do not understand, it’s humour. While this masterpiece is forever banned in the country of its inception, it remains accessible to the free. For now.
The desire for “something for nothing” and no regard for the consequences is the food of the cockroaches.
And what does the automated Google ad producer do when confronted with this post? It produces adverts for cockroach suppression – of course. Isn’t capitalism wonderful?
Nice sentiments.
When I first saw this comment I was contemplating a comment referring to it.
I have noted that the most outspoken critics of the way this debate has developed have lived under dictatorial regimes & they have highlighted the similarities between those regimes & the way green politics is headed in that direction
DaveE.
I have to disagree with Richard. I read that comment not 20 minutes ago and I thought it was great. Thanks, Anthony for highlighting it.
There is no place to escape this debate, no place the cockroaches will not infest and corrupt and therefore, we are ALL of us obligated to take up arms against those those who spit in the eye of truth and reason… Well said.
Thanks for posting this, Anthony.
Richard – “just my humble opinion” – don’t think so! Just one opinion in thousands is more like it.
Richard @11:04
Watts Up With That?
Commentary on puzzling things in life, nature, science, weather, climate change, technology and recent news by Anthony Watts.
Snow today in the Canadian Rockies. I am sure glad the mountains are not
over crowded with people.
Most of our polution from heat to air and water is done in the cities.
Cockroaches are hard to eliminate.
I think the Surface Stations Website should be updated at least annually. Only a couple of days to go.
REPLY: Big update being planned just prior to the release of our paper. After having NCDC “borrow” our own work before it was even done, against my objections, I’m not going to give them anything to build on further until the paper is out. -A
As a kid, I was baffled as to how Lysenko could prevailo; now I understand.
Richard says:
July 15, 2010 at 11:04 am
His blog, his rules. Alexander lives in the Rockies, perhaps a Galt’s Gulch can be started there!
The comments of Alexander Feht may not speak to everyone, but they certainly speak to me. I like his metaphor and understand how he is feeling.
Something is happening out there and it is making me feel very uncomfortable and more importantly, “impotent”
Jefferson said something to the extent that liberty demands eternal vigilance. He understood cockroaches too.
Very nice comment. I really liked the feel of it. Powerful, but understated. Like very good literature. Quoting the movie Galaxy Quest: “Never give up! Never surrender!”
Sobering thoughts from Alexander.l
The last few years I have been wondering if we have hit the high point of western civilisation with regards to freedoms, health, wealth, individuality and the ability to savour new experiences through travel. The world seems to be crowding in on all the things we have taken for granted for the last few decades and the golden age seems to be passing.
tonyb
Mr Feht does us all a great service by reminding us what life can be like under totalitarian regimes. And, yes, we’ll be going that way ourseves if we’re not really careful.
Thanks for elevating Alexander Feht’s powerful comment to a full post.
It’s all the more chilling when you realize that there is an entire generation of Americans for whom the Soviet Union is just a paragraph in their school history books.
And by the way, the cockroaches are not just on the coasts. There are plenty in Chicago, though some have joined their colleagues in Washington, DC.
/Mr Lynn
Albert Einstein said:
“Two things are infinite – the Universe and human stupidity. And I am not so sure about the former.”
Good comment.
Great idea, Anthony, and a great comment from Alexander to kick it off. Given the traffic WUWT generates and the number of comments posted every day, let alone every week, it’s good to have a little gem plucked out of the torrent. Perhaps a link back to original post where the quote came from to put it in context?