The ANU “Climate scientists get death threats” story fabrication continues to unravel. Again, paging David Appell and Nick Stokes, your second helping of crow pie is served. And Mr. Appell, while you are eating that pie, maybe you’ll find the personal integrity to apologize for bringing my mother into your fantasy inflamed beyond all reason. (Update: apparently not) I’ll remind you of this writing on your blog:
Yes, except Mr. Appell’s viewpoint is the absurdity here, now even more so today.
The Telegraph’s Tim Blair reports that after a ruling last week that 10 of the 11 emails contained no death threats at all, and the 11 was a secondhand account of a dinner conversation on Kangaroo culling, verified as “not a death threat” by the person in the conversation, the story looks even sillier than before:
Retired Canberra public servant John Coochey attended a dinner two years ago at the Australian National University during a “deliberative democracy” project on climate change.
At the dinner, Coochey – a global warming sceptic – enjoyed a friendly discussion with fellow attendees, one of whom was aware that Coochey is involved in the ACT’s annual kangaroo cull. Asked how he’d fared in a recent culling licence test, Coochey proudly presented his licence as evidence that he had passed.
Conversation then moved on to how much better kangaroo might have been compared to the ANU’s food. All very unremarkable, as was the climate change project. Coochey didn’t bother attending subsequent days.
So Coochey was more than a little surprised to discover last week that he is now accused of issuing a terrifying death threat to climate scientists.
But the line that deserves the QOTW award is this:
As a bemused Coochey points out, if these people can’t get a simple conversation right, why should we trust them on complicated matters like global warming?
On a related note, Simon at Australian Climate Madness reports that another eyewitness has come forward and describes why Coochey didn’t bother to attend any more of the conference:
I was the other sceptic who left on the first day – the “stressed” one. You might have seen my comments at Catallaxy, Bishop Hill and Andrew Bolt on this. In case you haven’t this is what I said:
“I was the first sceptic referred to in the updates – the one that was “stressed”. That is a correct description. What I was stressed about was the incredibly manipulative way in which the so-called “forum” was conducted.
For example, Messrs Steffen and his team delivered presentations on various aspects of climate change. We were not allowed to ask questions, or to challenge the multifarious false statements made. Instead, we broke out into groups, with the idea that a group could ask a question. Of course, each group was dominated by “warmists”, and the lone sceptic in each group was a) abused, b) derided, c) not listened to.
The result was that Steffen and co were presented with soft questions that were based largely on ill-informed views, convenient to the organisers.
It is true that I was feeling stressed. But the reason was because while this was billed as an open-ranging discussion, in fact it was a tightly choreographed, manipulative discussion designed to capture an outcome favourable to the warmists. In no way was it a fair discussion.
All this soon became clear to me, and it was evident to me that it was fruitless and pointless to stay. I explained my issue to the organiser, and then left.
I met John Coochey at the forum. He is a knowledgeable and capable person, and I trust his account of the events relating to his gun license.
In fact, one of the aspects that I was annoyed about was that the forum had been billed as a “Citizen’s Jury” which implied that there would be opportunity for the “jury” to hear both sides, to cross-examine witnesses etc. Instead it was a tightly choreographed, controlled presentation of weak arguments from one side, with no opportunity (effectively) to ask questions.
Simon has much more here
Andrew Bolt weighs in:
Column – The terrible ‘death threats” that weren’t
Andrew Bolt May 14 2012 (9:03am)
IT was just too convenient, which is why some of us smelled a rat the day the story broke. It was June last year, and here’s the start of a Canberra Times story that went around the world.
“Australia’s leading climate change scientists are being targeted by a vicious, unrelenting email campaign that has resulted in police investigations of death threats.
“The Australian National University has confirmed it moved several high-profile climate scientists, economists and policy researchers into more secure buildings following explicit threats to their personal safety.”
We were told terrified ANU scientists had to strip their names from their office doors, turn down meetings unless accompanied and beef up their home security.
But it was weird. None of these “death threats” were detailed, yet Labor politicians, Greens, activist scientists and their media sympathisers flew instantly into synchronised hysteria.
(Register free to read full story.)
UPDATE: Some readers asked about wanting to see the emails, and they are excerpted and discussed along with links here and you can get the documents here
UPDATE2: David Appell responds (it was those mean bullies that won’t listen to me!). Laughable, especially since he can’t bring himself to link to the latest revelations which proves his reasoning faulty. Instead, he again posts up the now discredited 11th email as if it were proof and an unrelated publicity stunt video by a Lyndon Larouche supporter who recorded a propaganda piece just a couple of hours after being rightly tossed out on his ear. Appell is unable to assimilate this new information on “Roogate” now making its way around the press of Australia. And this guy writes for science magazines?
Maybe I’ll have to have that crow pie delivered. Would that be considered a death threat?
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
These people never learn, 10:10. We know who you are, we know where you live, we be many and you be few.
Just to name two although I will be fare and say these where not death threats, just threats.
Lying, cheating, underhanded bunch of miscreants you want to know why I’m a denier (Hope you don’t mind Anthony), it’s sh*t like this.
I smelt a rat as soon as it became known that the alleged threats hadn’t been reported to the Police. That fact alone should have been a warning flag to a competent journalist.
Roogate.
The gift to the skeptic community that just keeps on giving.
The original issue that brought all of this to light was of course the absurdly inflated claims of danger to scientists. Just like AGW, its all done “for the cause.”
Reading about this “deliberative democracy” project is extremely disturbing. The goal appears to be to find out ways in which to socially manipulate the message of global warming.
Seems to me, from what I have read at least, that they were setting up a social “test bed” to try different messaging and techniques to persuade skeptics to convert.
This needs to be looked into. Who set this up, who paid for the “study”, who is behind this? Are there other “deliberative democracy” projects like this going on in any other countries?
Sounds like “manipulative democracy”, not “deliberative democracy.” Scary stuff indeed.
Nick Stokes is economical with the truth. Why not cast him off? His dishonesty and lack of moral fibre is cause enough.
I detect a note of “schadenfroid” — which, since I just made it up, I’ll define as taking satisfaction in seeing cold water thrown on someone’s needless hysterics…
But the reason was because while this was billed as an open-ranging discussion, in fact it was a tightly choreographed, manipulative discussion designed to capture an outcome favourable to the warmists. In no way was it a fair discussion.
All this soon became clear to me, and it was evident to me that it was fruitless and pointless to stay. I explained my issue to the organiser, and then left.
It sounds like the alarmists behaved in the real world at this meeting the same way they behave online at their blogs: grandiose proclamations about how they are providing open forums for scientific inquiry which contrast starkly against the grubby reality that they tightly control all topics of discussion, strictly censor dissenting opinions, and do their best to drive away anyone who persistently questions the orthodoxy.
And as we’ve seen with the ANU death threat fantasy (and Appell, Stokes, etc.), anyone who does stick around to engage them despite the abuse and obstacles is then slanderously painted as dangerous or deranged.
Toshinmack is a believer, the absurdity is their minds can’t be changed.
Obviously they misheard “Culling Roos” for “Culling Youse”. Come to think of it, not a bad idea.
When are these idiots ever going to learn that there is an absolute truth in the old adage “You can fool some of the people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time”?
The whole AGW alarmism “scene” seeme to be unravelling at an increasing speed.
I for one suspect that the main members of “the team” are hanging on in there hoping that they can get to retirement age rather than being pushed.
In this afternoon’s ABC Radio National’s edition of The World Today…(which in spite of the fact that everyone in Australia is piling on extra sweaters to keep warm, insisted on discussing plans for Killer Heatwaves!) there was a clear re-iteration of the Death Threats to Climate Scientists story. The speaker, who’s name I did not catch even went on to say that following discussions with University Security and Police that the Climate ‘institute’ or ‘department’ had been moved lock stock and barrel to a more ‘secure’ location.
The ABC has accepted Gov money (PM Kevin Rudd’s $250m and more recently the $250m contract to run the Australian Asian TV satellite service). With the Carbon Tax coming, the economy tanking, and the chilliest winter for many years on the horizon they are squealing loud and long, howling, baying, stomping and shouting the Warmist message…talk about King Canute trying to turn back the tide!
Absolutely appalling behaviour of the ANU VC and the sycophantic academics … heads should roll ! Lying and cheating is the practise of our Labor minority government but should not be tolerated in our academia.
We’ve been covering this one over the weekend here too:
http://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2012/05/11/tony-thomas-grossly-graphic-gun-play-in-goulburn/
I’ve been having fun winding up the warmies on Deltoid too. 🙂
The alarmists really want there to be issues. They want there to be death threats. They would have the justification then to change laws, make “denial” illegal (or at least “treatable”), ban gatherings of sceptics in any number greater than three or four, seize printed and unprinted works that are “anti-science” and generally ride roughshod over anyone who objects to their totalitarianism.
It must really rile them that we’re so polite. 🙂
It gets even better. We now have TV adverts here in Australia informing people about their compensation for the approaching Carbon Tax without mentioning the Carbon Tax. It has become that toxic for the government.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/shhhdont-mention-the-carbon-tax-governments-compo-ads-omit-mention-of-the-measure/story-e6frg6xf-1226355024602
Unfortunately it’s behind a paywall. But the headline says it all…
I blame Greenpeace. Though to environmental activists it is probably difficult to distiguish between a cagw scientist and a kangaroo :o)
“MORE kangaroos should be slaughtered and eaten to help save the world from global warming, environmental activists say………..The eat roo recommendation is contained in a report, Paths to a Low-Carbon Future, commissioned by Greenpeace…….”
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/eat-a-roo-save-the-world/story-e6frf7l6-1111114612144
the gillard gov,t is trying everything to stay in gov,t in australia we have a problem with a MP who is in a union fraud case. and I think they are using Tim Flannery,s speach about whow we are going to be fried next summer and death rate will go up and there will be more violence in sydney. this is the same ratbags who say there are death threats to scientists , the same gillard gov,t is bringing a cabon tax in a australia starting at $25 a ton as of 6/1/2012 . ? what can we do to stop this fraud please send emails to gillard and her cronies the facts about the global warming fraud
“Conversation then moved on to how much better kangaroo might have been compared to the ANU’s food.”
One of our secret vices here in Australia is we eat our coat of arms. Although I personally find kangaroo somewhat metallic and emu tasty but chewy.
Simon says above “What I was stressed about was the incredibly manipulative way in which the so-called “forum” was conducted.” What he then describes sounds like a pretty standard case of the Delphi technique, which is a standard methodology in global power coup circles for manufacturing a predetermined “consensus” on controversial topics. There’s a fair outline of it here, and you’ll be surprised how often you see it in operation wherever stupid or wrong policies “need” to be forced through informed opposition.
Death threats are like AGW theory – impossible to falsify – except in this case
I remember reading about this “citizens jury” tactic on one of the leftist strategy sites. It was very detailed, and instructed leftists to break the audience down into groups and marginalize the rational thinkers, so they would start to wonder if their own beliefs were faulty. A quick glance around the net didn’t find it, but I’ll look again.
Be wary of these sorts of affairs, they ARE tightly choreographed and done intentionally, all over the world, regularly.
The left are truly despicable. We need to establish a strategy to deal with this manipulative, dishonest tactic.
Ally E. says:
May 14, 2012 at 1:42 am
It must really rile them that we’re so polite. 🙂
Just don’t get us angry. They wouldn’t like us when we’re angry.
Oh. Wait…
Shevva says:
May 14, 2012 at 12:14 am
These people never learn, 10:10. We know who you are, we know where you live, we be many and you be few.
—————————————————————–
That was GreenPiss not the other Morons, but it’s the same difference.
Bill Tuttle says:
May 14, 2012 at 3:21 am
Ally E. says:
May 14, 2012 at 1:42 am
It must really rile them that we’re so polite. 🙂
Just don’t get us angry. They wouldn’t like us when we’re angry.
Oh. Wait…
==========================================================================
So what’s your point here?
There is an interesting irony to these and many other behavioral revelations ascribed to warmists and to the left in general. A major social initiative underway in many North American communities and media involves the issue of adolescent bullying. It is said to be a rampant and at “unprecedented” levels. It does have tragically serious outcomes at times.
But what is bullying? Its the forced will of others being pushed on susceptibles for the purpose of position, favour, prestige or power… In short, its the expression of the entitlement manifesto that an entire couple of generations have assumed to be their birthright. The kids have learned it, been taught it, by the temper tantrums of their parents. It’s as if an entire generation of parents never grew out of the “terrible twos”.
“Occupy” movements, uncritical “green” movements, shameless, unethical scientists, Oedipus-infected politicians and Messianic bureaucrats – all are symptoms of a generation that never grew up -never had to grow up. The Euro-mess and the Obama White House are the cathedrals of homage to a generational failure to mature. In an age of unparalleled access to knowledge and opportunity to genuinely reflect, learn and grow, we’ve never been more stupid. .