LA Times invokes Godwins Law, cites ‘Mein Kampf’ to attack Heartland Institute

From JunkScience.com LATimes cites ‘Mein Kampf’ to attack Heartland

The Los Angeles Times invokes der Führer to attack Heartland.

The Los Angeles Times editorializes:

Leaked documents from the Heartland Institute in Chicago, one of many nonprofits that spread disinformation about climate science in hopes of stalling government action to combat global warming, reveal that the organization is working on a curriculum for public schools that casts doubt on the work of climatologists worldwide. Heartland officials say one of the documents was a fake, but the curriculum plans were reportedly discussed in more than one. According to the New York Times, the curriculum would claim, among other things, that “whether humans are changing the climate is a major scientific controversy.”

That is a lie so big that, to quote from “Mein Kampf,” it would be hard for most people to believe that anyone “could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously”…

 

Here’s the story link:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-climate-20120220,0,3564279.story

Now is the time for all good men (and women) to cancel their subscriptions and fire off scathing letters to the editor about this ugly and uncalled for comparision. Most textbooks are written by private companies, and I can tell you that as a former school board member they don’t give you a lot of options since the state now issues “approved” textbook lists that you are only allowed to choose from. Local teachers and school boards can easily reject any materials they don’t want. Approving materials they do want is an uphill battle.

Here’s the feedback page:

http://www.latimes.com/about/mediagroup/la-mediagroup-contactus,0,7698150.htmlstory

h/t to Steve Milloy

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Mike
February 20, 2012 8:35 am

Great editorial. I just taped it to my office door. Thanks.

Luther Wu
February 20, 2012 8:35 am

indoctrination uber alles

February 20, 2012 8:39 am

Michael Mann’s hockey stick graph has been “validated repeatedly”? I can only assume the Los Angeles Times editorial writers aren’t paying any attention to the global warming debate at all.

February 20, 2012 8:40 am

What an incredibly bizarre quote. That Hitler quote was issued to support their claim, not impugn yours. So the LA Times likened themselves to Hitler.

John F. Hultquist
February 20, 2012 8:40 am

Just when you think they can’t get worse — they do!

Nerd
February 20, 2012 8:41 am

That’s pretty pathetic by LA Times…

Nerd
February 20, 2012 8:42 am

http://www.sovietposters.com/
Somebody play with these posters and pull that trick on LA Times!

February 20, 2012 8:43 am

The LA times obviously know things about climate that nobody else knows.
This is an outragious piece of journalism and will backfire on them for sure.

February 20, 2012 8:46 am

The L.A. Times has been on the forefront of climate fear bias for decades. It is a case of don’t bother with the facts just push the alarmist propaganda. The fact that global temperatures have been at a standstill for 15 years when climate models say these temperatures should have been rapidly climbing because of ever rising atmospheric CO2 levels is ignored. All the Times wants people to see is what the flawed models project. This approach by the Times simply and clearly shows their efforts are driven by politics not science.

oeman50
February 20, 2012 8:50 am

So let’s see, we are either “deniers” in comparison to those who deny the Holocaust or we are to accept a description of our activities by the purpetrators of the Holocaust. The irony of it all.
I guess it is good when the LA Times can allow itself to see both sides of an issue /sarc.

February 20, 2012 8:50 am

They quote Hitler to illustrate their case? That’s an original approach, to say the least!
As to the so-called “Godwin’s law” — it is not a law, and it doesn’t exist.
Life is not a game, and history should be remembered.

pat
February 20, 2012 8:53 am

What a delusional. ignorant, piece. I suspect the outline came from Mann himself.

Jimmy
February 20, 2012 8:54 am

“According to the New York Times…”
Let’s see, the “leaked” documents are available all over the web, so the LA Times decides to reference as its source…another news outlet? Now that is what I call quality journalism.

February 20, 2012 8:55 am

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! LA Times going down in flames right along with their ideology manifested in the form of CAGW! Goodbye, you communist Malthusian misanthropists.

Chris B
February 20, 2012 8:59 am

I’m going to read up on PT Barnum’s philosophy of life. Maybe I’ll find some answers on how to cope with so much apparent stupidity in the MSM.
I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I just think that maybe it’s because of our collective preference for style over substance, which results in air heads dominating the media.
But, the medium is the message.( Thanks Marsh.)
So, what’s the excuse for editorial stupidity in the print media. Advertising? TV News Anchor aspirations?
Beats me.

Robert Howden
February 20, 2012 9:00 am

Did you see the picture they use for the editorial? “A section of the ice sheet covering much of Greenland is seen in this 2005 aerial photo.” I didn’t know Greenland was an ocean.

JJ
February 20, 2012 9:00 am

Correction to the WUWT headline: The LA times did not invoke Godwin’s Law – they made themselves a subject of it. The invoked a slur based on the Nazi propaganda methods.
Then they employed them. Twofer!

John West
February 20, 2012 9:01 am

Could it be any more perfect!
When Hitler said that he was referring to what he called “The Big Lie” that Ludendorff was responsible for losing WWI and accused the Jews of being the liars to throw off there own guilt in being responsible for Germany’s troubles. In fact is was Ludendorff that was largely responsible for losing WWI by advocating submarine warfare which helped bring the US into the war and logistical mistakes which caused heavy losses from un-reinforced offensive maneuvers. Therefore, the accusation of the “Big Lie” was the real lie that helped lead Germany down the path of WWII and the Holocaust.
How fitting that the LA Times have cast themselves as the false accuser for political gain.

A physicist
February 20, 2012 9:01 am

The LA Times and the Heartland Institute alike have a duty to “Be First with the Truth“.
It is both legally and literally the case that lawyers and judges do NOT share that same duty to truth … lawyers being duty-bound to their clients (even clients who are guilty), and judges being duty-bound to the law (even laws that are unjust).
That is why a bedrock and constitutionally protected principle of American-style democracy is that lawyers and judges alike are forbidden to control the public dialog.
The Heartland Institute now is seeking to delegate responsibility for truth to its lawyers … and *that* is a decision that reflects seriously bad judgment and a profound dereliction of duty on the part of the Heartland Institute.

John Greenfraud
February 20, 2012 9:02 am

These people are bent. The dog whistle for their cult is worn out (from overuse) and they are desperately seeking approval and acceptance and/or a way out. Some are so heavily invested in AGW, like this author, that they have become progressively more desperate (pun intended). Many “journalists” have indeed used the name-calling hammer so often they are now unable to now recant without getting trampled by the herd from both sides. They are forced by circumstance to do a slow but steady mea culpa. Should provide no small bit of entertainment for the non-AGW crowd. They deserve it and we deserve it, enjoy.

O2BNAZ
February 20, 2012 9:11 am

Anthony,
Why does this surprise you? cAGW-Global warming is not and has never been a scientific movement. It is a fascist-socialist movement. “Science” was an arbitrary irrelevant means to the end. As talented, literate individuals like you take away the means the wretched rhetoric of totalitarian despotism just becomes more apparent; it was always there.

Steve C
February 20, 2012 9:12 am

Hmm. Their link claiming “repeated validation” goes to this Guardian article – which, er, claims “Has it been disproved? Despite all the efforts, no. So far, it has survived the ultimate scientific test of repeated replication.”. Well, you get repeated claims of repeated validation, anyway. The echo chamber at its “best”.
To be fair, I don’t trust anything with “Times” in its name these days.

Urederra
February 20, 2012 9:12 am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law
Just in case somebody is wondering.

Wayne Ward (truthsword)
February 20, 2012 9:13 am

A physicist,
Just to be clear, The United States of America is not a democracy as you improperly stated, it is a republic. The idea that The United States of America is a democracy is something that else that is being falesly impressed upon our children, and apparently someone that is labeled as a physicist….

Schitzree
February 20, 2012 9:14 am

OH, I see what they did there. It’s a Reverse Godwin. If the first person to accuse their opponent of being a Nazi looses the argument, Then the first to accuse THEMSELVES of being Nazis (by quoting ‘Mein Kampf’, for instance) makes their opponent loose.

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