Josh of Cartoons by Josh wrote to me via email today of his latest cartoon about Mike Mann’s book. He writes:
With Mike Mann’s book still getting good coverage in various corners of the media I felt another cartoon was needed. Especially as another Mike, Mike Daisey, gave us such a brilliant quote: “I stand by it as a theatrical work” speaking of his made up story about the conditions at a Chinese factory which makes Apple products ( you can read the whole retraction here).
Mike Mann is not totally happy with all the PR, though, as we know from his Twitter reaction to reviews by Anne Jolis and Miranda Devine. He is probably going to be really teed off when he see this poll on the Daily Kos.
The article’s title is ‘Michael Mann is a Modern Hero and we need to acknowledge that!’. To date around 97% of readers do not agree and think he is either distorting evidence or should be fired from the University. That number sounds like a consensus to me.
And ‘Game of Thrones’? It’s an HBO blockbuster of a series based on George R R Martin’s books ‘A Song of Fire and Ice’. If you haven’t seen the series you might not have the foggiest clue what I am referring to… but, never mind, even the title ‘A Song of Fire and Ice’ couldn’t be more apt. And guess what the show’s slogan is: “Winter is coming”.
The book is currently ranked #3,695 on Amazon.com
Don’t feed the trolls.
Soren Bundgard: Love Mann’s first comment:
“thank you Nancy, it’s great to be hanging out”
Gross understatement
Although Mann is distorting both climate science and the debate about it in the media in the video linked above, I must report that what he says at @ur momisugly 38:50 is “We cannot play by their rules.”
So that would make him a Con Mann?
I guess the trouble with Mike is his ability to convince other scientists, and especially people whose work depend on science being cool and marketable. That’s why he keeps getting sycophantic accolades by the trade associations, together with his pal Gavin, despite the obvious total inability to link up with the wider public.
It’s ivory towers all the way down.
I’ve always thought that the most important thing that we can do to combat Catastrophic Climate Change (which threatens us every one from our pointy little heads to our frosty little piggies) is to fire up our coal-powered computers, running on a network made of substances mined using petroleum & coal, sitting in our houses warmed by coal or gas or oil while snacking on high-quality petroleum byproducts being hawked by a cat in sunglasses (wiping the residue on our pants made in Indonesia), and whine about some mythical sky-god named “FoxNews” who supposedly controls everything in the universe.
That, or flying hundreds of gigantic metal sausages to tropical islands. One of those things is bound to fix the problem, or my name isn’t Steven “Cadillac Escalade” Chu.
Mann’s getting hammered in the comments to his WSJ letter to the Editor. So far, one comment out of twelve support him, and it is a true believer’s whimper to authority.
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For the benefit of the non-hockey fans, the throne is made of hockey sticks, not turkey feathers [although they too, would be appropriate].
The lines are the wrappings of tape.
Heh, same here. Hugh Pepper, check your catechism. It has a use by date.
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Who lives by the stick, dies by the stick.
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Josh,
Great job, as always.
There may be a viewer or two that might miss the significance of the background color; so . . .
There are phrases “in the purple” and “born in the purple.” The royalty of previous generations believed the color purple was meant for them. A room with walls made of a purple rock was used as a birthing room, reserved for the Queen. So, to be “born in the purple’ would mean your mother was Queen when you were born, and, perhaps, an earlier born brother might not have been so born even though he had the same mother. That was an important distinction. The color was achieved in fabrics from use of a dye made from sea snails. Search on the phrase “Tyrian purple” for that.
For the rock, search on “porphyry” and its historical sources and uses. Go to the Saudi Aramco World (magazine) site and in the search box type the word. There are seven results. Pick the one titled “Via Porphyrites” and find the text. At the very bottom is a link to graphics. The second article in the list (Millennia of Murex) is about the dye.
Watching, with agony, the interview with Mann posted by Soren above I was repeatedly struck by the insistence that it’s “them vs. us”, deniers vs. scientists where Mann is a scientist, and anyone who questions him is a denier and NOT a scientist. (Lindzen, Spencer, Christy, …. they may be wrong, but they ARE scientists, and their credibility is most certainly no less than equal to or greater than Mann’s.)
The position taken is akin to a member of one political party getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar, but when the other party demands an audit to prove the wrongdoing, they’re accused of being “anti-business” and not playing by the rules.
Mann does say that they’ve been playing by the rules…. True science doesn’t recognize “rules” in this context, so why would they need to not play by the rules if their “science” is genuine?
Mann’s claim that CO2 is the “big knob” should stand on its own quite easily if it’s true. So far, I don’t think it is. As further insult to his credibility as an actual scientist, there is more and more evidence to suggest that his field of tree rings as temperature proxie is eroding.
“Hugh Pepper says:
March 22, 2012 at 3:56 am
Propaganda, as ruthlessly practiced By Fox News and others, has succeeded in demonizing Dr. Mann.”
These are the words of either a sarcastic wise ass troll, or a propagandist who mistakenly assumes that his readers are as easily hood-winked as he is. If it’s the former, well done sir. If the latter, the accidental irony on display is stunning.
Smokeysaid:
Mann fights tooth and nail to keep any federal grant money from going to skeptical climate scientists.
If grant ‘peer’ review in climatology is via study sections as with NIH it depends on who in the govt. agency is in charge of the sections and who appoints the so-called peers. If the warmistas get into this position, skeptics WILL not get any funding. The warmistas will divvy it out among themselves. Hey, isn’t this what is happening?
Josh,
I Loved the highlighted tree rings in the chair. Tying the “theatrical work” of Mike Daisey to the science of Dr. Mann was genius! I envision mugs, t-shits, etc with this cartoon. Maybe we can have a new survey:
Hockey Stick work by Dr. Mann- Please rate it as to the method used to generate the graph
1) Traditional use of the Scientific Method
2) Post Normal Science Scientific Method
3) Theatrical Work using some tools from 1 and 2)
4) None of the Above
5) Your alternative as to the method:_________________________________
I just added my vote at the Daily Kos. That poll is going to leave a big mark, and deservedly so.
Hugh Pepper says:
March 22, 2012 at 3:56 am
HaHaHaHaHAHAHaHAhaha….. *gasp*…. *chuckle*… *head shake*… Idiot.
I’ve never seen a more verifiable piece of propaganda in my whole 4 years visiting WUWT. I’m extremely glad Pepper is the author.
The only more appropriate place would be for Mann’s work to stand in a pile of coprolites that weren’t quite fossilized.
Oh, and Mann’s claim to be a “scientist” is completely bogus. Real scientists don’t hide their work.
Harold Ambler has it correct. Mann says “we cannot play by their rules”. Nothing evil in that. Stick to what is actually evil in his work – there’s no shortage of it.
Hugh Pepper says:
March 22, 2012 at 3:56 am
Propaganda, as ruthlessly practiced By Fox News and others, has succeeded in demonizing Dr. Mann. His work stands, however, and the conditions he expertly describes, are real. The global temperature is rising and we all need to do something to remedy this problem.Mann, and the legion of practicing climate scientists, have given us the information we need to “fix the problem” and the longer we delay this effort the more expensive and difficult it will be.
No, Mann (and the legion) have not given any information on how to “fix the problem”. They have merely produced a self-serving load of parrot-droppings that sets off a droning recital from the Troll Factor. The solution, oddly alluded to in quotes above, is worse than the problem. It already HAS been expensive and difficult, with no foreseeable positive outcome. You must lead a lonely existence, Hugh. Are you sure you are in the right forum? Maybe contact the Gleickist Legions for tips on how to “fix the problem” of how things just don’t add up in your world.
kim says:
March 22, 2012 at 6:28 am
Who lives by the stick, dies by the stick.
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Brief, but very well said, it speaks volumes. See my comment here…http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/03/22/more-evidence-the-medieval-warm-period-was-global/#comment-931382
Hugh Pepper says:
March 22, 2012 at 3:56 am
Propaganda, as ruthlessly practiced By Fox News and others, has succeeded in demonizing Dr. Mann.”
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Did they really need Fox news? I mean the “team” of scientist that did the reconstuctions did a far better job then Fox news of debasing their own work as seen in the FOIA release of e-mails
Bradley:
“I’m sure you agree–the Mann/Jones GRL paper was truly pathetic and should never have been published. I don’t want to be associated with that 2000 year “reconstruction”.”
Cook:
“I am afraid that Mike is defending something that increasingly cannot be defended. He is investing too much personal stuff in this and not letting the science move ahead.”
Cook goes on at a different point, bashing all the reconstructions and admitting that if they did their best work, they still would know “fuck all” about the past.
Go ahead Hugh, challenge me on this.
Fred’s “con Mann” entry into the lexicon might spur on someone to compose a proposed list of new entries for Webster’s best seller.
We have all seen ‘Mann-made global warming’ Any others come to mind?
How about expressions? Oh, Mann!; Wow, Mann; Mann, don’t you dig it?; The End of Mann; …???
Or Bible verses:
Yet Mann is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward…
Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a Mann full of talk be justified?…
For vain men would be wise, though Mann be born like a wild ass’s colt.–Job
Hugh Pepper says:
“The global temperature is rising and we all need to do something to remedy this problem.”
To which I reply: SFW.
As a great English journalist and playwright (Keith Waterhouse) was wont to say: “Don’t just do something, stand there!!”
Nice one Josh, reminds me of the Henry’s big belly, took some guests around Hampton Court the other day, weather still magnificent.