UPDATE: Joe Romm, perhaps fearing he’d be drawn into a defamation lawsuit with Laden for not checking to see if Laden’s claims were true has made a rare update to ClimateProgress in my favor. See below.
UPDATE2: Reader poll on the question “should I sue the pants off Greg Laden?”
Harsh title – I know, but justified by Mr. Laden’s actions. I could ignore him, but people like him need to be called out when they do things like this.
Here’s a screencap of a “science blogs” post made by Mr. Laden, who is no stranger to shooting his mouth off in non factual ways that get him in trouble, as Roger Tattersall (aka Tallbloke) can testify to from another Laden episode last year where Laden was forced to remove untrue and libelous statements he made. Laden’s original post about Tattersall (with all the angry unedited rhetoric) is here.
You can read the rest of his post here.
Note how Laden frames the screen cap, and of course does not provide a link to the original story (lest his readers are able to get the full story instead of his spin on it). He then goes on to say:
Heh, he was so raging mad when he wrote that he couldn’t even spell denialist correctly, or even spell the name of this blog correctly even though he has a screen cap to guide him. He claims I “wasn’t equipped to recognize this science as bogus”. Well, I found it odd, but also interesting, and as Willis Eschenbach pointed out in comments:
I don’t agree with those saying it should not be posted. In my experience, there’s no faster way to separate wheat from chaff than to expose it to the unblinking eye of the populi on the web …
Unlike Mr. Laden (who gives the impression he’s an expert in everything), I’ve never claimed to be an expert in meteors or diatoms. So, I put it up for discussion. I also put several caveats in the story clearly showing my doubts, including the possibility that the Earthly diatoms hitched a ride on a tektite, but Mr. Laden won’t show you that, I will.
You see, it’s all part of a purposely orchestrated lie by Mr. Laden. If Mr. Laden hadn’t been so caught up in his hate, and made just an ever so slightly larger screen cap, this is what his readers would have seen from the story:
In case the print is too small, here’s the full paragraph (which Laden cut off):
This looks to be a huge story, the first evidence of extraterrestrial life, if it holds up. I would remind readers that “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence“. This needs to be confirmed by others in the science community before it can be taken seriously.
I don’t know how I could have made the caveat any clearer. Anyone not blinded by hate can see that in my very first paragraph, in red even.
Of course, Laden cuts off the most important part of the caveat and without an immediate link to the story, the weak minded or members of the his choir of haters have no single click way to check his claim, but that is what he is counting on.
And of course, Joe Romm also picks up the story from Laden, to spread the lie and hate. Romm might have been duped by Laden though and didn’t check, we’ll see.
Laden also says:
It is very fun to read the comments. I provided a comment that will not be printed because Watts never prints my comments, but I’ve screen captured it for you (it is below).
Mr. Laden, your comment appeared, approved well before you wrote this hateful piece, as shown below between two other comments:
A direct link to Laden’s published comment is here, read for yourselves.
As for the “never” part of Laden’s claim about his comments appearing, here they are:
His first two comments were snipped by moderators for not following the WUWT site policy, his others, (which didn’t contain hateful words) were published, including the comment on the meteor story he falsely claims never appeared.
Mr. Laden, you are a liar who published this story knowing full well what you were doing.
What you were doing was being a hater, not a scientist. Being a hater is part of Mr. Laden’s site policy, which incredibly, he spells out for all to see. Scroll down to “commenting policy”.
What Laden did here is a perfect example of why the general public is losing faith in climate science; this mix of condescension, censorship, incomplete presentation, misdirection, and overt hatred on display is exactly why reasonable people recoil and lose faith in the climate claims being made, which in some cases, can be just as dubious as diatoms on meteors.
The difference between myself and Mr. Laden is that WUWT isn’t afraid to have topics for discussion that might be proven wrong, and in the process, people learn something. I’m also not afraid to admit I’m not an expert on meteors or diatoms, and to ask my readers (who might be) what they think while at the same time making it clear that I had serious doubts about the claim.
If people like Laden ruled science, we’d never see any advances from serendipity or other odd moments where the scientist observes something unexpected and says to him/herself “hmmm, that’s odd”, because they’d be shouted down as “bogus” without even a discussion.
UPDATE: Joe Romm, responding to my email to him, has offered the closest thing he can to a walkback on the lie (of which he was also a victim) by Laden. He’s posted this on the Climate progress story by Laden smearing me. He sounds like Fox News “we report, you decide”.
JR UPDATE: Watts feels he was quoted out of context, that he put in appropriate caveats. His response is here. Greg Laden replies here. You decide.
In other news, in his latest childish rant, Mr. Laden wants his readers to think that I’m a child hater (even though I have two grade school aged children of my own).
It is against my blog policy to provide links to science denialist sites. It would be unethical for me to do that on a regular basis because it would enhance the google juice of pseudoscience. I’ve got children. I want them to grow up in a better world, not the world that Anthony Watts wants them to grow up in. So, no.
Another lie by Greg Laden. I never get how extremists like Laden think they somehow can be the only people that care about children’s future. I want a better future for my children to, just not the same one Mr. Laden envisions. As these commenters put it:
Jimmy Haigh says:
January 16, 2013 at 10:33 pm
“Laden clearly has issues…”
Issues? He’s got an entire subscription.
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As expected my comment disappeared and when i wanted to raise this at the site it seems my comments are no longer accepted. poor show when you debating tactic is to shove your fingers in your ears.
Laden with lard, if you ask me…..
Laden is slipping from wananbe to neverwuzzer with barely a ripple. The list of AGW extremists joining the neverwuzzer list is growing pretty long.
To speak only half of the truth is to give life to a lie.
Golly,
You know what this means:
“It is very fun to read the comments. I provided a comment that will not be printed because Watts never prints my comments,”
That means that Laden is a regular reader of WUWT!
He enjoys reading the comments, and has commented many times. Golly.
So think he would like a calendar with “To Our Regular Readers” on the card ?
😉
WOW .. has he ever got a HO for ‘slack-jawed yokels from Texas and West Virginia’!
Good on ya Greg .. come join us for target practice some day when you can make time, we be glad to have ya! Wink wink. Nod nod.
One claim to fame for me (which probably only makes me look sad…) is that I have been blocked off Mr Laden’s site, when I was only trying to answer a question he asked me. Odd really, as I am as skilful at debating as a hippo is at threading a needle.
He also seems to be an enthusiastic supporter of the dreadful talk that the “philosopher” Kathleen Dean Moore gave at the Nobel Conference 48, where she championed murder for her cause – and was applauded rapturously!
One should not forget the number 1 rule in participating in ANY forum, including but not limited to broadcast ‘shows’, online forums, hosted events etc., and in particular, in the presence any ‘parading’, striding or grandstanding (attention-seeking) peacock:
“ The purpose of the [caller, guest, posters] is to make the host look good. ”
.
.
Present company/blog host excepted <wink> …
.
Sorry mods, that last post was from me! (No coffee yet this AM)
And here I just thought it was pure dysfunction (exhibition of classical dysfunctional behavior; for the mathematical types this means no distinct ‘mapping’ of X onto Y via a definable function (a ‘domain to range’ problem) and a random variable/ coefficient/ multiplier added for good measure) on display on the part of any given ‘progressive’ …. every time I see a WH speech or dispatch (via Carney or O) the same thought strikes me …
.
Laden and Romm….. [snips] that just won’t flush.
Isn’t it odd that things seem to have reversed. The anti anything people of the 60’s and early 70’s that wanted freedom from government were on the fringe. Now the thinkers and truth seekers like Anthony, and most here, are on the fringe. The loons on the left oppose so many freedoms that once were assumed. They try to smear any that oppose their agenda. As it’s often said, “What’s up with that”? Keep up the great work Anthony on Watts Up With That.
Betapug says:
January 16, 2013 at 11:50 pm
Greg (“did I mention I went to Harvard?”) Laden at least nails his flag to his masthead:
“Culture as Science-Science as Culture”. The culture is quite green and must have been forgotten, incubating at the back of a dark fridge (was it a Harvard fridge?) for some time.
Lol. As someone who could have gone to Harvard but did not, I find that Mr. Laden’s pomposity confirms me in my choice to stay away. No one who writes about himself the way he does can possibly be taken seriously. And he does not credit to his alma mater with the sort of ranting found on his “about” page.
My view is dont sue. Remember your blog is way over 100 million views and counting. He is not in the same league. You would be doing him a favour by challenging him. Also, the issue deals with extra-terrestrial life and what may well be contamination. This is actally not your focus, Your main focus is climate science and the issues over integrity and science there. People who are encouraging you to sue just want a show. You are way above Greg Laden. Leave him below.
_ says January 18, 2013 at 6:58 am
Good point, and one I should observe – but I do have a stupid name to live up to! Perhaps I’ll change it to Contentious Rat, would that be better?
Hellyah, sue him. False light…I don’t think so; never heard of such a thing, but to sue because your feelings are hurt. Romm’s headline would be, “Watts sues…feelings hurt.”
Actually, I am sure the headline would be far sexier since he is a trained professional.
Sue him because he lied about you and spread the lie. I mean, don’t do it if it any way interferes with your real life in which I am sure you must make time for your kids basketball practice and so forth. Hell, dealing with that Jack-wagon isn’t worth time it takes to make risotto. But these knuckleheads will always take the time to sue, and that’s one way they have built their narrative.
If Anthony hadn’t drawn attention to him on various occasions, Mr Laden’s execrable offerings would be pondered over only by a small gang of the Faithful.
One is clearly torn between humiliating him (showing that picture of him alone is sufficient!) and denying him the oxygen of publicity.
Warmists get things wrong…surely everyone understands that by now!
I’ve got to love this quote. Laden says ” I’ve got children. I want them to grow up in a better world, not the world that Anthony Watts wants them to grow up in.”
So Greg Laden believes a “better world” is one in which he is in control of the “truth”. A world in which Mr. Laden, or like minded people, controls what is seen, read and believed. I’m sure that world seems very safe to Mr. Laden. A nice place to raise his children and keep them safe from the ugly world outside.
Many see what these pushes for “truth” really are. They are no more than very thinly veiled attempts at control. Goebbels said, “He who controls the medium controls the message. He who controls the message controls the masses.” This is exactly what Mr. Laden and people like him are attempting to do. Unfortunately Mr. Laden and his ilk are so blinded by the believed righteousness of their message. So blinded by their hatred of those that don’t believe, they can’t see just how evil their own acts are.
Lets hope the rest of the world wakes up and sees these people for what they truly are.
Greg Laden would love to have what George Orwell put forth in his book “1984”
”Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct; nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record. All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary.”
”And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed-if all records told the same tale-then the lie passed into history and became truth. ‘Who controls the past’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.’”
– George Orwell, 1984, Book 1, Chapter 3
”Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?… Has it ever occurred to your, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now?… The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact, there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking-not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.”
– George Orwell, 1984, Book 1, Chapter 3
The TRUTH really is the enemy of people like Laden, Hansen and Gore.
Listen to your lawyer and check HIS finances before committing to a suit. It will eat you up and you may win but end up with nothing to show for your efforts & time. By all means, go get him if there’s a payoff…otherwise, content yourself with the skewering you’ve already given him!
No! The Algorestas are very very good. Please remember that!!
You are speaking about professional liars. These liars have the
upper hand. The only thing left to do is to ridicule them in public,
incessantly, else Alles ist kaput!!!!.
Surfer Dave
Perth, West Australia
January 18, 2013
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Well Mr Laden, you have conclusively proven how much of a hypocritical liar you are. I tried to submit a comment where I included the full text of Watt’s very clear and obvious caveats about the claims yet you have deliberately chosen to suppress those caveats and my comment. QED, you are a liar and a buffon. BTW, I vote on Watt’s poll to say “Take the high ground and move on” but now that I’ve seen your full blown narcissistic attitude I now earnestly do hope that he sues the pants of you because you fully deserve it.
I guess this is unlikely to be “approved” and once again you will demonstrate your hypocrisy and mendacity since you claim, wrongly, that Watt’s suppresses your comments on his site.
I voted for the ‘Force an apology’ option and my head still thinks that that’s the best action. After reading Laden’s response on his blog that he would go for this choice also (and have a lot of fun in the process) my heart tells me to sue him to kingdom come!
I would still advise caution however. He seems surprisingly unrepentent. Maybe he can afford any expected monetary loss should the suit be taken up and won by yourself. Perhaps the loss of your time in taking this forward may be seen as a positive investment by some although it’s far more likely that he has just totally lost the plot!
Those who are saying Anthony should “take the high ground” and walk away are missing the fact that if he does so, THERE ARE NO CONSEQUENCES for Laden. Why let him and his ilk continue to do and say what they do without fear of reprisal? It doesn’t matter if their audience is 1,000 or 1,000,000 – what matters is they continue to lie, defraud, defame, and spread hate and ignorance, and you say DON’T BOTHER TO STOP THEM?
How is that the “high ground”?
Anthony- the REAL “high ground” here is taking a stand for what’s right. Sue him into oblivion. It’s about time one of these folk finally had some real consequence for their words & actions.
Hah! You wimps – my post wouldn’t even get that far!
His young son’s name is Huxley (as highlighted in his cringeworthy critique of aquatic ape theory). After Aldous, maybe – certainly not Thomas: “… scepticism is the highest of duties; blind faith the one unpardonable sin.”
I am for forcing an apology, rather than feeding the vultures of the legal profession with little chance of any recompense but a chance of high cost, financial and emotional, to yourself.
I usually ignore people like this but that is just me.