People send me stuff.
Yesterday Skeptical Science owner John Cook announced to the world that he thought Willis’s open letter to the new editor of Science was “creepy” and “sexist”.
As is typical with the Skeptical Science kidz, it’s just projection. How much? You have no idea. But it turns out that when you scratch the surface of the SkS Forum, where the principals and moderators talk amongst themselves (seemingly unaware of others watching) you discover what creepy really is. For a supposed site about “climate science” it sure does look a lot like “high school climate science”.
Get a load of the pictures from the SkS forum website sent to me today. A friend of WUWT writes:
(Note: I’m leaving the author of this email private, lest he become another Photoshop victim. Note that all the links are in the open, there’s no hack or mole action going on here. BTW, each word highlighted below is a separate link to an image. – Anthony)
I found something I thought you might be interested in while looking to see what is publicly viewable on the new SkS forum’s website (www.sksforum.org). Little is, but there happens to be a viewable images directory that has a subdirectory, [http://www.sksforum.org/images/user_uploaded]. This directory has some… interesting images.
One [http://www.sksforum.org/images/user_uploaded/WeAreSkeptics.jpg] has several the heads of several skeptics photoshopped onto people from a movie about the 300 Spartans (300, perhaps?). I assume it was an attempt at humorously painting skeptics as few in number and dogmatic.
But the most interesting ones defy explanation at the moment. There are a number of images where the head of Dana Nuccitelli or John Cook appear to have been photoshopped onto images of [http://www.sksforum.org/images/user_uploaded/herrscooterboy.jpg]
[http://www.sksforum.org/images/user_uploaded/herrtankboy2.jpg]
It’s possible these images were taken from somewhere else and uploaded, but that seems unlikely as a couple of them show signs of further photoshopping done to improve them. To see what I mean, compare this image to this one.
Combined with the fact there are a number of similarly photoshopped images done to flatter Nuccitelli, it seems almost certain SkS members have photoshopped images of SkS members as Nazi soldiers. I can’t think of a single sensible reason they would do that.
I don’t think they dream of being Nazis, and I can’t imagine it was particularly fun to make those images. It’s possible they made these with the idea of a false flag operation in mind, but that seems ridiculous. It’s not more absurd than Peter Gleick’s behavior was, but it’s hard to believe anyone would consider doing that (especially on a forum which has been exposed once before).
[NOTE: Brandon Shollenberger decided that he didn’t care that his name was attached to the above, hence this update. – Anthony]
You have to wonder what motivates them to take the time do things like this, especially when they claim that global warming is accelerating, and there is precious little time left before we all roast.
SkS Kidz will be kids I suppose.
I haven’t looked this good since high school:
L-R: Watts, Monckton, Delingpole.
=================================================================
UPDATE: 10:35 PDT About three hours later It seems that somebody at SkS has been embarrassed that they’ve been caught out, and they have comically simply moved the “user_uploaded” folder to one with a seemingly random (Ric Werme says: “Hey, a11g0n3 is leet-speak for allgone. Oh Lord, there be idiots over there.”) name: [http://www.sksforum.org//images/a11g0n3/]
Of course that breaks all the links in the story above.
Only problem is, it’s still open to the public there. All images are still visible: [http://www.sksforum.org//images/a11g0n3/]
Surely they know that the Internet has a permanent memory and all these images still exist elsewhere in folders that people have scraped from the original by now?
Amateur hour cover up tactics. – Anthony
UPDATE2: 11:07AM PDT It seems that they’ve taken down the “leet speak” folder as well, no matter, they still all exist in many places, and I’ll add a gallery shortly. -Anthony
UPDATE3: 11:19AM PDT here is a few of the images referenced above in the story and in comments. I also have a screen cap of the original folder listing at SkS which I’ll upload tonight when I get home.
UPDATE4: 5:31PM PDT, As promised earlier in UPDATE3 here is a PDF capture of the file listing from the original SkS forum snapped at 829AM PDT today.
Index of _images_user_uploaded (PDF)
=============================================================
Related articles
- SkepticalScience goes Godwin-Nazi or something (joannenova.com.au)
- LOL! ‘Mad Haxor Skillz’ Godwinize ‘Skeptical Science’ (wattsupwiththat.com)
Eschenbach’s open letter may be creepy and sexist by a politically incorrect definition but it is at the writers discretion to provide the impact that he feels necessary and Willis is very good at that. I routinely tire of the “tried and true” formulas for this kind of effort and wish that more editorials would follow in his footsteps as after all variety is the spice of life. It’s a real shame that so many have the appearance of embarrassment from such a successful emotive effort. I can only say that when I see Willis put something into words, that I can’t stop reading until I am finished. The true sign of an original and inspirational author.
For those claiming “German, not Nazi”. The Uniform used for Cook’s image has a badge on the left breast pocket: that was where the Nazi party membership badge was worn.
I am Sparta!!
To me this is not a big deal.
Each side does it. For instance the Hitler’s last days movie “Downfall”. A famous meme – w 100s of parodies. I think I have seen 3 or 4 where warmists are mocked as Hitler.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not a relativist – I don’t think the humor works equally.
plus Monkton’s got some serious abs there. Wow! I never knew he was so studly.
I haven’t read all 170+ comments, so apologies if someone already mentioned this.
It seems that the original abbreviation for SkS is more appropriate than we thought. Megalomania, narcissism, and brainwashing seem the order of the day.
At least one of the female commenters here did, and not just female. That part didn’t bother me so much (although I got their point). I certainly thought it was hastily written and overly emotional and personal.
And several people here thought that.
John Cook,
If you want creepy read your own ‘Fury’ paper plus the ‘Moon’ paper it was based on. Willis’s open letter (which I thought was just representative American persona at large) does not register on the creepy scale comparatively.
John Cook, please come play outside with us. We guarantee enlightenment.
John
Jimbo Aug 6 8:28 am
“Skeptical Science or SS for short”
Haha — rolling on the floor
Eugene WR Gallun
SkS is a hang out for Napoleon Dynamite types. People who can kill you in 101 different ways with their bare hands – they got the list on the internet. Also see Gareth on The Office.
Nonsense.
I couldn’t care less if a guy asks a girl back to his place to see his etchings, as long as he’s willing to take no for an answer. However, combining a harsh series of criticisms with compliments about someone’s appearance is a bit odd and, at a minimum, very predictably open to misinterpretation.
Would a woman (or man for that matter) have criticised Einstein’s scientific understandings and biases in a public letter and in it comment about how good looking he is? How “Alpha” he is, having hung out with Marilyn Monroe and all?
I mean, she could do that, but it would appear unprofessional and beg the question of what that was about, wouldn’t it?
Christoff Dollis;
Would a woman (or man for that matter) have criticised Einstein’s scientific understandings and biases in a public letter and in it comment about how good looking he is?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Oh gimme a break. Men are genetically programmed to NOT piss women off. The more attractive they are, the stronger the genetic imperative. That includes not telling them they are wrong, even when they ARE wrong. Which was Willis’ point, politically incorrect or not, poorly worded or not.
I do not suffer from this particular malady. 😉
However, somehow you missed my point. It had nothing to do with how badly worded (and unedited) the open letter might have been. My point was about the combination of harsh insults in an open letter about science with compliments on someone’s appearance.
Believe me, I also do not suffer from the malady of reticence in mentioning to a lady what I enjoy about her appearance if the mood hits me. I just can’t see working it into this type of letter.
I’m sure I could write an open letter intended to a wide audience filled with things I don’t like about Debbie Wasserman Schultz or Sarah Palin. But if I added the post script, “P.S. You’re hot,” it wouldn’t really support my broader message, now would it?
It also depends where you say it. For the record, I think both women above are fine looking. But this is just a random comment on a blog as opposed to a headlining article on the world’s most-read climate website. And I’m not actually combining harsh critique with commentary on their hair.
this is the same John Cook who swallowed the Alene Composta hoax, hook, line and sinker (along with fellow genius Stephan Lewandowsky). You don’t need too many brains to be a warmist.
start here: http://verdanthopes.blogspot.com/2011/03/tomorrow-belongs-to-us.html
There was absolutely nothing wrong with Wllis writing – “you are extremely well educated, strong, strikingly good looking, and a wickedly-smart woman by all accounts ”
The only creepy aspect is how some prudes are attempting to twist it into a “Casus Belli”
I’m willing to donate $10 so we can send smelling salts to Lauren R., John Cook and Christoph.
Very professional. Totally par for the course in scientific discourse especially when criticising someone.
/sarc
Even if not sexist, it’s incredibly condescending. In much the same way that criticising a male scientist in an open letter and complimenting his biceps and quad development would be.
OK, that is a fair counterpoint.
[snip]
Well I personally agree with you about those two letters being a perfect acronym for those knuckleheads. But it should be made clear that Anthony long ago decided to NOT allow that here in the comments, and it is his website operated under his name, and that’s good enough for me. I’ll use that term at other sites but not here in deference to him since it is his site and reputation he needs to protect.
In hindsight it looks like he was correct in that decision because of the tendency for so many non-critical thinkers to associate the comments with the site itself as if it is an extension of the beliefs of the site owner. That is fallacious thinking, shallow to the core and in fact is doubly painful because since Anthony does not use that two-letter abbreviation himself he has gone way above and beyond the call of duty to keep the comments clean by frowning upon it. In effect he has laid a trap for them and they walked right into it associating top him something he definitely does not support.
If the climate kooks at SkS really want to know what’s in the mind of commenters everywhere all they need to do is stop censoring their own forums and simply ask for critical comments of what we think of them.
[snip -agreeing with you and completing previous snip above – Anthony]
Uncalled for.
Sticking to dry technical debate in serious conversations is important. Willis added color commentary to his serious letter, thus harming its tone in my opinion. But when photoshopping or cartooning is the name of the game, all bets are off. That includes me. This tiny Irish in-denial nerd wants a tall, stacked, small waisted Rachael Welsh body. If that kind of fun makes me sexist, gimme a card so I can get into the club.
Pamela Gray says:
August 6, 2013 at 9:29 pm
> If that kind of fun makes me sexist, gimme a card so I can get into the club.
You don’t need a card to get into our club!
arthur4563 says: “Not to be picky, but “Nazi soldiers” is not correct…Generally the ordinary German soldiers despised the Waffen SS soldiers, and that included non-Waffen German generals.”
True, Arthur. The German armed forces ordinarily used the military salute, as opposed to the Nazi “Heil Five” version. (There were later exceptions at some formal occasions.) Here’s a picture of the captain of the Graf Spee, Hans Langsdorff, attending the on-shore funeral of crew members killed in the battle. Note his salute, the sour expression on the Nazi behind him, and the priests giving the full Nazi salute!
http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/germany/photos/cruisers/admiral_graf_spee/crew/hans_langsdorff/1939_12_15_funeral_for_crew_montevideo_neu.jpg
Here is Admiral Günther Lütjens giving the big AH a military salute to his face in public:
http://www.bismarck-class.dk/forum_images/luetjens_hitler_may_5_bismarck.jpg
The inappropriate choice of words was a setup for the take down that followed. He lectured her saying her attributes could doom her to the mushroom syndrome where she is kept in the dark and fed night soil by those she depends on for information, and that she may suffer this completely unaware. Short of calling her a ditsy airhead blond and making a bobble head “ding dong” motion but not by much.
The offense was that Willis presumed she needed to be told any of this by a south seas islander scuba-diving, ex-cowboy, yachting fisherman turned self-taught climate wonk with millions of page hits to attest to his writing prowess and popularity. I imagine him making big eyes, talking slowly like Al Gore, and making air quotes with his fingers as described in another thread had this exchange taken place mano a mano. And rather than backing off, he’s back hoeing, digging deeper, and growing the circle of offended ladies as he goes. He’s Uncle Bob when he’s challenged. That’s not going to work out well in the long run but he doesn’t care and I don’t care. And what the hell what all that stereotyping about his Irish wife? He would flat fail any corporate behavioral guidelines I’ve lived with for the last 40 years. Casus belli? Hardly, but inappropriate? Oh hell yes. There is another story about what happens when you give a cowboy enough rope…
Christoff Dollis;
I do not suffer from this particular malady. 😉
>>>>>>>>>
Yeah right. Either you are lying to yourself or (no offense intended) you are coming out of the closet. Men are what evolution has made us.