UPDATE: 2/27 6:30AM PST It seems the person making the attack, Shelley Rose, is part of a climate activist group, see below.
UPDATE: 2/27 2:50PM PST, The ADL Atlanta website has deleted comments on the issue, and has closed the press release to further comments. See below.
Boy, this is ugly, and I hope this boils down to simply an error in judgement by a lower tier administrator because this is like some bizzaro-world episode; on one hand the Anti-Defamation League is coming down against the “…type of comparison diminishes and trivializes the Holocaust.“, while on another they are giving a “get out of jail free card” to the people who have repeatedly done that very thing over several years.
Two telephone calls and two emails today requesting comment from ADL’s Southeast Interim Regional Director Shelly Rose have gone unanswered. She’s aware of my calls. I asked for her directly, gave my name and affiliation, and after a pause on hold her assistant asked if it would be OK to “send you to voice mail”. Ms Rose did provide a copy of the press release below, after I queried the main organization in New York after receiving a tip about this release, but found no evidence of its existence on the ADL Press Center website. The press release below still isn’t on the website as of this writing at 6:15PM EST well after close of business there. All of my requests were done during normal business hours for both the Atlanta and NYC office.
I have to wonder if the main organization is endorsing this press release, or if this is some regional director who went rogue.
Here is the press release.
==============================================================
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Shelley Rose (404) 262-3470 work; 678-938-1399 cell
ADL Condemns Spencer’s Nazi Analogy
February 25, 2014, Atlanta, Georgia … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today denounced remarks by University of Alabama – Huntsville professor Roy Spencer who wrote on his blog that those who refer to him as a climate change “denier” should be called “global warming Nazis” and that they “are supporting policies that will kill far more people than the Nazis ever did — all in the name of what they consider to be a righteous cause.”
He also claims those who advocate for policies to slow global warming are “like the Nazis” in that they are fascist and anti-capitalist. The post is also accompanied by an image of a swastika.
Shelley Rose, ADL Southeast Interim Regional Director issued the following statement:
University of Alabama Professor Roy Spencer’s analogy of proponents of global warming to Nazis is outrageous and deeply offensive. This analogy is just the latest example of a troubling epidemic of comparisons to Hitler and the Holocaust.
It has become too common to use comparisons to the Holocaust and Nazi imagery to attack people with opposing views, whether the issue is global warming, immigration or stem-cell research.
The six million Jewish victims and millions of other victims of Hitler deserve better. Their deaths should not be used for political points or sloganeering. This type of comparison diminishes and trivializes the Holocaust. There is no place for it in civil discussions.
Shelley Rose |Interim Regional Director
Anti-Defamation League | 3490 Piedmont Road; Suite 610 | Atlanta, Georgia 30305
Phone: 404-262-3470 I Fax: 404-262-3548 I Cell: 678-938-1399 I srose@adl.org
ADL website I our blog I facebook I twitter I youtube I pinterest I google+ I linkedin
==============================================================
I queried Ms Rose for a comment on the last paragraph, asking:
Wouldn’t that also apply to the use of “denier” to denigrate people, including Dr. Spencer. whose research has nothing to do with the holocaust or denial of it?
I also asked her to comment on the “green light” as a working title, asking if it was an accurate representation of their position. It was clear to me from the lack of response to two emails and two telephone calls was ” no comment”.
From their website, apparently slurs in major league football rate higher in concern than comparing climate skeptics to holocaust deniers for the purpose of denigration:
ADL Welcomes NFL’s Willingness to Address Hate Speech
The League welcomed reports that the NFL is considering how to discourage the use of offensive slurs during the course of games and said that “the question of how to address offensive speech and the best ways to counter it on playing fields and in locker rooms is an important conversation.”
And that’s why I think this is bizarre. The selective hypocrisy is stunning. I’m hoping the main office in New York will come to their senses and disavow the press release from the “Interim Regional Director”. Surely they must see the ugly conundrum they’ve manufactured for themselves.
Dr. Roy Spencer responds:
Hypocrisy at the Anti-Defamation League?
He asks exactly what I was thinking; where was ADL all these years when such ugly and hateful comparisons were being made:
Ms. Rose, where was your organization when journalists, politicians, and even some scientists, chose to call us skeptics “deniers”?
We don’t deny either “global warming” or “climate change”. Yet, we are called “deniers”. Ms. Rose, do you have any inkling why the term “denier” (which is a lie) might be used against us, rather than the term “skeptic” (which is accurate)? I think you know why.
I’d really like to know how ADL can turn a blind eye the use of “denier” for the purpose of denigration while at the same time calling out a victim of the denigration for fighting back after years of abuse.
There’s also a newspaper article about it:
UAH climate expert Roy Spencer calls critics ‘global warming Nazis’; Anti-Defamation League objects
http://blog.al.com/breaking/2014/02/uah_climate_expert_roy_spencer.html
UPDATE: The PR is now posted on the Atlanta ADL website here
http://atlanta.adl.org/news/adl-condemns-spencers-nazi-analogy/
Comments are allowed there. Be civil if you leave comments please.
The only thing that makes sense to me is that this person simply doesn’t know the history, and committed a terrible error in judgment.
UPDATE2: 2/27 6:30AM PST It seems the person making the attack, Shelly Rose, is part of a climate activist group, see photo and caption.
The caption reads:
Congregations Caring for the Climate – Atlanta, GA
Bill Witherspoon, from Congregation Bet Haverim writes: This was taken Friday evening before Erev Shabbat Services. We had about three times this many for services eventually, but these were the ones who arrived in time for the photo. As part of our second week of the Omer to Honor the Earth, Shelley Rose (third from right, just right of our Torah scrolls) gave the d’var (sermon) on acting with awareness that we all breathe the same air, and Tovah Melaver (second from right) led a breathing meditation.
April 13, 2007
Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stepitup2007/464126698/
You can read all about this organization at http://stepitup2007.org
Of note is the list of “Friends and Allies” which reads like a who’s who in climate activism.
This whole episode makes a lot more sense now.
UPDATE3: 2/27 2:50PM PST, The ADL Atlanta website has deleted many comments on the issue, and has closed the press release to further comments. About an hour ago, I noted 90 comments were posted, now it is down to 50. See below.
Meanwhile I’ve drafted and sent a letter by email and by fax to ADL National Director, ABRAHAM H. FOXMAN asking if ADL plans to comment on the issue, and to ask id they plan to apply their condemnation equally, along with examples of what climate skeptics have been subjected to over the years. I think they simply have been caught unaware in a conundrum created by their Atlanta Interim Director.
I ask that if anyone makes communications with this organization, please be factual and respectful – Anthony
philjourdan
no i merely pointed out that the AGW non accepting side seems to be allowed to hurl every insult at me as they like without moderation. yet i was warned for merely using the D word.
and those links do actually not back up the claim that was made. just a few enviromentalists (if they even are) that say something stupid does not let one conclude everyone else that is enviromentalists wants the same. and he acused the enviromentalists in general.
@Aanthanur – And you are a liar. Quote:
Of which you were told facts are not offending. They are facts, to which you denied the facts. dbstealey and I then proved the statement you quoted is indeed a fact.
Stop lying. You are getting too desperate. You have been proven wrong. Suck it up like a man.
David Ball
LOL…. as i said already, i assumed the readers here know the evidence and do not accept it.
i was fully aware that you know that evidence. that was why i first didnt even want to post the evidence, because i know how useless it is. but i got asked over and over again.
so no, i am not that naive…..
Evidence is a strange thing Arty. 100 people have evidence against them on a murder. yet only one committed it. There is evidence that CO2 has no impact on climate. As skeptics we take the evidence and look for more, we look for proof. You quoted opinions as facts. They are not even evidence. There is no finger print of CO2 in any of those links. There are only ALLEGATIONS.
Jimbo sucker punched you. There are many allegations, there is no proof. And you fell for it. You pulled 3 links from your favorite alarmist website without reading any of them and tried to trot them out as proof. They only proved you have no clue what you are talking about.
Here is just a couple for you to peruse;
http://drtimball.com/2013/ipcc-climate-a-product-of-lies-damn-lies-and-statistics-built-on-inadequate-data/
http://drtimball.com/2012/ipcc-control-calculations-of-annual-human-co2-production-for-political-agenda/
I am not betting on you reading them.
Jimbo
ah ok, i thought you were also a sceptic in general, not only on one topic.
Aaranthanur, there in lies the rub. You did not post any evidence. You may not be naïve, but you clearly have no understanding of what it is that you posted.
Shh, Jimbo quit mentioning how the IPCC projected warming is getting lower. By my calculations, in 2 more ARs the IPCC will be estimating warming on par with the ‘deniers’ of the NIPCC. For that matter, the IPCC’s latest is already estimating warming in levels that would have gotten the IPCC labeled as being anti-science when 2AR came out.
anteater=AAAA
David Ball
neither of your links adress the links i posted in any way….
and the second link is pure conspiracy theory without any supporting evidence.
David Ball
i know very well what i posted.
1 shows the increased greenhouse effect measured from space.
and the other show that the increase in Co2 concentrations is mainly human caused.
philjourdan
1. they do not represent the enviromentalists. so you cannot conclude what those nutters say is what all enviromentalists want.
2. and even if correct, the D word was also used correctly. its just as factual.
but again if the stement was true or not was not my point, i wondered if such a general accusation is alowed here. and sure it is aslong it comes from a non warmist/alarmist.
@Arty –
#1 – They do. Apparently you did not check the links. That is fault #1
#2 – No it does not. Because no one is denying science. But that is your pejorative of choice.
The fact is you LIED. You are a liar. You accused a writer of using pejoratives. You were given MULTIPLE links (I gave you 3, dbstealey gave you several, one that linked to many such threats). Now YOU are denying those links. So who is the D word now?
only you.
philjourdan
i actually did read them. an i do think it is evidence. but as i said, its useless to post it.
i know that from debating creationists. the reactions are identical.
thats not evidence ,they just claim its evidence… etc etc….
same old same old.
@Aanthanur – Ah, another red herring! Creationists! Has anyone but YOU talked about creationism? Nope. Since you have not read the source, lied about reading the source, you throw a red herring out hoping to side track the issue!
I am afraid that calling you a liar is not accurate. You are now proving yourself to be a liar and a fraud.
Either read the links and admit you were wrong, or continue to double down on your lying and fraud. The choice is yours. But I suspect you have already made your choice. And it is a dishonest one.
And if you can read, post some evidence. We are all still waiting.
Mark Bofill
well in the full reports it is clear enough, it is just the short versions we heard about in the media and also from scientists that put too much weight on SAT. in the media the OCeans temperature changes were very seldom mentioned if at all. but in the reports, even the first one, it was pointed out clearly that sea level rise for example is mainly do to thermal expansion, thus the oceans are warming up. and that was made even clearer in later reports. but most people do not read those monsters of reports.
philjourdan
no i have not lied at all, what the heck are you talking about?
and no those people do not represent enviromentalists in general, heck nobody does. not greenpeace or any other organisations let alone small groups or single persons…..
or would you tink its OK to claim the AGW non accepters do think enviromentalists are like the hitler youth because Monckton once said so?
@Aanthanur DC
Art, I am tolerant of your English since you claim ESL. However, I am not tolerant of blatant and outright lying. I QUOTED your lie to you. If you are having trouble reading the quoted part (the indent, see in the comment? That is a letter by letter copy of part of one of your posts), use Google Translator.
You are a bad liar.
and i never denied the links. it would be denial if i claimed, no those people never said this. or no this video is not from enviromentalists. i did no such thing.
what i do deny is your claim that they represent the enviromentalists in general. if that makes me a denier, so be it 🙂 call me denire, i don’0t care, i don’t associate this with holocaust denial.
@Aanthanur DC – You do not associate with? You are the band leader for them! Google the credentials of the authors of each threat against skeptics.
Then go back and read your own post! The Post said ‘environmentalists’. It did not say “every” and it did not say ‘the leaders”. it said simply “environmentalists”. If you cannot understand written English, find a translator.
But stop lying.
Riki says:
February 28, 2014 at 9:14 am
> Hi Guys,
> Just got off the phone with some young kid in the ADL national office
Thanks for trying to get the comments back on track….
I get the sense that the Atlanta office is a bit shellshocked and that the national office hasn’t figured out what it should say publicly.
It looks like the grunt doing the deletions finally got back to the task and deleted the remaining comments.
Anthony, Moderators, Please, please BAN the thread hijacker Annthanur.
[Reply: Good suggestion. ~mod.]
daveburton says:
February 28, 2014 at 7:29 am
Excellent preservation work there Dave. Thanks
The derogatory use of the term “denier” as an inference to holocaust denial is libelous slander. It is a blatant misrepresentation of what we believe in. It is about time legal action is taken on this slander. It might teach them a lesson. My dad went through the Holocaust and he is well and truly a skeptic. He shared his experiences with me since I was a little kid-well before the notion of Holocaust denial even started. You would have to think -why would someone just make these stories up when they never told traditional scary bedtime stories. Mum did not discuss too much of her harrowing experiences. Luckily, dad can write(one of those rare right-wing academics), so the full story is in print, but not in general circulation.The Holocaust certainly occurred, so any conspiracy theory that starts out plausibly then starts with the denial and calling everyone they do not like an Ashkenazi Jew I can dismiss as deliberate hate material. Obviously, I am a climate skeptic, but a Holocaust denier I am not. Looks like the ADL needs to be brought to task for defamation. How ironic that in reality, they ARE the defamation league.Roy Spencer is absolutely dead on the money with his comments.
Nuts, daveburton didn’t snag an archive of my comment there about the ADL not apparently being concerned about the application of the phrase “crimes against humanity” to skeptic climate scientists…… but of course now we are seeing the far more troubling problem of the ADL getting caught in the same tactic as various AGW believers who feel a need to ‘hide a decline’ when things don’t go in the direction they want.
Walter Allensworth says:
February 27, 2014 at 3:17 pm
So much for that, Walter.
I was hoping for something from Steyn. He’d have a field day with this.
Firstly you provide no abstract or explanation. Not cool, forcing me to have to find out your point. I could dismiss them out of hand as you fail to do either. The first link does not tell me what caused most of the warming since the late 1970s. The IPCC says that most of the warming since 1950 is extremely likely to have been caused by man.
Did you notice no mention of greenhouse gases????
Your second paper says
It does not tell me that man’s greenhouse gases was the dominant cause of the warming since the late 1970s.
Your third ‘paper’ is not a paper and is not actually the third paper as I asked for 3 peer reviewed papers.
Can you see that your position is not as certain as you once believed. This is why there is a debate, the debate is not over, the science is not settled. I suggest you keep investigating.
I had hoped the ADL might do the right thing. Now they resorted to deleting comments and sticking there heads in the sand, maybe they have been taking advice from Cook & Dana at (Non) Skeptical Science. It’s a pity. Thank you again to Riki, I am in the UK but appreciate what you are doing.
Jack
I am not new to this game Aanthanur . I am aware of the Royal Society’s ‘position’. If you use your reason you will realize that their motto and their position cannot exist within the same organisation. 🙂 Their motto tells them to resist the position of authority and base their ideas on experimentation. For the atmosphere that would be the experiment (our relentless co2 output) compared to observations. The IPCCs 2nd report made certain projections, the current observations show they failed. That is the way it work my friend. I didn’t tell the IPCC what to project, I didn’t tell the Earth what it’s surface temperature should be today.
Now check this out and think about it in an honest manner.
Jimbo
if you want evidence for what the IPCC says, you should read the IPCC report.
the quantifications of the forcings make it very clear that anthropogenic CO2 is the main cause.
my links did show that the greenhouse effect got stronger since the 70’s. and the second paper actually shows where this additional CO2 is coming from.
that you would not accept it comes as no suprise to me. i expected that, that is why i said before, there is no use in posting it. and i was right.
and no, i dont see how what you say changes anything.
i accept the evidence. i think it supports AGW very well. and i have seen nothing that would convince me that something else could have caused the warming. just like the majority of experts around the world.
btw, in the mid 20th century, when solar activity rose to its highest levels, we had global cooling, does that mean the sun has no effect on our climate?
if not, why do you asume this with CO2?
i always found this a very weak argument. but pls explain.