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
RaiderDingo says: “A group called ‘anti defamation’ gives the green light for defamation.” The ADL has been doing this since its foundation. It co-operated with the South African government to spy on anti-apartheid campaigners, tars all critics of Israel with the brush of anti-semitism, and has always, since its foundation, supported slandering Americans by exaggerating anti-semitism and other forms of prejudice… like I said, it’s surprising that Anthony has illusions in it.
Now I understand the debate about the word ‘denier’. Never thought about the word from an ADL viewpoint before – it’s painfully clear to me now why the word has no place in this debate.
Anthony, I would agree with part of your assessment. Ignorance of history is indeed possible.
Bad judgment however, is usually driven by a preconception or agenda.
We have politicians in our highest government positions labelling skeptical Phd scientists with impeccable credentials as “flat earthers”,”shoddy scientists”, “deniers”, and “idealogues.” They surely must realize that they are using the same hate tactics that the Nazis used in the thirties and early forties to persecute and defame highly qualified and exceedingly competent scientists. If they had a shred of decency, our government fuhrers and the ADL would apologize and change their ways. I never thought I would see this happen in the U.S., and I have lost a considerable amount of respect that I once (naively) had for these politicians.
A recent example of such hate tactics exposed by WUWT:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/02/20/a-must-read-why-secretary-of-state-john-kerry-is-flat-wrong-on-climate-change/
While calling skeptics “deniers” has been around a while, it’s gained traction recently.
I submit this article, from 2007, paragraph 5.
http://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=A7CAEF06-802A-23AD-458C-1B8ACD1DE91F
pokerguy says:
February 26, 2014 at 7:37 pm
Yes, well, this was just asking for trouble.
================
Neville Chamberlain used the same excuse. Peace in our time. His solution: Appease the Nazi Bully. The result: Millions dead.
Anyone that thinks a Bully will respond positively to appeasement does not understand bullying and has never learned how to defeat bullies, except to run away. Sooner or later there is nowhere to run.
The hypocrisy surfaces. No surprise. May I sell you a mirror for the blind.
In reply to:
Jeff in Calgary says:
February 26, 2014 at 5:03 pm
Is it just me? I didn’t see anywhere in the press reliese that “gave the green light” for anything. Only the Red light for Dr Roy’s labling of warmies.
William:
The anti-defamation league remained silent when the term ‘denier’ has applied to the so called ‘skeptics’ (we are not skeptical, observational evidence and analysis does not support the dangerous warming paradigm, that is a fact, not skepticism) Silence is implicit consent.
Spencer’s point is that the green scams and the proposed world carbon tax is anti development and will have a significant negative impact on the living standards in all countries, particularly developing countries. The greens scams and a world carbon tax would result in a significant increase in poverty.
Commercial greenhouses inject CO2 into their greenhouses to increase yield and reduce growing times. CO2 is not a poison. If there is not a dangerous warming problem the world is wasting trillions of dollars on green scams which do not significantly reduce total CO2 (nuclear power is the only energy source that significant reduce CO2 emissions) but do result in a tripling or quadrupling of energy costs.
G. E. Pease says:
February 26, 2014 at 7:57 pm
We have politicians in our highest government positions labelling skeptical Phd scientists with impeccable credentials as “flat earthers”,”shoddy scientists”, “deniers”, and “idealogues.”
..and elsewhere as in every corner. It’s the modern standard.
G. E. Pease says:
February 26, 2014 at 7:57 pm
We have politicians in our highest government positions … using the same hate tactics that the Nazis used in the thirties and early forties
==============
No doubt they have studied Nazi methodology. Star Trek (Patterns of Force) deals with this topic. Using Nazi techniques in the belief they can accomplish good. The belief that evil in a good purpose will accomplish good.
Stephen Schneider:
Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest.
I am confident that my right to the freedom of speech enables me to call any people nazis when they appear to prepare legislation that would cause the deaths of millions of people. I may be right and I may be wrong, but I am allowed to talk about it. US political correctness is insane at best.
This is absurd. The use of the term “Nazi” in no way diminishes the plight of the Jews in the second world war. This term is used all the time: ‘Grammar Nazi’, ‘Policy Nazi’, etc. All it really denotes is someone who is emphatic and completely unwilling to compromise.
The use of the work “Denier”, used as an obvious oblique reference to Holocaust Deniers, plainly is, however.
Jimbo says:
February 26, 2014 at 6:31 pm
Millions died fighting the Nazis so we can be free to say and write what we want within the law. Warmists want to do away with these rights for sceptics because they are certain they are smarter and they are right.
It is not a function of right or wrong. It is a function of practice and ideology. Climate hysteria is but the avenue of choice with which to put upon the masses their will.
Oops! By the time I got down the comments I saw Skiphil had already quoted and linked to it. Sorry!
Jer0me says:
February 26, 2014 at 8:24 pm
All it really denotes is someone who is emphatic and completely unwilling to compromise.
========
Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. One republican, one Democrat. What made them great Presidents was their ability to compromise to get a deal done. Giving up what was not important to them, in order to get what was. In this way they united House and Senate, regardless of party affiliations.
The US remains a house divided unable to compromise. “A house divided against itself cannot stand”. Abraham Lincoln.
Some really good (all 6 of them) comments at:
http://atlanta.adl.org/news/adl-condemns-spencers-nazi-analogy/
Mostly civil (however you define that term).
It seems their stories never get any comments, so I’m sure they’ve been read.
My comment:
Hi, I don’t think it was particularly helpful for Dr. Spencer to say what he did, but to condemn his comments without considering the context is unfair. The context is an organized campaign of denigration and yes – defamation – of those who are skeptical on the issue of catastrophic man-made global warming. It is a fact that we still cannot predict the weather for 10 days with great accuracy, so it is not unreasonable at all to be skeptical of the accuracy of some of the predictions provided by climate scientists about the next decades, or the next hundred years, especially since nearly all of their predictions are generated by computer models only.
Deniers, denialists, shills, anti-science – these are examples of how skeptics are routinely characterized. It doesn’t seem right at all that the ADL would remain silent while these derogatory and dehumanizing terms are used, but suddenly take action when someone like Dr. Spencer, who has been repeatedly called such names, fights back. He is a human being, and has a right to defend himself.
It’s also worth mentioning that dehumanizing terms WERE used by the Nazis to pave the way for their horrible abuses, so although as I said, Dr. Spencer’s comments were unhelpful, they were not completely off the mark either.
Sauce for the gander.
@fredberple;
What evidence do you have that what is important to Global Waming Nazis is shared by us Deniers? I can’t think of a single item on that list. It’s going to come down to Survival, which many prominent GWNs have disavowed.
Message sent.
“A house divided against itself cannot stand”. Abraham Lincoln.
One should also consider that this is their goal. ??
Paul Westhaver “Agenda is the defense of Jews.” Really ? I am reminded of the scripted interviews of Ahmadinejad which essentially confused the viewer into thinking the interviewer’s questions fairly represented the interviewee’s views…rather than his actual statements. I am much more persuaded by the idea that the idea is to limit conversation and control dialogue by putting certain concepts outside the pale…such as a look at actual history and certifiable documentation. Why ? Well..this goes dark Mar 3…but I have written up ideas which suggest projection as the agenda : accuse others of your own malfeasance. http://my.opera.com/oldephartte/blog/2013/03/24/denier
Well, I’m far more cynical. Abe Foxman is retiring this June or July. He was brilliant at finding anti-semites under every sentence and within each industry leading to multo-buckets of donor dough to justify his half-a-million+ salary, and keep their new 8-story building in DC operating. Where’s the most donor dough now? Climate Change!!! The new director can hit the deck running without Foxman’s skill and still keep the org alive.
Great idea.
Bob Burns says:
February 26, 2014 at 3:58 pm
Did the ADL have any comment on Hansen and his use of the term “death trains” ?
Put death trains into the WUWT search box. There are several posts that come up.
Several years ago I made a comment that something in James Hansen’s past must have influenced his odd and disgusting use of “death trains” and I think it is every bit as repugnant. Shelley Rose and the ADL members need to be aware of this history. If Roy’s blast at the warmist group brings this about – great!