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
An edit function would be nice.
I suppose its that I know what I mean blindness.
hillarious, the replays to my posts clearly show that there are no sceptics here, only deniers.
and how was my post hatefilled? i don’t hate deniers. they play no role outside the internet. maybe in the US. but where i am from, people accept scientific theories that are so well supported by the evidence.
real sceptics are not suposed to deny anything, they are suposed to question stuff, but also to adjust their opinion based on the evidencepresented. something the AGW deniers do not do.
Sceptics are those that are only convinced by evidence and try to not hold any beliefs without supporting evidence.
but on every single scientific topic, there is a small part of the popuation that is in denial about it, be it Evolution, Heliocentrism, HIV/Aids etc etc. and on the topic of climatolog, you guys are the small part pf the population in denial 🙂
but it doesn’t matter anymore. the debate is over. the world population convinced. the deniers lost. like it always is when people deny science. they loose.
@Aanthanur DC – I guess that makes you the denier. You are the only one here denying science. Talking points are not science. Consensus is not science. You have defined yourself.
Thank you. Just an unusual amount of time had passed. Not usually the case here. Cheers
As I recall what I was told in the 60s and 70s, in the 1930s there was a worldwide depression/recession with an inflation rate that hit Germany especially hard as they were recovering from and hit hardest for their part in WWI. There was a lie being told that Jewish Banking, Jewish Industries and Jewish Businesses (nevermind WorldWide recessions/depressions occurred about every 20 years since “the World Got Small”). The NAZIs had the solution. Exterminate a relatively minor part of society.
So because the “Global Temperatures” have been rising for the past 50 years (similarly to the previous 50 years and largely since the Little Ice Age). The “Global Warming NAZIs” have the solution. Exterminate a relatively minor part of the climate system. (Oh yeah! A nod to Patrick…ban Chlorine while you’re at it.
Is that too simple of an analogy? Is anyone offended?
If you apply for a disability claim from an insurance company or, especially, the government, you have to PROVE you have been injured, REPEATEDLY. The insurance companies and government do not just “take your word for it” and never question you again. Israel SOLD the Holocaust for Political Leverage and Monetary Reparations, Israel itself opened the Holocaust up to questioning when they SOLD it. Israel FEARS the TRUTH about the holoCOST because the MONEY would dry up, or WORSE have to be RETURNED.
The WHOLE POINT of the 1st Amendment is to protect the RIGHT of People to QUESTION…
True. It should also be pointed out that “counter-revolutionary” sounds too clinical and doesn’t convey the required intensity of class hatred. That’s why competent, self-respecting Maoists call the enemies of the Revolution “imperialist running dogs”.
For expert usage see here:
” Aanthanur DC says:
February 27, 2014 at 9:30 am
like it always is when people deny science. they loose. ”
Well,
I think you might be the one with marbles a bit “loose”……
Here’s a great example of the ADL’s double standard.
Shelley Rose, the ADL’s Regional Director, is part of dozens of climate activist groups. One of the most prominent ones being the Sierra Club.
It took just a few seconds to find the Sierra Club using the term “denier” in the press release headline!
http://content.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2013/11/climate-denier-denied-sierra-club-statement-terry-mcauliffe%E2%80%99s-victory
Really should be a Sticky Post until you get a Formal response from the Regional and/or National ADL
Aanthanur DC says “and how was my post hatefilled?”
Simple: you are a name-caller. The proof is right above, in your comment. Name-calling is what haters do.
You also say:
“Sceptics are those that are only convinced by evidence and try to not hold any beliefs without supporting evidence.”
You claim to be a skeptic. So here is a challenge for you: post any measurable, testable scientific evidence that you can, showing that human emissions are the cause of global warming.
It is typical of your crowd that they never answer questions or accept challenges. I think you are just another internet troll who fits that category. Prove me wrong — if you can.
“Tim Clark says:
February 27, 2014 at 10:02 am
” Aanthanur DC says:
February 27, 2014 at 9:30 am
like it always is when people deny science. they loose. ”
Well,
I think you might be the one with marbles a bit “loose”……”
I hate it – you beat me to it 🙂
I regard myself as a heretic in the climate wars, so being called a denier is passe.
But if it helps, I steadfastly deny Judges 15:4 * and, for the record, I deny the Exodus too.
“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…
I should think that particular bus left 70 years ago.
A Jew, a drunk, and another Mann walk into a bar.
The drunk asks the barman if they can run a tab, the barman politely says “No”.
The other Mann asks the the barman if they can run a a tab, the bar replies testily “No!”
The Jew then asks the barman, “Can we run a tab?”
The barman explodes, “who are you, some gang of ask-a-nazis?”
The Jew replies plaintively “No sir, I’m Sephardic.”
According to the ADL it’s not ok to defame members of their group, but’s justified to defame those with whom they disagree. Wow.
The activistas are on the run.
I suppose it was Gandhi who said:
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Some roses don’t smell well at all. They just spread foul odor.
Fortunately AantarthurDC is not merely a bigoted shallow coward, but he/it is wrong in the claim that skeptics of climate obsesion are winning. Australia, Canada, Germany, are all backing away from the faux science of climate catastrophe.
Even the UK is reassessing their commitment to the waste of AGW pushed ideas.
And every day more real scientsts step forward to point how climate catastrophism as embraced by Aa is wrong.
And of course mother nature, still, sublimiely continues to ignore the ever more shrill imprecations of climate kooks like AantarthurDC.
So all the troll has left is to call us ‘deniers’, which is just his code word for ‘ni**er’.
So spew on, you shallow trollish ignorant liar.
Sooo, in the end things are quite clear.
She had a full historical knowledge of events.
She had a clear preconception as part of multiple extensive activist agenda’s.
The only thing missing is a law suit (perhaps a SuperGirl suit) and a tweeted appology.
I wonder if Super Mandia will let her borrow his waders for a photo op? LOL!
Aanthanur DC,
Your claim,
is demonstrably false. The earliest reference I can easily find is this.
From Breaking down political, psychological barriers to global warming action as far back as Feb 2007:
The term doesn’t phase me. I doubt it bothers very many of those who’ve been openly skeptical of AGW for long. At this point, when I think about it at all I take it as a merit badge. If I’m saying something people such as yourself would respond to with ‘denier’, I’m doing something right. 🙂
Your subsequent remark,
clearly demonstrates that you are concerned with what a majority of people believe. This is called politics. Here at WUWT, we are interested in questions of scientific fact, which is not influenced in the least by majority opinion.
But thanks for stopping by. I enjoy the occasional chance to enlighten undergraduate political science majors.
@Barry Woods says:
February 27, 2014 at 7:08 am
You are jsut a nicer version of AntarthurDC. You dismiss the evidence that significant claims about a dire climate are wrong, You ignore the the recent IPCC report, you assume that the policy demands of the AGW community are viable, and still rely on consensus, not critical thinking.
Frankly your messianic/crusader pov is more harmful than cranks like the troll pestering this thread. You might actually take yourself seriously.
Aanthanur DC says: February 27, 2014 at 9:30 am
but it doesn’t matter anymore. the debate is over. the world population convinced. the deniers lost. like it always is when people deny science. they loose.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
it’s really all you have – these appeals to consensus and authority, as you likely don’t understand the science and all of the data is against you. So you run around screaming and pointing denier, denier like a school kid…..or you rely on the consensus crutch like Adam Sandler’s Water Boy. Or Forest Gump. Momma Says!
I recommend remedial school for you. Here’s a start.
Dr. Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace
Statement of Patrick Moore, Ph.D. Before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight. February 25, 2014
“Natural Resource Adaptation: Protecting ecosystems and economies”
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/02/26/confessions-of-a-greenpeace-droput-to-the-u-s-senate-on-climate-change/#more-103850
An Open Letter to CNN’s Carol Costello on ‘Why are we still debating climate change?’
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/02/26/an-open-letter-to-cnns-carol-costello-on-why-are-we-still-debating-climate-change/
dbstealey said:
“So here is a challenge for you: post any measurable, testable scientific evidence that you can, showing that human emissions are the cause of global warming.”
You must be joking db. You won’t get anything because he doesn’t know anything. In fact, I predict his response will be an appeal to authority, something along the lines “all reputable scientists agree. . . ”
How do I know? Because if he knew anything at all about the science, he would immediately have seen the irony in his comment.
I like the photograph of the activist group.
They really love nature. Look at the beautifull scenery behind them. Aah, nature! So lovely behind that double glass keeping the A/C relief from 90deg Georgia weather inside…
Let’s show the world how many
denierssceptics are around: let’s all wear a badge in crisp yellow and black letters:„Here comes a proud sceptic“.
I can hear the alarmistas howl like mad already…
So lovely behind that double glass keeping the A/C relief from 90deg Georgia weather inside…
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Great observation. Without power for heat, clothes and shelter, most of us would be moving to more temperate latitudes, or else die. Oops, I suppose the later is the point for some of these haters of people and all things human.
The Nazi’s were ugly, hate-filled people with a bizarre, but politically saleable mix of left-wing (the “socialist” part) and right-wing (the “nationalist” part) ideology. But they were not really dangerous till they had control of the government, with its monopoly on violence. Then the great horrors began.
The Warmists are not Nazi’s, yet their danger to us could rival or surpass the Nazi’s if their most extreme elements were to control a majority of the world’s largest governments.
The Warmists anti-economic policies, their “humans are a virus preying on the Earth’s ecosystem” ideologies have already lead to death by starvation for many (the conversion of corn to biofuel making food scarce in the weakest parts of the world) according to some analyses. Taken to the extreme that some Warmists would take us to, much of the world’s human population would have no freedom, no food, and no hope of any life other than the Hobbesian life—-nasty, brutish, and short.
Inflammatory arguments rarely win arguments, however, and the argument that there is a relevant comparison of Warmists to Nazis, even though true, probably should be kept among friends.
Wow. Just went to the ADL site and left my comments. The only pro-GAGW comment so far is by “CB” a well known troll. All the other comments are politely but bluntly chastising the ADL for being so ignorant and hypocritical.