Suppressing dissent is nothing new. Italian cosmologist Giordano Bruno taught that stars were at different distances from each other surrounded by limitless territory. He was imprisoned in 1592, and eight years later he was tried as a heretic and burned at the stake. Because he disagreed that the Earth was the center of the universe, Galileo was ordered to stand trial on suspicion of heresy in 1633. Under the threat of torture, he recanted and was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life.Today's version of yesteryear's inquisitors include people like the Weather Channel's Dr. Heidi Cullen, who advocates that the American Meteorological Society (AMS) strip their seal of approval from any TV weatherman expressing skepticism about the predictions of manmade global warming. Columnist Dave Roberts, in his Sept. 19, 2006, online publication, said, "When we've finally gotten serious about global warming, when the impacts are really hitting us and we're in a full worldwide scramble to minimize the damage, we should have war crimes trials for these bastards -- some sort of climate Nuremberg."
This has become a sore spot for me lately, as I've been discovering a lot of new information about global warming that is less than readily available in the media. Walter Williams, always a good read, makes a clear point about the problem with the brain-off culture that would have you get on board simply because everyone else is doing so. I'm not claiming to have any conclusions about global warming other than this: when someone resorts to force and intimidation to supress dissent, discussion and scientific examination, it's a good indication that their cause doesn't stand on its own merits.
More to come about this topic in the next few days...
No comments:
Post a Comment