choofnagle | May 31, 2007
Sometimes the success of a consumer intervention will create "blowback," and allow the industry to not only win but also demand other concessions.
An excellent recent example of regulatory blowback came with the creation of the federal Do-Not-Call Registry. In creating the registry, the Federal Communications Commission also tried to tighten regulations on "junk faxes," unsolicited commercial fax messages. The FCC ruled that "junk fax" senders had to document that they had consent from recipients of their messages. The junk faxers organized into a huge coalition (the deceptively-named "…
denialism | May 31, 2007Gosh, they just can't accept that no reputable science department wants an IDer around. They continue to push this academic freedom issue, when it's perfectly acceptable to consider an applicant's ideas when they are pursued intramurally, and can't quite decide whether they want to make it a religious discrimination issue - risking admitting that ID is a theologic concept or actually looking to see if other Christians have had a problem at ISU.
So I think it's time again to repeat my question for Luskin.
Mr. Luskin, is it the considered opinion of the DI, UD etc., that it is never acceptable…
denialism | May 30, 2007From Salon. Conspiracy Factory has a good overview.
Sounds like it wasn't anything sinister other than weird winter weather.
denialism | May 30, 2007You remember when that creationist thought a can of peanut butter disproved evolution?
If you thought that was funny, you got to start watching some troofer videos. Screw Loose Change found this wonderful entry:
I realize this is low hanging fruit. But it was too funny to ignore.
choofnagle | May 30, 2007If the denialist is on the brink of losing, a number of high stakes arguments can be made. The bear/bull market argument is one of my favorites. Just look at tax policy--no matter what the economy is doing, tax cuts are the solution. And in privacy, if the economy's weak, there shouldn't be interventions to protect consumers; if the economy's strong, interventions could make the market weak!
If there's a bear market, obviously there shouldn't be interventions in the market, right?
If there's a bull market, obviously there shouldn't be interventions in the market, right?
denialism | May 30, 2007The latest entry in the Darwinism = eugenics nonsense comes from the crank Michael Egnor.
Once again, as a Charlottesvillian I feel the cranks are invading my home turf. About a mile away from me is this sign:
It reads:
In 1924, Virginia, like a majority of states then enacted eugenic sterilization laws. Virginia's law allowed state institutions to operate on individuals to prevent the conception of what were believed to be "genetically inferior" children. Charlottesville native Carrie Buck (1906-1983) involuntarily committed to a state facility near Lynchburg, was chosen as the first…
denialism | May 30, 2007We've been on for one month now. It was a pretty good start. We got about 110k pageviews, about 54k visitors, 100 entries and 1050 comments on those entries. We've gone through what makes a denialist argument, what makes a crank, 3 major categories of denialists (there are many more) and almost a whole deck of denialist cards - only the high cards are left.
If you like the job we're doing, let us know. If there is something you want more of, we'd be happy to hear about it. As always, if you're just joining us and you want to read what we're all about, our "about" page summarizes the…
denialism | May 30, 2007Ok, here is my final thread on LOL creationists (see the previous entries). Anti-evolution brings us some entries, this is my favorite (below the fold - it's a tad dirty).
From Dustin:
I also like the DaveScot and Sal Cordova mockery with a denialist tinge (from Farland):
Someone's going to have to explain this one to me:
We have an excellent explanation for why T-Rex wasn't allowed on the ark:
This is a great entry from a reader who wished to remain anonymous:
Tyler DiPietro's entry
Ok that's it. If anyone has more genius ideas leave them in the comments. It's time to put this meme to…
denialism | May 29, 2007It's in the nature of cranks and denialists not to really object to other forms of crankery, as long as the other crank or denialist is also sowing doubt about the same scientific theory. This fits in with proof 295,232 that intelligent design isn't a science. Witness an IDer who really loves the Creation Museum. O'Leary even likes their idea that chameleons change color to "talk" to each other in the Garden of Eden:
And, if you are not a frothing Darwinist, it is not always clear who is right:
Nature here is not "red in tooth and claw," as Tennyson asserted. In fact at first it seems…
choofnagle | May 29, 2007
Two related arguments--the denialist will say that the regulation won't work. And they won't help in finding a way to come to a reasonable solution.
Finally, continuing in the teenager theme, the denialist will argue that they won't comply, even if directed to by law. Rule of law be damned!
denialism | May 28, 2007Slate has coverage of the impending trial against vaccine makers over the inclusion of thimerosal - a mercury containing preservative agent - in childhood vaccines.
Luckily, the writers at Slate have done their homework. They present a laundry-list of denialist tactics from the anti-vax crackpots.
We've got the quote-mining
In April, the government-funded Institute of Medicine held a two-day workshop to discuss ways to research possible toxic causes of autism. Leading voices among the parents who believe in the thimerosal-autism link shared their views with Science publisher Alan Leshner…
denialism | May 28, 2007Corpus Callosum points us to a review in science entitled Childhood Origins of Adult Resistance to Science (Chris at mixing memory also has coverage of the article). This is a perfect study to emphasize a critical aspect of denialism and crankery, that is, the central role the overvalued idea plays in the evolution of a crank.
Denialism, in a nutshell, is the rhetorical strategy used to protect an overvalued idea from things like facts and data. The denialist or crank is trying desperately to hold on to a concept that is important to their self-identity or ego, and is in conflict with…
choofnagle | May 28, 2007
The fifth hand brings increasing petulance. One common tactic at this point is to admit to the behavior in question, and like a teenager, say "we'll we've always done this," and therefore we should be able to continue to do so.
denialism | May 27, 2007Today would be her 100th, and it presents us an opportunity to do two things. First, we salute a major influence in the birth of environmentalism in the United States and the world. Second, we want to use the opportunity to defend Carson from the specious attacks on her by the purveyors of the DDT ban myth.
Here's the story. Carson wrote a seminal book on the environment called "Silent Spring" about the damage agricultural use of DDT was having on wildlife - especially birds. As a result DDT was widely banned for agricultural use. But beyond the harm to wildlife, the other reason to ban…
denialism | May 27, 2007And kicks its ass.
What is up with the British and their fear of "radiation"? People complain about poor science comprehension here in the US, but it is by no means an isolated phenomenon. The fact someone was able to put a documentary on BBC suggesting that radiofrequencies of WiFi had any chance of affecting human health is pretty pathetic. And the fearmongering and anti-scientific conduct of the documentary is clearly pretty shameful.
Between this and the Independent's coverage of the environment, I think they're trying to bring down environmentalism from the inside.
denialism | May 26, 2007Well we've had some new entries and suggestions. I think the best so far is the entry from John Lynch of Stranger Fruit (inspired by Glenn Branch inspired by Carrie Sager).
More below the fold!
Expletive deleted has three entries (I helped with the PS a bit).
Carl Baugh
Ray Comfort
And Jonathan Safarti
Hope for Pandora brings us LOL Marcus Ross.
Carrie Sager also brings us LOL DI.
Aaron of Synapostasy brings us another LOL Behe.
And a LOL Hovind
Maggie W sends us another Comfort:
My original Dembski:
And an update
My original Ken Ham
And another idea
My original Gonzalez:
And an ISU sayz no…
denialism | May 25, 2007Since today is apparently LOL day (my favorite being LOLpresident) I decided we should create a new category.
Here's my first three for LOL Creationists!
Send me more, I'll put up the best ones.
choofnagle | May 25, 2007
It's time to go on the offensive. Call your opponent a ninny!
One of the best examples of this comes from--you guessed it--our friend Jack Abramoff. One of Jack Abramoff's teammembers, Dennis Stephens, once proposed to attack Gary Ruskin of Commercial Alert because Ruskin's group was criticizing "Channel One:"
From: Dennis Stephens
To: Chad Cowan
Cc: Abramoff, Jack
"Have you guys ever looked into Gary Ruskin, a Nader protege who runs Commercial Alert (which is attacking Channel One, our client)...The guy is a weasel...Someone should consider doing an in depth piece on Ruskin and his Nader…
choofnagle | May 25, 2007
At this point, the denialist must propose "self regulation" to deal with the problem that doesn't exist. Self-regulation is a set of rules that an industry generates to govern itself. The cool thing about self regulation is that it cannot be enforced, and once the non-existent problem blows over, the denialist can simply scrap the rules!
For instance, in the runup to passage of bank privacy legislation in the late 1990s, data brokers created an organization called the "Individual Reference Services Group" that proposed rules for selling personal information. After the legislation passed,…