Poor old Anthony Watts, who runs a science-bashing blog WUWT, is suffering another bout of conspiracy ideation, this time of the paranoid kind. His brain melts when he sees certain names and words, like NASA, conspiracy, moon-landing, global warming, Professor Stephan Lewandowsky, Shaun Marcott, John Cook, or Michael Mann.
This time he posts part of an "essay" by some climate science denier or other called Ben Pile, who objects to the finding that conspiracy ideation is a weak predictor of science denial. In response, Anthony Watts goes full on into paranoid conspiracy ideation, posting a reference to a Wikipedia article on "Political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union".
The Wikipedia entry describes how opponents of Leonid Brezhnev were incarcerated in psychiatric medical institutions. It describes "political abuse of psychiatry" as:
...the misuse of psychiatric diagnosis, detention and treatment for the purposes of obstructing the fundamental human rights of certain groups and individuals in a society.
Diagnosing, incarcerating and treating conspiracy-theorising Anthony Watts
Anthony is scared he's going to be diagnosed, incarcerated and treated because he rejects climate science or maybe because he's a conspiracy theorist. I don't think so, Anthony. It's a nice idea, however if everyone who ever entertained a crackpot idea about anything were detained, the outside world would be a pretty empty place.
Watts frequently springboards into his world of paranoid conspiracy fantasies. Ironically it often seems to be brought on by any discussion linking conspiracy ideation with rejection of climate science. But really, almost anything can bring on an attack. Here are just a few of the examples that I've picked up in the recent past:
- Here he promotes a fantastical mix of conspiracy thinking by Alec Rawls
- Here Anthony assumes skulduggery behind a simple internet survey
- Here he supports a "Lysenko" theory that climate science is a hoax
- Here Anthony promotes various conspiracy theories about a paper on conspiracy theories
- Here Anthony develops a conspiracy theory to explain the 97% consensus on AGW
- Here Anthony promotes Christopher Monckton's Orwellian conspiracy theory
- Here's another WUWT conspiracy, this time in an article by justthefactswuwt that the world's weather bureaux are in cahoots in a giant global conspiracy
- There are lots more, like the WUWT article by a chap called Coleman who thinks there is a conspiracy to "adjust" the global temperature record.
Oh damn and blast, they've caught on to our game. I'd send the re-education team to collect Mr. Watts for adjustment, but the whole fiscal cliff and sequestration affair has hit us hard. We're down to a single snatch-van and it's in the repair shop.
ReplyDeleteSurely the US Government can still send in the black helicopters?
DeleteAh, wait a moment. The insects are back and it was them after all.
ReplyDeletewattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/20/an-engineers-thoughts-on-key-agw-questions/
(I've tried to do it so it won't link because, really, you don't want to read it)