Anthony Watts has given space to a guest who's written a primer on how to ignore data and influence people. Anthony could have written it himself. His blog is a rather good example of how to ignore data and influence people.
- Ad hominems
- Make up stuff
- Publish cartoons by Josh
- Tell fibs about peer-reviewed papers
- Appeal to the conservative fear factor
- Manufacture wild conspiracy theories
In this case, Wotts covers it very well.
Thanks for link. I really did laugh at the title when I first read it. I really think that teaching people the meaning of the words "ironic" and "hypocritical" would change the debate significantly (well, assuming that they decided that being ironic or hypocritical was a bad thing).
ReplyDeleteI have to say I'm not averse to a bit of ad hom mockery or an appeal to emotion, within limits.
DeleteThat's the nature of HotWhopper :D
(I don't tell fibs and am not one for wild conspiracy theories either.)
I'm trying to avoid ad homs and mockery, but I do find it remarkably difficult at times. That you're here playing that role (amongst others) gives me some comfort :-)
DeleteThere was an earlier post linked to an online news site that called Michael Mann a charlatan. So many charlatans at WUWT it's difficult to know where to start point the finger and going "hypocrite" but I think I'd begin with Monckton.
ReplyDelete