When the right wing accused climate scientists of falsifying data, it was all over the media. But now that the so-called “ClimateGate” has been proved to be a hoax — there was no falsifying of data, and the accused scientists have been cleared of any wrongdoing — there is hardly any mention.
We don’t have media in this country, we have propaganda. Maybe bought-and-paid-for corporate propaganda, but propaganda none the less.
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http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/07/11/how_facts_backfire/?page=full
Casey, that article in the Boston Globe is a must-read. I saw it yesterday and liked it so much I was going to do a separate story on it, but thanks for posting it here anyway.
IK, I agree with you, but just to play devil’s advocate here, I recently read an column in the WSJ (yes, I am considering the source carefully) stating that the studies clearing the scientists in the scandal are not exactly disinterested arbiters. In each of the two studies, one from East Anglia and one from Penn State, there was a tangible link to one of the scientists involved.
While I do believe the so-called “scandal” was an overblown misreading of certain language to distort what was really meant, I would have preferred the studies to clear the scientists’ names be been done by truly non-partisan third parties.
Sammy, there were five separate reviews done of this, and all of them found that the supposed “scandal” was fabricated.
On the other side, I have not seen any credible evidence at all that climate change is a hoax.
But that’s not the issue here. The issue is that the media loves a scandal, and gave enormous amounts of coverage to the (invalid) accusations of falsifying data, but pretty much ignored any evidence to the contrary. In an issue as potentially serious as climate change, that is unacceptable.
I used _You Are Being Lied To_ to teach a upper division college course once. http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Being-Lied-Disinformation/dp/0966410076/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279050786&sr=1-1
Most of my students were bored, one was utterly naive, and my colleagues thought I was being too radical. *sigh*
Ok IK, thanks. Of course, my only source was the WSJ, which probably ignored the other three studies.
Like I said, I wasn’t disagreeing, just playing devil’s advocate.
I would disagree with you that the media has become wholly a propaganda outlet. Granted, some news stations produce an awful lot of it… But I think greed for ratings is the real driving force. Ratings are directly linked to money and success, and a good scandal produces lots of ratings. The media can take complete crap and turn it into news if they think they will get ratings from it.
“This would also explain why demagogues benefit from keeping people agitated. The more threatened people feel, the less likely they are to listen to dissenting opinions, and the more easily controlled they are.”
Although both parties use this little tool, the Republicans and their minions (Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, et al) have proven to be masters of this tactic.
It would be great if there were some way to develop a “Truth” test that voters would have to pass before being allowed to vote….eliminate those that just refuse to accept the truth.
OK….I meant “eliminate’ as in not allowing them to vote, not as in….hey, on second thought why not.
Thought Dancer – thanks for the book reference. Looks like good summer reading to me.
Starluna. I was hoping you’ld spot that: seemed like something you’ld be interested in.
Is everyone forgetting Rove who works at Fox News and tells his little people (Beck and Hannity) what to say? His new group that is pouring huge amounts of money into elections with one aim: get the wealth in the upper 5% of this country. Of course, what he misses is that the 95% with no wealth can’t buy anything. He is no interest in morals, etc. Just wealth redistribution.