... and Reuters news service are douchebags.
How great is this story : Hoax bacteria study tricks climate skeptics!!
Some utter legends went to the effort of setting up this fake website for the non-existent "Journal of Geoclimatic Studies". They published this report which details how ocean bacteria emit more than 300 times the carbon dioxide produced by human activities and that therefore man-made global warming is a myth.
Of course, it's possible that the 'creators' were seeking to further fuel the pro-skepticism propaganda leech-pit, but I can't help thinking that this profound introduction was written with tongue-in-cheek and middle finger raised high:
We have also taken the unprecedented step of making the paper freely available on our website: something we have been reluctant to do in the past because of our severe budgetary constraints. We hope that even if the paper is dismissed and ignored by those who subscribe to the "consensus" position on climate change, the truth will eventually seep out. We accept that this is not the best route for scientific discourse to take, but none better appears to be available. We publish in trepidation, but in the knowledge that it is the right thing to do.
That intro + context = cheeky satirical genius!
Climate skeptics jumped on the report as the ultimate vindication, the smoking gun, the undeniable proof - one emailed the report to 2000 contacts proclaiming as much. Stupid bloody greenies, trying to save trees and radically alter the future of human progress when all they really need to do is kill the oceans (more than we have already, of course).
Only thing is that, yes, it's a prank. But it's a constructive prank from which people should gain wisdom and insight, as opposed to the destructive hoax still being played out by ignorant knuckle-monkeys like James Inhofe. Doubt, profiteering and delay continue to be the real hoax.
Somehow, though, Reuters frames this outstanding piece of activism as an affront to climate skeptics. A more appropriate title would have been "Hoax bacteria study proves that climate skeptics are f#$&ing tools, period".
PS: just in relation to the article downstairs on state-sponsored execution - personally I would also support it if it wasn't done wrong. For example, Mumia Abu-Jamahl is on death row while the puggle-looking donkey-squat from NSync has a globally syndicated TV show. That is ass backwards.
Posts
|