Bill Nye the Science Guy: Stop calling global warming deniers 'skeptics.'

[LongTomH]

From Raw Story: Bill Nye and other scientists tell journalists to stop calling global warming deniers 'skeptics':

A press release from the Center for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) said that 48 of the center’s Fellows — including Bill “The Science Guy” Nye, Cosmos co-producer Ann Druyan, physicist Lawrence Krauss and others — are requesting that the word “skeptic” be used to describe people using science to debunk myths, not those who use dogma to attack science.

The group was responding to a New York Times article dated Nov. 10, 2014, in which Republican Sen. James Inhofe, a longstanding advocate of the energy industry and climate change denier, was described as “a prominent skeptic of climate change.”

..............//snip

“Proper skepticism promotes scientific inquiry, critical investigation, and the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims,” the statement continued. “It is foundational to the scientific method. Denial, on the other hand, is the a priori rejection of ideas without objective consideration.”

The committee took particular aim in Inhofe, saying, “Real skepticism is summed up by a quote popularized by Carl Sagan, ‘Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.’ Inhofe’s belief that global warming is ‘the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people’ is an extraordinary claim indeed. He has never been able to provide evidence for this vast alleged conspiracy. That alone should disqualify him from using the title ‘skeptic.’”

When I posted this on Facebook, someone replied: "We don't call Holocaust deniers 'skeptics' and we wouldn't put them on a WWII documentary."

[okaawhatever]

1. Excellent point Mr. Nye. Thanks LongTomH for the article nt

[spanone]

2. they're not skeptics, they are fucking lunatics.

[progressoid]

3. “Proper skepticism promotes scientific inquiry, critical investigation, and the use of reason"

[pampango]

5. Krugman: It’s not just facts that have a liberal bias; so does careful, open-minded analysis.

If this reminds you of other debates these days, it should. It’s not just facts that have a liberal bias; so does careful, open-minded analysis.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/25/yellen-wages-and-intellectual-honesty/

Conservatives never, ever say "what information might lead them to change their mind" because the policy choice comes first and no amount of facts or evidence will "lead them to change their minds."

[olddots]

4. of all the idiots out there

The climate change "skeptics " are beyond ignorant and just plain evil .

[daleanime]

6. I just call them...

deliberately ignorant.

[calimary]

7. Yep. Time to draw the line. Just as we don't allow the Flat Earth Society a seat at the table

just because there's a NASA story to cover. They just AREN'T invited. They do not count. They're not supposed to! They're ignored. Because they SHOULD be. Their viewpoint has no legitimacy and shouldn't be given even one spare minute of attention. They don't deserve a seat at the table. They don't even merit being in the same room with that table. Same with the Ostrich Crowd. Let them stand there bent over, with their heads buried deep down in the sand. They can stay there forever for all I care. But they're fools. Buffoons! Willfully and stubbornly ignorant. And Proud of it, too! They're a freakin' joke. And they should be treated that way.