Yesterday I bemoaned the tendency of the Left to allow the right to frame the terms of debate, including allowing them to abrogate warm and fuzzy words like “reform” and “pro-life” to describe themselves or their policies. Well, lo and behold, today in my in-box I got something from a group that isn't going to take it anymore.
The email below is from Dr. Mark Boslough, a physicist, climate change researcher, and Fellow at the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.
Dear John,
Bill Nye and many other skeptical scientists (including me) have an important message: Climate science deniers are not skeptics.
Last month a group of 48 of us published an open letter because some members of the media are still misleading the public by wrongly using the term “skeptic.” The New York Times, for example, recently called Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) a skeptic — even though he believes in the absurd notion that climate change is “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated.”
As scientists, we practice and promote scientific skepticism. As Fellows of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, we encourage informed citizens to do the same. But those who reject the facts on climate change are not skeptics — they’re deniers.
We are insisting that journalists report truthfully on climate change and those who deny the science behind it. Can you add your name to support our letter?
Sign your name to tell the media: Stop referring to climate science deniers as “skeptics.”
Truth in climate reporting is already catching on among some news outlets. Recently, NPR and CBS both resisted using the term “skeptic” when it did not apply, and replaced it with the word “denier.” Now, we in the scientific community are asking other major publishers and broadcasters to do the same — and with strong, widespread public support, we can raise the bar for factual accuracy in climate reporting.
It’s time for our media to recognize climate science deniers for what they are.
Please sign on to support the letter from myself, Bill Nye, and other members of the scientific and skeptical community.
Sincerely,
Mark
Well, it was nice of Mark to write. In light of what I wrote yesterday I really had no choice but to sign the petition. In this one instance it might not do much good, but if the left loudly and persistently fought back against the right's Humpty Dumptyism, it would sink in sooner or later. We have to do to the press what the right did to it over the course of the past 50 years- insistently accuse it of conservative bias-not just Fox, but virtually all of the Beltway centric media.
By the way, if you want to sign the petition, I believe you should be able to do so by following this link.
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