Recently I came across a quote that perfectly describes the actions of many climate change deniers. What is even more interesting is that the quote comes from the book Creationism’s Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design, and describes the strategy of the proponents of creationism.
The new strategy is wonderfully simple. Here is how you implement it: exploiting that modern, nearly universal, liberal suspicion of zealotry, you accuse the branch of legitimate inquiry whose results you hate, in this case the
evolutionary natural sciences[science of climate change], of — what else? — zealotry! … Crying “viewpoint discrimination,” you loudly demand adherence to the principle of freedom of speech … insisting that such freedom is being denied your legitimate alternative view…This bold strategy is working, not just with religious fundamentalists, who do not need to be convinced anyway, but with people who have no such fundamentalist commitment and who are in principle well-enough educated to see what is happening.
It fits like a glove. Of course the link between the strategies of climate change deniers and is nothing new.
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