Wednesday 23 October 2013

Anthony Watts guide to conspiracy theories

Methinks Anthony Watts doth protesteth too much.

Is it me or does Anthony Watts, proprietor of the not paid for by the Koch brothers website WattsUpWithThat, certainly gets prickly when the name of the blessed brothers, whose combined wealth is, let's say, more than enough to live on, is mentioned?  It just seems a bit funny, that's all.  If he has no interest in defending them, then why bother.  Are there no more important things to worry about, such as which bit of nonsense is going to plop into the in-box at Watts Towers from, for instance, his eminence Chris Monckton?
Anthony Watts is asked if he wants a Diet Koch

Apparently not.  The spittle is sprayed in this piece at WUWT today.  I leave it to you to read but either Watts is unable to understand the written word or he is adopting a level of ignorance he does not possess for his own literary effect.  I suspect such a tactic is not in his arsenal so actual inability to read for comprehension is the likeliest explanation.

Especially when it is claimed that Fox News uses sock puppets to comment on their own threads.  And the Koch brothers are themselves into climate change denial to the tune of $67million since 1997 (it is alleged - I don't have the money for fancy lawyers).  And again.
Public Enemy # 4,873,590,428

Michael Mann, whose fault is to do some science and come up with an unexpected answer, is a target of Watts.  That's why Watts sarcastically says:
Now watch, someone will alert Dr. Mann to this writing, and he’ll tweet something about it with some added smear, or retweet something from one of his followers along the same lines. It’s as sure as the sun rises in the morning, I don’t even need a computer model.
Well, Anthony.  I shall act as Dr Mann's very own Lamb Chop and say, as sure as eggs is eggs (and you won't understand that one, will you Anthony?), since the Koch brothers are heavily into climate change denial, why on Earth shouldn't anyone smell the expensive after shave of the world's richest brothers (citation needed). 

But while Anthony Watts looks for conspiracies amongst the real climate scientists, he clearly doesn't read the comment threads on his own site.  Or even the articles on his own site.  I won't bother tracking it down but I can't remember how many times I have seen Lord Monckton accuse someone or other in the climate science community of fraud.  That requires a conspiracy because it has to be planned ahead.  And these accusations are repeated ad nauseam on WUWT by contributors and commenters.  How often do you read that it is all about the grant money?  How often do you read that it is about a great hoax?  How often, Anthony, can you accept those kind of comments and not accept that conspiracy ideation is something that many WUWT readers actually share?  It isn't hard to find.  But you do have to open your eyes and learn how to read English.  And that, dear reader, is something Anthony Watts seems to have trouble doing.

1 comment:

  1. You will like the Part 2 followup for Defamation By Internet? Part 1 - Murry Salby's Short-Lived Blog Storm, which will have a detailed analysis of the conspiracy ideation and other fantasies in the blogs mentioned there. NOVA and WUWT vied for the lead.

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