Heartland Institute Sinks To New Low

[LocoAko]

As if death threats on climate scientists weren't enough, we now have this to deal with.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/05/04/the-heartland-institute-sinks-to-a-new-low/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/may/04/heartland-institute-global-warming-murder

The Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based rightwing thinktank notorious for promoting climate scepticism, has launched quite possibly one of the most ill-judged poster campaigns in the history of ill-judged poster campaigns.

I'll let its own press release for its upcoming conference explain, as there's simply no need to finesse it further:

Billboards in Chicago paid for by The Heartland Institute point out that some of the world's most notorious criminals say they "still believe in global warming" – and ask viewers if they do, too…The billboard series features Ted Kaczynski, the infamous Unabomber; Charles Manson, a mass murderer; and Fidel Castro, a tyrant. Other global warming alarmists who may appear on future billboards include Osama bin Laden and James J. Lee (who took hostages inside the headquarters of the Discovery Channel in 2010).

These rogues and villains were chosen because they made public statements about how man-made global warming is a crisis and how mankind must take immediate and drastic actions to stop it.

Why did Heartland choose to feature these people on its billboards? Because what these murderers and madmen have said differs very little from what spokespersons for the United Nations, journalists for the "mainstream" media, and liberal politicians say about global warming. The point is that believing in global warming is not "mainstream," smart, or sophisticated. In fact, it is just the opposite of those things. Still believing in man-made global warming – after all the scientific discoveries and revelations that point against this theory – is more than a little nutty. In fact, some really crazy people use it to justify immoral and frightening behavior.

But then comes the best bit:

Of course, not all global warming alarmists are murderers or tyrants.

It tries to morally justify its posters - the first of which appeared over the Eisenhower Expressway yesterday - by saying that, due to ""Climategate" and the recent incident in which a US scientist called Peter Gleick admitted to obtaining and releasing internal documents (one of which Heartland claims was faked) detailing Heartland's funding and policy strategies, that "the leaders of the global warming movement are willing to break the law and the rules of ethics to shut down scientific debate and implement their left-wing agendas".

It adds:

The people who still believe in man-made global warming are mostly on the radical fringe of society. This is why the most prominent advocates of global warming aren't scientists. They are murderers, tyrants, and madmen.

[A-L-E-K]

classic stuff

[yoda]

Disturbing...

[WxUSAF]

Hitler believed in evolution.

Evolution must be false

[A-L-E-K]

Hitler believed in evolution.

Evolution must be false

on the plus side, at least Hitler didn't believe in AGW

[HoustonHurricane]

Kaczynski is much smarter than anyone at the Heartland Institute.

[WeatherRusty]

The truly scary thing is the possibility that the Heartland Institute ideology actually believes down to the the bone what they are pushing. In all honesty they believe their message to be right and true and good for us all. I say no thank you.

[A-L-E-K]

The truly scary thing is the possibility that the Heartland Institute ideology actually believes down to the the bone what they are pushing. In all honesty they believe their message to be right and true and good for us all. I say no thank you.

totally doubt this

[WeatherRusty]

totally doubt this

The alternative is to believe they are being less than honest. The conservative Heartland Institute less than honest? Golly Gee Wizz.... A bastion of conservative ideology can't be taken at face value?

What we have here is a case of the ends justifying the means. They vehemently deny global warming and man's activities as the cause. They deny the science which indicates we have a serious problem which will play out over the next several decades and centuries. This is just another way of convincing the general public of their viewpoint. The far right conservatives eat this stuff up hook, line and sinker and the Republican Party embrasures them and plays to this sentiment.

Romney, my former Governor, used to understand the validity of AGW before he realized the wisdom in aligning himself with the party line.

[donsutherland1]

Apparently, the Heartland Institute has taken its anti-science message on climate change to new lows. That it has engaged in a Soviet-style disinformation campaign complete with falsehoods and character assassination should come as no surprise.

Heartland is unable to make any headway based on scientific evidence or scientific debate. It remains stuck in a pseudo-scientific quagmire largely of its own making. Rather than remaining true to its stated mission to "promote free market solutions" to a very real problem, it engages in the far lazier approach of denying the problem altogether.

Ironically, Heartland's embrace of disinformation attacks the very free market principles it claims to support. Effectively functioning markets require reliable and timely information. Voluntary exchange requires a degree of trust and integrity. Heartland's disinformation campaign lacks all of those elements. When those elements are absent, market function breaks down and the welfare of market participants suffers.

[donsutherland1]

I just noticed that Heartland has put out a press release announcing the end of its disinformation campaign. One quote from the press release is interesting. It states:

We know that our billboard angered and disappointed many of Heartland's friends and supporters, but we hope they understand what we were trying to do with this experiment.

http://climateconference.heartland.org/our-billboards/

[dabize]

I just noticed that Heartland has put out a press release announcing the end of its disinformation campaign. One quote from the press release is interesting. It states:

We know that our billboard angered and disappointed many of Heartland's friends and supporters, but we hope they understand what we were trying to do with this experiment.

http://climateconfer...our-billboards/

Our science dollars at work....................

[dabize]

Romney, my former Governor, used to understand the validity of AGW before he realized the wisdom in aligning himself with the party line.

Romney understands absolutely NOTHING except the mysterious forces that cause the Invisible Hand to pick other people's pockets and make him rich.

He gives the credibility of politicians a bad name............something that is extraordinarily difficult to do.

[Vergent]

In Heartlands magic show of disinformation you focus on the statistics of temperature measurement(what percentage of people are expert enough in statistics to form their own opinion), and they ignore the inarguable like CO2 concentration:

Sea level:

Land ice mass balance:

Its a magic show where the rule is we can only talk about the air temperature(i.e. the weather)

[Vergent]

The sad thing is that it is working. There is not the political will to act.

[WeatherRusty]

The sad thing is that it is working. There is not the political will to act.

It works because in general a person's opinion on AGW is based on their view of science which in turn is based on their world view or ideology.

Because of this, you don't have to convince over 50% of the people.

Generally, we can assume based on ideology alone:

33% are with you

33% are against you

34% are up for grabs

You only need to convince 18% to your side.

This works for the general population where we have a statistically normal distribution or the full range of probability.

It doesn't work in the U.S. Congress where the distribution is largely diametrically opposed and 60% is need to win. One side can effectively block anything.

The goal of education is to rationally persuade those with open minds. Science will never convince a large block of society as to the validity of biological evolution or human caused global warming and climate change.