Sunday, November 13, 2005

Postcards From Wingerville

I'm not going to devote more time to this latest flamefest that originated at Marc Cooper's. The arguments against global warming and it's consequences of the other side are prima facie fallacious and have no legitimate support based in peer-reviewed science. My sources are impeccable and nonpolitical. Realclimate is non political. Repeating they are 17 times fast won't make it real, but that's the way it is with ideologues. Short of lobotomies nothing can be done to change some minds.

Using my books and resume in a failed effort to discredit my career and knowledge on the subject is a sorry attempt of ad hominem circumstantial,[1] but has a history behind it: See Joe Wilson. This is the way these people operate as SOP.

I could call George Roper old, fat and bald, and relegated to teaching at a tiny insignificant backwater college in Texas, just as he has done insinuating my degree from CSUN is reason enough not to believe me, but I won't. It's immaterial to his argument. It's incorrect based on the case he makes. Stick a fork in it, this turkey is done.

[1] A second form of argumentum ad hominem is to try and persuade someone to accept a statement you make, by referring to that person's particular circumstances. For example:

"Therefore it is perfectly acceptable to kill animals for food. I hope you won't argue otherwise, given that you're quite happy to wear leather shoes."
This is known as circumstantial argumentum ad hominem." And what Roper means when he cites my vanity press book, while I argue against going that route.

1 Comments:

Blogger Mark said...

Here's a fun comment complete with ad hominems against me I won't repeat.

He says:
"I recommend seeking out and reading P. Michaels, M. Crichton, S.F. Singer and V.D.Hanson for a balanced tour of the Global Worming [sic]antagonists."

Perfect title since they are worms and nothing more. Well Chrichton is a good writer but his fiction is not some sort of gospel-like decree and this book is fallacious on its face.

4:33 PM  

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