Here comes the sort of all-encompasing generalisation that you expect from D&N: always assume that any particular pressure group is full of lying liars. Of course, you may be wrong from time to time, and I need hardly add that D&N assumes absolutely no responsibility for your subsequent loss but the fact is that it is in the very nature of pressure groups to lie - but always, naturally, of course, it goes without saying, from the very highest of motives and only as a necessary means of doing you good - so just swallow and say 'thank you'!
A prime example may be examined, downwind and at a safe distance, in the form of Greenpeace, an unmitigated collection of liars and fantasists in whose direction nothing should be aimed other than sundry fart noises, rotten veg and offal. I have indicated this more than once here at D&N but could offer you nothing conclusive by way of proof other than my cynical nose for lying liars. Today, however, I have confirmation - from the leader of Greenpeace, himself, no less.
He has admitted to the BBC that the Greenpeace claim last month that Arctic ice would have disappeared by 2030 was "a mistake" - and guess what, that was a lie, too. He went on to admit that Greenpeace made a practice of “emotionalizing issues” with the specific aim of changing public opinion. So you see, his apparently frank admission of a mistake having been made was indeed a lie because it is the way they operate, there was no mistake, just more of the same old, same old, untruthful agitprop. You can, if you are possessed of a very strong stomach, watch this lying liar, here.
In the meantime, I must confess that I have lost count of the number of loony liars Greenpeace supporters who have insisted on paddling or sailing into Arctic waters to 'prove' that the ice is disappearing and then screech for rescue because they get stuck in the ice. Anyway, Anthony Watts records the latest example of some truly stupid lying liars who actually believe their own lies. Here it is in their own monumentally pathetic words:
Last night, 16 Aug, we got hopelessly trapped by the ice. Despite a favorable ice report we encountered 8/10ths ice, with many old, i.e. large, bergs. We spent the night tied to one of them but had to leave this morning when another ‘berg collided with us and tipped Fiona over. We got away but the space around us is shrinking. I called the Canadian Coast Guard at noon and they are sending an icebreaker, due here tomorrow. We are NOT in immediate danger.
Well, in that case don't bother rescuing them, I say, after all, it will only add even more CO2 to the atmosphere!
Likely some methane too.
Posted by: JK | Saturday, 22 August 2009 at 03:51
So, being an annoying liar is literally your goal in life? Well, mission accomplished. Now what do you do with the remaining empty years?
Posted by: Marion Delgado | Sunday, 23 August 2009 at 03:36
Unsupported assertions are the very stuff of debate here at D&N. Mr. Delgado, but when accusing someone of lying it is usually considered good form to provide at least a fig leaf of evidence.
As to me being "annoying": guilty, sir, but my plea in mitigation is that usually I only annoy those who thoroughly deserve it.
(By the way, hate to mention it but entre nous, I just had a quick look at your photo and wondered if you realised that your mascara is running? I do hope that it wasn't my news telling you that Greenpeace are a bunch of lying liars that upset you.)
Posted by: David Duff | Sunday, 23 August 2009 at 09:52
Kind of like damning with faint praise, the fact that the best evidence of Greenpeace lying is this twisted farce of a scandal indicates your predjudice is likely unfounded.
The whole thing rests on the imprecision of the phrase "arctic ice" which is commonly used to mean arctic sea ice and clearly was used that way in Greenpeace's press release. No remotely thoughtful person could possibly believe they were claiming anything about the Greenland Icesheet.
The ones who are thoughtful enough to understand the difference between GIS and arctic sea ice and who still use this episode to beat up Greenpeace are the real "lying liars", which of course includes David Duff and Anthony Watts.
Posted by: coby | Sunday, 23 August 2009 at 17:53
"The whole thing rests on the imprecision of the phrase "arctic ice" which is commonly used to mean arctic sea ice"
First, Coby, "arctic ice" means, er, arctic ice, that is, ice within the arctic circle. Now, is there anything about the words 'arctic' and 'ice' that you still do not understand?
Second, the difference between Greenland ice and arctic sea ice is not "the whole thing" or even part of "the whole thing". The whole lying thing rests entirely and specifically on the fact that the head of Greenpeace admitted "We as a pressure group have to emotionalize issues".
I am happy to open my lexicon of euphemisms for the verb 'to lie' but I feel certain that 'to emotionalize' will be found there, somewhere. Forget the ice, Coby, just concentrate on "emotionalize the issues" and then tell me again who is the lying liar.
Posted by: David Duff | Sunday, 23 August 2009 at 18:48
"First, Coby, "arctic ice" means, er, arctic ice, that is, ice within the arctic circle."
Perhaps it should, but a quick read of the climate literature (the real stuff not what Greenpeace writes) reveals that that is simply not the case. When the term Arctic ice is used one must use context to determine what precisely they are referring to. 9 times out of 10 they will be referring to arctic sea ice, as was the Green peace press-release in question.
Posted by: ScruffyDan | Sunday, 23 August 2009 at 19:36
Here's an example of emotionalizing an issue: "A prime example may be examined, downwind and at a safe distance, in the form of Greenpeace, an unmitigated collection of liars and fantasists in whose direction nothing should be aimed other than sundry fart noises, rotten veg and offal."
And look, it is being done by a liar. Perhaps you are right after all.
http://scienceblogs.com/illconsidered/2009/08/did_greenpeace_lie_about_arcti.php
Posted by: coby | Sunday, 23 August 2009 at 20:16
But, Dan, it is the Greenpeace use of the term "arctic ice which is under discussion, not other people's and in the interview, which you appear not to have seen, he fails to make any distinction.
And if, as you seem to suggest, those who write what passes for "climate literature (the real stuff not what Greenpeace writes)" are incapable of writing clear, precise English on what is, after all, a scientific subject then I can not be held responsible for their infelicities.
Anyway, there appears to be surfeit of the stuff given the number of canoeists, yachtsmen, and so forth who keep getting stuck in it!
Posted by: David Duff | Sunday, 23 August 2009 at 21:14
The lie on your part is this very post, Duff; it illustrates your belief that it's proper behavior to call people liars sans evidence; the part about your mission being to annoy instead of persuade is in the text at the top of the blog.
Posted by: Marion Delgado | Monday, 24 August 2009 at 03:05
Coby, I am me, an individual with opinions more or less based on experience (sometimes more, sometimes less), I am not a mass-membership, agitprop group seeking to change the minds of the dim, the dumb and the daft (which includes most governments - and you, by the look of it). It was their leader who admitted that they "emotionalize issues" of a scientific nature. You swallowed his emotionalizing whole. You only receive, because you only deserve, a small amount of sympathy from me. We have all been taken in from time to time but most of us eventually wake up to the fact, the spectacularly obtuse carry on believing despite the evidence. Which are you?
Marion, is all that running mascara getting in your eyes because you appear to have difficulty reading? It was the leader of Greenpeace who admitted lying (or "emotionalizing"), all I did was agree with him. By the way, if you are having trouble with that mascara in the shower go over and visit my sweet friend 'Sister Wolf', she's a bit of a 'fashionista' and I'm sure she'll point you in the direction of some water-proof eye-liners - er, but, ask nicely, she can sometimes be a bit fierce!
http://www.godammit.com/
Posted by: David Duff | Monday, 24 August 2009 at 09:08
The hallmark of a liar is that when they are called on it they double down. Consider yourself identified
Posted by: Eli Rabett | Monday, 24 August 2009 at 19:41
How very odd - only two minutes ago I hesitated over your blog title, Eli, but then decided it would probably consist of the usual Rabett droppings and so passed on. I am not at all sure of the meaning of your Americanism "double down", perhaps you could elucidate, I am always eager to learn. At the same time as you give me that language lesson you might also care to explain why 'emotionalizing scientific issues' is not lying - I mean, you being a scientist(?) and all that!
Posted by: David Duff | Monday, 24 August 2009 at 19:50