Politics, not Science
by tdaxp ~ December 2nd, 2009
Little Green Footballs, a far-right-wing blog (which, like all on the extreme right, is indistinguishable from the Left) pushes the normal politics-over-science view that is typical among the anti-scientific establishment:
I’ve commented several times in our discussions about this issue that I understand why the scientists at CRU were resistant to sharing data with people like Steven McIntyre, whose only reason for demanding access to the data is to cherry-pick through it for new out-of-context denialist talking points. And it’s understandable how the constant stream of distortions and lies from their critics could lead to a sort of “bunker mentality,” in which the CRU scientists began to believe it was better for them to withhold the data, to make it harder for the deniers to attack.
Writing this is like saying it is understandable why a scientist would falsify data, or plagiarize, in order to get a point across. Immediately after this paragraph, LGF doubles down in its bizarre view of science. Its bizarre. It shows an absolute ignorance of how science works. Saying “you only want to see my data to criticize me” is bizarre, because that is exactly the point.
It’s understandable, but for political — not scientific — reasons it would be better to just go ahead, share everything openly and transparently, and deal with the inevitable deniers’ distortions — rather than create the impression that they’re trying to hide something.
Sadly, LGF’s views are typical among the anti-scientific ignorati, whether the topic if human biodiversity, vaccines, or catastrophic anthropogenic global warming theorists.
I think this is your...