Lying deniers

Honestly, you can’t maker up some of the things the climate change deniers do. Unless you’re a denier, obviously, and then all bets are off.

Fabricated quote used to discredit climate scientist (emphasis added):

For climate sceptics it was a key piece of evidence showing that the scientists behind global warming could not be trusted. A quotation by one of the world’s most eminent climate scientists was supposed to demonstrate the depths to which he and his ilk would stoop to create scare stories exaggerating the threat of global warming.

Sir John Houghton, who played a critical role in establishing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), was roundly condemned after it emerged that he was an apparent advocate of scary propaganda to frighten the public into believing the dangers of global warming.

“Unless we announce disasters, no one will listen,” Sir John was supposed to have said in 1994.

The quotation has since become the iconic smoking gun of the climate sceptic community. The words are the very first to appear in the “manual” of climate denialism written by the journalist and arch-sceptic Christopher Booker. They get more than a million hits on Google, and are wheeled out almost every time a climate sceptic has a point to make, the last occasion being in a Sunday newspaper article last weekend written by the social anthropologist and climate sceptic Benny Peiser.

The trouble is, Sir John Houghton has never said what he is quoted as saying. The words do not appear in his own book on global warming, first published in 1994, despite statements to the contrary. In fact, he denies emphatically that he ever said it at any time, either verbally or in writing.

…

Sir John, who was the former head of the Met Office but is now living in semi-active retirement in Wales, said he is considering taking legal action because he feels that the continued recycling of the misquotation is doing him and his science a huge disfavour.

“It doesn’t do me any good because it suggests to everyone that I have hyped things up. I’ve been growing aware of it now for some time. The trouble is, if I just deny it then it cuts no ice with the people who want to believe it. I have to consider legal action,” Sir John said.

Some of the comments on that article express dismay that so much time is being spent on refuting this one non-quotation.

It’s worth taking the time, for some very simple reasons that should be obvious to anyone over about the age of 12:

First, the claim that Houghton said this is false. Accuracy beats inaccuracy, so correcting it should be welcome by all sides.

Second, this is not some trivial matter. Millions of human lives and trillions of dollars could be at stake. If you want to make up bizarre stories, lie about what other people say, and trigger pointless arguments, find a sports-themed blog and have at it.

Third, it exposes the deniers for what they are: Liars. They endlessly repeat the same fabrications and misinterpretations, often going from web site to web site like a cloud of virtual locusts stripping the information value from everything they touch. If they’re going to engage in such thug-like behavior, then at a bare minimum they deserve to be outed for being thugs.

Fourth, it draws a bright line and makes it impossible for the deniers to continue to use this fabricated quotation without making themselves look even more ridiculous. I’m not predicting they’ll stop using it; if anything, I expect them to keep repeating this and all their other delusions endlessly, no matter how many times it’s pointed out that it’s wrong and they have been publicly told that it was wrong.

Fifth, it exposes the cowardice of the deniers. When confronted with the truth, as detailed in the above article, several of them mysteriously stopped replying to the newspaper. Everyone reading this who finds that surprising will now sprout wings and fly to the moon.

Sixth, anything that reveals Christopher Monckton for the shameless wackaloon that he is can only be considered a benefit to humanity.

Personally, I hope Houghton sues them until they scream for mercy, and then sues them some more.