"The Silence Of The Shams": The Respected Science Writers Involved In The Wrongful Ruin Of Tim Hunt
This is an amazing long read by Louise Mensch, who is admirably relentless in trying to see the truth come out about the horrible injustice done to Sir Tim Hunt.
She titled it "The Silence of the Shams," and quotes Professor Nicholas Nassim Taleb's bestseller, Antifragile, which includes note on ethics in the beginning of the book:
If you see fraud, and do not say fraud, you are a fraud.
Mensch calls out respected science writers like Pulitzer winner Deborah Blum and RetractionWatch's Ivan Oransky for their shameful part in the pillorying that was done to Hunt. (FYI: I had email contact with Oransky a few years ago -- asking him to go after a researcher for what I believed to be clear evidence of plagiarism.)
Regarding what was done to Hunt, inspired by what Mensch laid out in her piece, I've tweeted to both Blum and Oransky (Tuesday night, Pacific Time at around 7:30 p.m.) asking for an explanation.
And I noted that both Oransky and Blum were part of the mob that piled on former Sci Am blogs editor Bora Zivkovic, whose life was basically ruined by a similar sort of injustice (similar to what was done to Sir Tim Hunt). And never mind that nothing he did met the standards for what he was being accused of -- sexual harassment.
My sense of why so many supposed skeptics pile on in these cases? It's a form of religion -- religion without the god in it -- in which these so-called "skeptics" are such fundamentalists for Social "Justice" and feminism and the like that they are blind to even the remotest interest in the truth and actual justice.
And my call to everybody out there -- let's all be more like Louise.
And remember the words of Taleb:
If you see fraud, and do not say fraud, you are a fraud.
Some of my tweets on this to Oransky and Blum -- not in order (and do note the dates on the individual tweets):
Another set:
Indeed...Deborah and Ivan, what are your explanations?
I have not seen anything that suggests a bias towards skeptical thinking translates to any social sense or grace. Look at the Rebacca Watson dustup, where one woman's graceless handling of one white cad in an elevator produced thousands of hours of worthless debate among "scientists" (some self-described) about how she should have handled the situation. That one elevated to threats quickly, and cast serious doubts about her employability for having started things despite any arguments otherwise...
Radwaste at July 22, 2015 5:53 AM
Great point, Raddy.
Amy Alkon at July 22, 2015 6:19 AM
Not to mention Matt Taylor of ESA. The SJWs brought him to tears over the #Shirtstorm
Keith Glass at July 22, 2015 6:29 AM
"Religion" is absolutely the way to describe it. And it's a hellfire-and-brimstone, snake-handling religion. People who don't believe are apostates and blasphemers. The core of the environmental movement has been this way for decades. It's ironic and a bit scary that as Christianity declines in the West, other religions are popping up to take its place. And these new religions are extreme, intolerant and irrational. They are also all forms of Gnosticism -- there is an inner circle that is saved because they have the right connections, an outer group that is considered essentially useful idiots, and everyone else is condemmed.
Cousin Dave at July 22, 2015 10:13 AM
I have not seen anything that suggests a bias towards skeptical thinking translates to any social sense or grace.
Why would you, most skeptics arent skeptics, they are atheists who assume that by virtue of having a reasonable disbelief in deity that they are rational thinkers on every subject under the sun.
Most atheists I've met are far more dogmatic about their beliefs (be it feminism, global warming, NewSpeak) than most of the religious people I know
lujlp at July 22, 2015 4:52 PM
A lot of it depends on whether they are new converts or inherited their religion. A lot of new atheists are insanely dogmatic and evangelical. Just like many Christian or Muslim converts. But third and fourth generations tend to calm down.
Ben at July 23, 2015 5:44 AM
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