Readers of these pages will know that Dr. Katharine Hayhoe is a powerful voice for climate sanity in the United States, and particularly threatening to the climate denial noise machine, in that she is an evangelical Christian, and carries the facts of climate science into communities that very often have been subjected to intense disinformation campaigns.
Dr. Hayhoe came to the attention of a wider audience this week, when it was revealed that she had been tasked to write a chapter on climate for a new book coming out under GOP presidential contender Newt Gingrich’s name – and that, in the heat of a tea-party troglodyte dominated primary campaign, she, her chapter, and her message, had been unceremoniously dumped from the project.
Now Dr Hayhoe is the target of the kind of hate and intimidation campaign that has become the hallmark of the professional climate denier community.
Dr. Hayhoe made headlines after the Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich came under pressure and dropped plans to have her write an opening chapter on climate change for his upcoming book.
Now, her teaching duties at Texas Tech University have resumed and the sting from the Gingrich snub is fading. But the hate mail is still pouring in, dozens of insulting e-mails every morning.
“It’d be a lot easier to stay home. It’s not easy having people standing up and screaming at you. It’s not easy opening your mail in the morning and seeing a hundred e-mails, each one more hateful than the last,” Dr. Hayhoe said Monday, in her first interview with a Canadian news outlet.
“That’s not easy. And it’s not the science that motivates me. It’s what comes from the heart.”
That introduction to the sharp-elbowed world of politics was the latest blow for the 39-year-old, who already had a taste of hostile audiences from public speaking at Christian schools, seniors homes, farmers’ group and book clubs.
She was prepared to deal with emotional, unfriendly reactions. But she wasn’t expecting what came with the name recognition, she said.
“There’s a well-organized campaign, primarily in the United States but also in other countries, including Canada and Australia, of bloggers, of people in the media, of basically professional climate deniers whose main goal is to abuse, to harass and to threaten anybody who stands up and says climate change is real – especially anybody who’s trying to take that message to audiences that are more traditionally skeptical of this issue.”
It was even more shocking because she didn’t see herself as a “Godless, tree-hugging activist” but a scientist who also happened to be a member of an evangelical Bible church. She is also married to a pastor.
“The attacks’ virulence, the hatred and the nastiness of the text have escalated exponentially. I’ve gotten so many hate mail in the last few weeks I can’t even count them.”
On one occasion, after appearing on Bill O’Reilly’s show on Fox TV, she received nearly 200 hate e-mails the next day.
The template is a well worn one, as veteran scientists like Mike Mann, Ben Santer, Kevin Trenberth, and Phil Jones can attest. I outlined one of the more notable examples in the video below. The parallels between modern science denial and medieval witch hunts are more than rhetorical. Climate deniers like the execrable Marc Morano have openly called for scientists to be dragged into the streets and flogged Sharia style. If you wonder how a civilized nation can descend into brutality and darkness, look no further than the hateful, anti-intellectual, and frighteningly well financed campaign of the science denial movement.
I’ve heard Patty Hearst and Paul Getty III had difficult lives
The Agenda 21 Conspiracy Theorists
Perplexed by the causes of Climate Denialist Hatred, I thought it worthwhile to try to understand the origins of the contempt for empirical evidence.
It turns out that a group in the US spawned the idea that Agenda 21 was a communist plot to destroy the American way of life. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, perhaps some felt the loss of a comparable adversary, and substituted the UN and environmental causes for their former foe.
A summary of the work and propaganda of these fanatics –
1. Carbon Tax Death Threats http://blog.gerbilnow.com/2012/01/carbon-tax.html
2. Agenda 21 – The Substitute Communist Threat : http://blog.gerbilnow.com/2012/01/agenda21.html
It’s getting worse everyday.
http://motherjones.com/environment/2012/01/mit-climate-scientists-wife-threatened-frenzy-hate
You’re a fine example at what you describe Martin…btw has anybody seen those emails?
So are you Maurizio: Climate deniers are those that cannot falsify the message so attack the messengers.
thanks Martin…as I am the one constantly under attack (sometimes, at a personal level), your words are very appreciated.
For you, the solution is simple: Stop swimming against the tide of history, science and logic.
There we go again. 8-))
At the extreme risk of sounding childish, you started it:
“You’re a fine example at what you describe, Martin”!
Why do climate deniers have such and obsession with viewing other people’s emails?
Psychologists say that for serial rapists, the crime is not about sex, but about control. That’s how it is for this crowd. They obviously don’t care about information or data, which is widely available.
It’s about control of thought, intimidation of those who think, and absolute power.
I see…you Climate Haters jump to conclusions based on hearsay and in the absence of evidence …why am I not surprised?
some of my strengths. pattern recognition and psychological profiling.
I’ve been watching this behavior way longer, and in greater depth, than most people ever have the opportunity.
As far as haters, maybe you should reserve some outrage for thugs like Marc Morano, who publishes emails with the express intention of showering abuse, threats, intimidation and slime on his intended targets.
The guy doesn’t have the guts to confront anyone himself, so targets wives and kids by proxy.
Just your kind of guy, right?
some of my strengths
Indeed…
with the express intention
US politics is not for the thin-skinned. OTOH everybody complains but the police is seldom (if ever) called in.
It’s a common tactic in Italian politics as well, to use strong words decrying persecution and targeting of family members via email. Only thing, nobody ever comes out with the actual content of the emails (of the messages RECEIVED, thank you), nobody ever involves the police, the police has never ever arrested anybody for “hate emails” or threats, etc etc.
I could easily come up with a story like that about myself, and you too about yourself. Any story can be concocted, as long as no evidence is asked.
So it’s all just part of the (hypocritical) game, until proven otherwise.
I see that denial is an all purpose strategy for you.
Your attitude is understandable, Peter. Believers often cannot tell between skepticism and denial.
Funny how it is that deniers, of course, don’t ask for evidence. And neither do you.
“Funny how it is that deniers, of course, don’t ask for evidence. And neither do you.”
Spend some time objectively studying the blog’s archives. The notion that there’s insufficient evidence is equivalent to opposing a bridge because the tensile strength of the girders isn’t measurable to 10 digit precision.
Charles – I was talking about evidence for hate mail with threats against Ms Hayhoe. As it happens I find it highly likely (sadly women are often targets on the ‘net) still whoever thinks it necessary to go public should find it necessary to show what they’re talking about so the everybody can judge how bad things truly are.