Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Reddit Bans Climate Change Deniers.

Despite their self proclamation of being "passionately dedicated to free speech" the debates on Reddit's /r/science about climate change have gotten so bogged down with trolls, disagreements and personal mockery that administrators have categorically decided to ban posts from any climate change deniers. The defense was that the moderators feel they were responsible if misinformation was getting to viewers and that only opinion and comments based in fact should be allowed...but many, even those that disagree with deniers, see banning an entire side of a debate as a very slippery slope...take a look...
http://dailycaller.com/2013/12/18/reddit-bans-comments-from-global-warming-skeptics/

Not a fan of the move myself. I think it's fine to ban people who are purposefully posting incorrect information, misinformation, or simply making things up, but to completely remove an opposing point of view really hurts the overall scientific integrity of a discussion. I'm not saying that climate change isn't real, but it's far from 100% understood, as our incorrect models have shown. It's not that they need to open the door to everyone from the Neil Degrasse-Tyson to the crazy guy who thinks Elvis caused climate change, but there's quite a bit of middle-ground there...and quite a bit climate-change science yet to be completely understood. And last time I checked in on science, when you can't yet completely explain or understand something, you usually don't declare your current thoughts infallible and quit listening...that's what the church is for...

No comments:

Post a Comment