Celebrity Scientists - GroupThink Fake 97% Consensus

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Brian Cox has let himself down - badly 


Until not too long ago I was reasonably pro - Brian Cox (BC) as someone popularising science to the wider public. The shine on that was taken off  by a Twitter notification relating to BC attacking John Macdonald about the latter's broadcast on LBC saying he found it hard to be friends with Tories implementing savage welfare cuts via Universal credit.

However on reviewing BC's Twitter feed and what he said while I really don't agree with BC's view - it betrays a deep lack of understanding of what's actually going on with Universal Credit - I do accept he's entitled to opinion. ( Plus he's still posting lots of good scientific stuff!!)

However when making pronouncements about science and scientists BC needs first to check the basis for his claims. In this BBC YouTube Clip :

https://youtu.be/sG8gLt4GChg?t=3

BC obviously thinks he's entitled to treat a climate sceptic as an irritating Flat-Earther. By claiming an absolute consensus he has shown how little he knows or understands about the AGW debate - the data manipulations used to support AGW - those false but very widely promoted claims about a scientific consensus of 97%  which  have already been shown to be complete drivel - far less an absolute consensus -just one dissenting scientist and there are significantly more than that falsifies that claim!.

https://business.financialpost.com/opinion/lawrence-solomon-97-cooked-stats

This is understandable as he is simply following the path predicted by Groupthink i.e.
  • don't actually check the basis for your beliefs, 
  • don't listen to any evidence to the contrary 
  • rubbish your opponents.
I  do hope BC throws off his Groupthink shackles

I also wish, alas the sprit d'escalier (Google it) the climate sceptic being rubbished had asked BC whether he thought Galileo was wrong when he claimed the Earth was round thus disagreeing with the then overwhelming (*) consensus of scientists who thought the Earth was flat. .. ( an example used at O/A level physics)

In case you're wondering - I agree within J McDonald - I also would find it very hard to be friends with those who support, have and still are cutting benefits via the implementation of Universal credit 

(*) But I can't prove that statement 😉

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