UPDATE: Shockingly, Anthony Watts stands behind his offensive post and comments. Comments are stopped on this post as of 10:31 pm ET, resuming around 6 am, for reasons discussed below.
Today, a demented, violent individual held people hostage with a gun and bombs strapped to his body at the Discovery Communications building in Silver Spring, MD. He was ultimately shot and killed by police. Thankfully, the hostages were safe.
For Anthony Watts, this bizarre tragedy is an opportunity to launch his most offensive headline to date at WattsUpWithThat:
And the first line of Watts’ post is “Well, you filthy readers, see what happens when we don’t acquiesce?“ Remember, Watts is a guy who just a few weeks ago demanded others “dial back the rhetoric.” Seriously.
Not only didn’t Watts’ commenters question that beyond-the-pale headline, but many of them posted equally offensive comments in the same vein, which Watts permitted.
Watts actually snipped one comment as “waaaay over the top” but let through comments like “Given leaders like Gore, Holdren and Hansen I am only surprised this did not happen soon” (sic) and “He must be one of Hansen’s understudys!!” (sic — or is that sick?) We now have the full measure of Anthony Watts.
Earlier this year, Watts directly questioned the patriotism of both Tamino and Rabett (see “Peak readership for anti-science blogs?“) leading Tamino to write, “This just might be the most loathsome thing Watts has yet done with his blog.” Watts topped that today.
The right wing couldn’t be happier that this nutjob has expressed environmental views. But the fact is, like lots of crazy people, he defies category or logic. Think Progress notes he was angered over immigration pollution and anchor babies, and he wrote “Programs must be developed to find solutions to stopping ALL immigration pollution and the anchor baby filth that follows that.” See also Wonk Room’s “Alleged Gunman’s Manifesto Echoes Anti-immigrant Groups’ Malthusian Screed.”
I don’t think you can tell much about this guy from his actions and writing other than the fact that he was crazy every which way.
But you can tell a lot about the anti-science, pro-pollution blogosphere by how they react to this and whether or not they denounce Anthony Watts.
NOTE: Please keep the comments civil. This is NOT WattsUpWithThat.
I will close comments when I go to sleep (circa 10:30 DC time) because I don’t want the anti-science crowd coming here and trying to post phony comments pretending to be from science-minded CP readers, as I can assure you they sometimes do. I’ll reopen when the little one toddles in (circa 6 am).
UPDATE: Watts stands behind his offensive post and the comments. His entire, laughable defense:
Predictably, Joe Romm has turned this post into a personal bashing of me over at his Climate Progress blog. For some eye opening viewpoints from his side of the argument, have a look at the 495 comments on his parent blog “Think Progress” here.
Seriously. The multiple comments he let through bashing me (and Hansen, Gore, and Holdren) before I wrote this post are so offensive, so utterly beyond the pale, you’d think he couldn’t write that with a straight face.
As for his defense — some other website has outrageous comments, too — let me set the record straight on that. Think Progress is not my “parent blog” and I have no control whatsoever over its content or comments (and vice versa). Moreover, TP has a policy of not filtering threads, because they don’t want to suggest that they own the stuff they don’t filter. I would note that many large websites — including most newspapers — have a similar policy. But Watts does edit his comments — so his defense is no defense at all.
This article was originally posted on Climate Progress
