Once again good old Tom is back to his tactics, lying in wait until someone posts a link about an interesting news story that someone, somewhere could take as a dig against the current administration and, instead of addressing the actual topic he finds a way of saying "Look over here instead. Let's not talk about what the poster wanted."

The post I'm referring to is on the Space board, begun by McFly and titled innocuously "Yes, Another Climate Change Article". It's not confrontational, merely informational linking to stories that talk about the shrinking ice cap in the Arctic and the danger to polar bears.

One would expect a response on a board about science to be something in the order of "Gee, thanks for the links", acknowledging that the shrinking ice is a real phenomena, and the bears could legitimately face problems from the loss of the ice. At the end of that acknowledgment, it would be perfectly acceptable to then say "Have you also seen the articles that indicate record ice growth in the Antarctic and the fact that polar bears are also facing threats from hunters?". No, that would be a socially functional way of having a conversation.

Instead what we see is the backhanded attempt to disparage the originally linked articles because of obvious political motivations. It's like a reporter coming up on a car wreck and instead training their cameras on the children playing in nearby park because the topic of traffic safety in the area might be damaging to the local political power.

The truth of the matter is both stories have to be told but why this compulsion to have to link them and try to divert attention from the first? Yeah, the ice melt in the Arctic and the ice growth in the Antarctic are probably related but ultimately telling the second story in no way negates the title which indicates our climate is changing. Who cares if that change has happened throughout history naturally and we haven't been there to record it and see the true longterm trends. The data we do have indicates that the current change is very real and there's the distinct possibility that our actions on the Earth have something to do with it. I saw nothing in McFly's post that said anything other than just that. He didn't attack anyone or make proposals to shut down all cars and buses.

What is wrong with you Tom? It just bothers me to no end that a seemingly intelligent and articulate individual has such an inferiority complex that they constantly need to stick pins in their neighbors balloons. Debate's wonderful but play fair for Christ's sake and treat people with a little respect. If you want to talk about the ice growth in the Antarctic then post something in your own thread about it. Don't sit there lying in wait with your little zinger poised to rip the credibility away from someone that probably was just roaming the news and saw something they wanted to share with their friends.

Devil's advocate is a fine role - every once in awhile. If it's constant and always favors one political ideology it's just damned annoying.

Art