On September 1st, a group of scientists quietly sent a letter to President Obama, the US Attorney General and the Head of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. In the letter, the scientists asked them to use the powers of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to investigate the companies and organizations responsible for propagating climate denial.
RICO was designed to stop organized crime, but it was most famously used against tobacco companies due to their efforts to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking. Given the well-documented parallels between tobacco tactics and those of fossil fuel companies (e.g. Merchants of Doubt), the scientists' request seems reasonable. After all—as we learned recently—companies like Exxon knew full well that their product influenced the global climate before pouring millions into efforts to tell the public otherwise.
While the media is only now reporting on the letter (triggered by a brief Politico mention), a high-profile lawyer and professor, Philippe Sands, has made a similar call, asking the International Court of Justice to "settle the scientific dispute" on climate change.
Unsurprisingly, deniers are not happy about these calls for investigation. They're scrambling for a defense, but finding none, they've instead gone on the offensive.
The most entertaining read comes from Lubos Motl, who makes a number of interesting claims with his trademark hyperbole and lack of self-awareness. He accuses all but one of the letter signatories of being "hired in order to increase" the number of signers; he suggests one of the signers of sleeping with Fidel Castro; and he says the scientists' claim is akin to Nazi claims about Jews being criminal, and that Naomi Oreskes "is a dishonest and hateful Marxist shrew."
After this, Motl suggests that it is the letter signers who are "clearly misunderstanding how disagreements may be solved among scientists in civilized societies."
That's right, after invoking Nazis and accusing those in the scientific community of bribery, sleeping with Castro and being a lying shrew, it's the scientists who are uncivil for thinking organizations should not be allowed to lie to the public. About the only thing that can be said to Motl's credit is that he didn't call anyone a prostitute.
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