Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Social Commentary

The Grauniad On The Mann Lawsuit

14 Comments

Journalism:

Mann, who currently directs Penn State University’s Earth System Science Center, is one of the authors of the so-called “hockey stick graph”, which Al Gore used in his film, An Inconvenient Truth, to illustrate the precipitous rise in global temperatures since the dawn of industrialization when humans started spewing the heat-trapping greenhouse gas CO2 into the atmosphere. For the “sin” of helping to create this “exhibit A” in the scientific case for climate change, the conservative semimonthly, the National Review, called Mann “the Jerry Sandusky of climate scientists”. Blogger Rand Simberg wrote on the Review’s online site:

Except that instead of molesting children, [Mann] has molested and tortured data in the service of politicized science.

The Penn State researcher didn’t take this insult lying down. He sued the National Review and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which also published the offending blog; the case is currently pending.

For the record:

a) I wrote that at CEI’s Open Market blog, not at National Review (and no, I received no money from the Kochs, from Big Fossil Fuel, or even from CEI to do so, thanks for asking). The Jerry Sandusky phrase was later removed by CEI’s editors in response to Mann’s complaint (prior to his filing the lawsuit).
b) Before it was deleted, Mark Steyn quoted it at National Review‘s blog, The Corner.
c) The reference to Sandusky was not so much to compare Mann to Sandusky as to compare the Mann “investigation” by Penn State to the Sandusky “investigation” at Penn State (under the same Penn State administration), and it had nothing to do with the “sin” of creating the hockey stick, per se.

And the comments section over there is a supersaturated solution of ignorant moonbattery.

[Update on January 14th]

Based on what I’ve since learned, the phrase was in fact removed by CEI’s editors before they learned that Mann’s attorney had complained to National Review.

14 thoughts on “The Grauniad On The Mann Lawsuit”

  1. And the comments section over there is a supersaturated solution of ignorant moonbattery

    It is the Guardian, after all.

  2. The reference to Sandusky was not so much to compare Mann to Sandusky…

    I hope your defense is successful. That said, I think your use of Sandusky’s name was classless. There was no damage to Mann’s reputation; your own took a hit, I suspect.

    1. It may have, with some. Everything I write will generate opinions. I found it necessary to make the connection between the two cases (and yes, there was one, and recall that the post was written in the wake of the Freeh Report which documented how Penn State had covered up the crimes).

    2. I’d also add that the point was never to damage Mann’s reputation — he does that adequately to himself. It was to point out Penn State’s lack of integrity on both fronts.

      2. I wouldn’t bother to repeat it. The Sandusky comparison was pretty weak, as I pointed out above. Michael Mann is closer to John Wayne Gacy, a clown with a bunch of skeletons buried in the basement, aside from obvious physical and mental similarities.

      3. Better wording on that might have saved a lot of trouble. Though I’ve only seen snippets and second hand wording. And of course, hindsight is 20-20.

    3. In Penn State’s defense, there was not a vast swath of the public that spent ten years screaming that Jerry Sandusky was a serial child molester before their investigation. They were unprepared to handle a completely unexpected situation, and universities usually don’t have a great deal of involvement with young children. Plus, Sandusky had been honored as Assistant Coach of the Year twice, all on his own. He actually had a reputation to defend!

      I wouldn’t trust Mann with a pile of irrational numbers and a piece of graph paper.

        2. Academic fraud isn’t a crime, per se. So until Mann goes the full Peter Gleick, the only people who investigate him are the ones who also make money off him.

Comments are closed.