BBC staff ordered to stop giving equal airtime to climate deniers
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Re: BBC staff ordered to stop giving equal airtime to climate deniers
#2Were every network to start doing what the BBC is, their unfounded opinions would cease to be heard, Bill Nye wouldn’t have to keep debating them, and maybe, just maybe, they’d all just go away.
Not bloody likely. Now you've just put them in the same group as the other conspiracy theorists, and given them the additional (legitimate) ammo that "the establishment is censoring them".
Confirmation bias is a hell of a drug.
Re: BBC staff ordered to stop giving equal airtime to climate deniers
#3Were every network to start doing what the BBC is, their unfounded opinions would cease to be heard, Bill Nye wouldn’t have to keep debating them, and maybe, just maybe, they’d all just go away. Not bloody likely. Now you've just put them in the same group as the other conspiracy theorists, and given them the additional (legitimate) ammo that "the establishment is censoring them". Confirmation bias is a hell of a dru…
Devil's advocate: When's the last time a fringe* conspiracy theorist's agenda has been able to effect legislature?
EDIT: Added the word "fringe". As in, a conspiracy theory that doesn't get media coverage.
Re: BBC staff ordered to stop giving equal airtime to climate deniers
#4Quelling dissenters! A true victory for science!
Re: BBC staff ordered to stop giving equal airtime to climate deniers
#5Were every network to start doing what the BBC is, their unfounded opinions would cease to be heard, Bill Nye wouldn’t have to keep debating them, and maybe, just maybe, they’d all just go away. Not bloody likely. Now you've just put them in the same group as the other conspiracy theorists, and given them the additional (legitimate) ammo that "the establishment is censoring them". Confirmation bias is a hell of a dru…
Putting them in the same group as other conspiracy theorists is putting them where they belong.
Re: BBC staff ordered to stop giving equal airtime to climate deniers
#6Were every network to start doing what the BBC is, their unfounded opinions would cease to be heard, Bill Nye wouldn’t have to keep debating them, and maybe, just maybe, they’d all just go away. Not bloody likely. Now you've just put them in the same group as the other conspiracy theorists, and given them the additional (legitimate) ammo that "the establishment is censoring them". Confirmation bias is a hell of a dru…
Devil's advocate: When's the last time a fringe* conspiracy theorist's agenda has been able to effect legislature? EDIT: Added the word "fringe". As in, a conspiracy theory that doesn't get media coverage.
I offer Second Iraq War as a lower bound.
Re: BBC staff ordered to stop giving equal airtime to climate deniers
#7Were every network to start doing what the BBC is, their unfounded opinions would cease to be heard, Bill Nye wouldn’t have to keep debating them, and maybe, just maybe, they’d all just go away. Not bloody likely. Now you've just put them in the same group as the other conspiracy theorists, and given them the additional (legitimate) ammo that "the establishment is censoring them". Confirmation bias is a hell of a dru…
For any given fringe view that the media properly marginalizes, some people will go on believing it. But that doesn't mean the number of believers (or undecided people) will stay the same. It's quite possible, and in my view probable, that reducing airtime from fringe views will substantially reduce the number of people who hold or lean towards those views.
Re: BBC staff ordered to stop giving equal airtime to climate deniers
#8Were every network to start doing what the BBC is, their unfounded opinions would cease to be heard, Bill Nye wouldn’t have to keep debating them, and maybe, just maybe, they’d all just go away. Not bloody likely. Now you've just put them in the same group as the other conspiracy theorists, and given them the additional (legitimate) ammo that "the establishment is censoring them". Confirmation bias is a hell of a dru…
Devil's advocate: When's the last time a fringe* conspiracy theorist's agenda has been able to effect legislature? EDIT: Added the word "fringe". As in, a conspiracy theory that doesn't get media coverage.
HPV vaccination jumps to mind.
Re: BBC staff ordered to stop giving equal airtime to climate deniers
#9Were every network to start doing what the BBC is, their unfounded opinions would cease to be heard, Bill Nye wouldn’t have to keep debating them, and maybe, just maybe, they’d all just go away. Not bloody likely. Now you've just put them in the same group as the other conspiracy theorists, and given them the additional (legitimate) ammo that "the establishment is censoring them". Confirmation bias is a hell of a dru…
Devil's advocate: When's the last time a fringe* conspiracy theorist's agenda has been able to effect legislature? EDIT: Added the word "fringe". As in, a conspiracy theory that doesn't get media coverage.
The "vaccines cause autism" crowd have been successful in carving out "personal exemptions" from otherwise evenly-enforced rules.
Re: BBC staff ordered to stop giving equal airtime to climate deniers
#10Quelling dissenters! A true victory for science!
These people do not participate in science.