Quote:
Originally Posted by Danzig
I'm supposed to take a fox defense by fox seriously?
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This piece is a classic look at typical FOX misinformation to try to make its point. From the piece:
"Question #4: "Do you think that MOST SCIENTISTS believe that climate change is occurring, not occurring, or views are evenly divided?" (emphasis in the original). Of course, the answer WorldPublicOpinion.org wants was that most scientists believe that climate change is occurring. Again, the question is poorly worded. In particular, it fails to specify what time period is relevant. Have temperatures risen since the end of The Little Ice Age in 1850? Surely, no one disagrees with that. Have temperatures changed much since 1998? Few scientists would claim so. Judging from the WorldPublicOpinion.org's report, the authors are clearly pushing the man-made global warming viewpoint. But on that score, there is little unanimity. For example, a 2010 survey of American weather forecasters found only 17 percent to believe in man-made global warming. And, as for scientists in general, 9,029 Ph.D.s signed a petition this year disputing man-made global warming claims."
Note how in the second half of this, the Op-ed switches the terminology from "climate change" (what the original question was about) to "man-made global warming." It's verbal sleight-of-hand and is quite common when someone wants to mislead without appearing to do so. The two terms are not synonymous. So, FOX can say, "Look! There are scientists who dispute man-made global warming!" when the survey question was "Do most scientists believe climate change is occurring, not occurring, or evenly divided?" The original question makes no claim as to cause of climate change, but FOX is happy to impose one in order to misinform.
For that matter, "climate change" and "global warming" (regardless of man-made or not) are not the same thing, either.