Saturday, November 10, 2007

Update on "I Was Nearly Had!"

Since I wrote about my personal involvement of the "Death of Global Warming" Hoax, many others have posted on it and endeavored to find the hoaxer. Well one site did, in fact they interviewed "Dr. Mark Cox".
It’s the interview they all wanted. Earlier this week climate change sceptics were receiving an email from one Dr Mark Cox.

...

But why did “Dr Mark Cox” create a fictional journal, write a bogus paper, invent authors, reviewers and implore sceptics to write about the paper? Read on...

After attempting to get hold of the person behind the 'Journal of Geoclimatic Studies' we were contacted by “Dr Mark Cox”. Well, it’s someone who said they were Dr Cox, it could be someone spoofing the spoofer but you have to trust people at some point, even if they are claiming to be people who construct elaborate hoaxs.

Can you tell me your real name?

No

What do you do for a living? Do you work in the climate field and/or have you studied climate change?

I work in a related field

Can you say where?

No

Why did you decide to construct the fake website? Was it purely a joke or did you set out to make people taking your paper at face value look foolish?

Its purpose was to expose the credulity and scientific illiteracy of many of the people who call themselves climate sceptics. While dismissive of the work of the great majority of climate scientists, they will believe almost anything if it lends support to their position. Their approach to climate science is the opposite of scepticism.

Are you surprised at the pick up your coverage has generated?

Not really. Equally ridiculous claims - like those in the paper attached to the "Oregon Petition" or David Bellamy's dodgy glacier figures - have been widely circulated and taken up by the ‘sceptic’ community. But you can explain this until you are blue in the face. To get people to sit up and listen, you have to demonstrate it. This is what I set out to do.

How quickly did you expect people to realise that your paper was fake?

In the Age of Google, hoaxes can't last for very long. But it hooked quite a few prominent sceptics before it was exposed. According to the various exposes now circulating online, among others, Rush Limbaugh broadcast it on his programme, James Inhofe's office posted it on his site [Editor's note: Sen. Inhofe's office says it was never posted on his website], Benny Peiser sent it to 2000 people and Ron Bailey wrote it up in glowing terms.

How long did it take to put the site together?

Four days.

Why is the site no longer up? Did you take it down yourself?

The company hosting the site decided to take it down.

What would you say to those who were taken in by your spoof?

More fool you.

What is your actual view on climate change? Do you think humanity is to blame for the current observed warming?

Yes. The science could scarcely be clearer.

Do you have other such spoofs in the pipeline?

That would be telling.

This interview shows that "Dr Cox", as a Global Warming Chicken Little, is more concerned with trying to embarrass those that disagree with him and his position, than he is trying to ascertain the truth about whether man is responsible for Climate Change or not. Those that have drank the kool-aide of Man-Made Global Warming care not for the truth, they care about pushing their "green" agenda and ruining economies for nothing.

If there was insurmountable data proving, without a doubt, that man is causing the Earth's temperatures to rise, then I would jump on the bandwagon. But since there isn't, and in fact there is increasingly more data demonstrating than man is NOT the cause, then I will remain a skeptic and write about those that are trying to scare and steal from us.


Mr Minority

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