James Delingpole, the champion of online climate conspiracy theorists, claims he was ‘intellectually raped’ on television on Monday night, reports Joss Garman.
James Delingpole, the champion of online climate conspiracy theorists, was ‘intellectually raped’ on television on Monday night by the new head of the prestigious Royal Society. (Reportedly Delingpole’s own words.)
In a must-watch interview for the BBC’s Horizon, the Nobel-prize winning Sir Paul Nurse gently questioned the columnist about his forthright views on climate change science, which he espouses regularly for The Spectator and The Daily Telegraph and in the regular TV and radio spots he is offered by, amongst others, the BBC.
Here’s the video clip of the interview on YouTube:
Surprisingly, the question that tripped him up was one he should surely have seen coming. Delingpole, who had just been attacking the use of consensus in science, was asked if he would submit to a consensus scientific opinion if he needed treating for cancer. Stumbling wildly, he eventually feebly tried to change the subject, saying:
“Erm, shall we talk about climategate?”
Having been (unusually) simply lost for words, later he says:
“It is not my job to sit down and read peer-reviewed papers because I simply haven’t got the time, I haven’t got the scientific expertise… I am an interpreter of interpretation.”
But he apparently does have the time to obsessively blog misleading information about climate change and smear scientists in the process.
Anyhow, perhaps the most beautiful thing about his embarrassing interview is that Sir Paul clearly didn’t try to set him up. Delingpole needed absolutely no help in making himself look stupid. Sir Paul ended his programme urging scientists to speak up. He said:
“Scientists have got to get out there… if we do not do that it will be filled by others who don’t understand the science, and who may be driven by politics and ideology.”
As Left Foot Forward has previously noted Delingpole has admitted how his obsession with climate change is driven by “ideological warfare”.
39 Responses to “Telegraph columnist ‘intellectually raped’ by Royal Society scientist”
Rhys Howell
RT @leftfootfwd: Telegraph columnist 'intellectually raped' by Royal Society scientist: http://bit.ly/htP25Q reports @JossGarman
Andy Buckley
RT @leftfootfwd: Telegraph columnist 'intellectually raped' by Royal Society scientist: http://bit.ly/htP25Q reports @JossGarman
Adam Bell
The most amusing thing about the whole show is that Delingpole came off as looking dafter than the chap who thinks AIDS is caused by bacterial imbalances in the gut.
Gregory Norminton
The fallback strategy for extremists like Delingpole is to go from verbal assault to claiming victim status. His beloved Sarah Palin follows the same strategy whenever things turn against her – as we saw with her response to the Tucson massacre. It’s important for rationalists everywhere to understand the mindset of the antiscience crowd: a volatile mixture of narcissism, insecurity and plain, misdirected anger. Delingpole has found a niche for his very little talent, where (see his blog) he attracts people with similar hang-ups and prejudices. There will inevitably be plenty of scope for this sort of material online; but the time has come for The Telegraph to jettison its most unhinged and abusive blogger. They’ve got plenty of climate change deniers to keep the propaganda flowing. Delingpole, however, is beyond even the Barclay brothers’ pale. Or he should be, if the newspaper retained any credibility.
Philip Bett
RT @leftfootfwd: Telegraph columnist 'intellectually raped' by Royal Society scientist http://bit.ly/gHmshU – This is beautiful 🙂