Paul Krugman on machismo and climate change:

There is, it turns out, a strong link between the manosphere — the online movement promoting “masculinity,” misogyny and opposition to feminism — and anti-environmentalism. For example, in 2023 Jordan Peterson convened a high-profile conference to declare that concerns about climate change are a “conspiracy run by narcissistic poseurs.”

If you think about it, this makes sense — not intellectually but emotionally. Don’t concern about the environment and advocacy of “clean energy” sound kind of, well, feminine? Real men burn stuff and don’t worry if the process is dirty.

The very word “clean” is horribly girly. Who wants to be clean when you can be dirty instead?

And manosphere-type attitudes are

… Read the rest

Does transitioning actually help? Does banning puberty blockers actually harm? Helen Lewis asks some questions.

Advocates of the open-science movement often talk about “zombie facts”—popular sound bites that persist in public debate, even when they have been repeatedly discredited. Many common political claims made in defense of puberty blockers and hormones for gender-dysphoric minors meet this definition. These zombie facts have been flatly contradicted not just by conservatives but also by prominent advocates and practitioners of the treatment—at least when they’re speaking candidly. Many liberals are unaware of this, however, because they are stuck in media bubbles in which well-meaning commentators make confident assertions for youth gender medicine—claims from which its elite advocates have long since retreated.

And … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on Speaking of self-discipline and judegement.

Per this 1966 Statement, professors are obligated to “exercise critical self-discipline and judgment in using, extending, and transmitting knowledge” and to “practice intellectual honesty”. We take this to mean that as academics, we also have a responsibility to the public to not misconstrue the scope of our expertise, nor comment in our capacity as academics on issues where we lack the requisite expertise.

Would that not also apply to supporting and promoting trans ideology? Is it possible to be an expert in lies and bullshit, in “care” that harms, and has no basis in reality? Do the signers of this letter themselves possess the knowledge … Read the rest

Originally a comment by maddog on Speaking of self-discipline and judgement.

[S]ince 1966, the AAUP has also agreed on a Statement on Professional Ethics. [5] Per this 1966 Statement, professors are obligated to “exercise critical self-discipline and judgment in using, extending, and transmitting knowledge” and to “practice intellectual honesty”. We take this to mean that as academics, we also have a responsibility to the public to not misconstrue the scope of our expertise, nor comment in our capacity as academics on issues where we lack the requisite expertise. to not tell lies

FIFY

If you want to model the principles of academic ethics, the first principle is: be honest. Don’t lie. Without that first principle, none of the other precepts … Read the rest

Ok then I’ll make my own party, and it will be much better than yours!!

Yeah but bro you’re not even from here. You can’t even vote here.

Musk dreams the impossible dream.

Shares in Tesla tanked by as much as 7.6% in premarket trading Monday after its CEO Elon Musk said he is forming a new American political party, provoking an irate response from US President Donald Trump.

If only we could chain them to each other for life.

“I’m saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely ‘off the rails,’ essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform late Sunday

Clear symptom of someone who never reads anything, … Read the rest

Jerry Coyne says what I say. Everyone should be saying it.

As of yesterday, the letter was signed by (according to my count) 211 people, 31 of whom who refused to give their names and appear as “anonymous”, 65 who say they are graduate students, and 57 who say they are undergraduates. (See the signers by clicking on this link.) While there is some overlap between these groups, it’s fair to say that about half the signers lack either the courage or the expertise to call out Byrne for “lack of expertise”. What kind of person would refuse to give their names when engaging in such a dogpile?

And note that the “expertise” of those judging Byrne’s expertise

… Read the rest

From Alex Byrne’s Opinion piece in the Washington Post on June 26:

The hostile response to the review by medical groups and practitioners underscores why it was necessary. Medicalized treatment for pediatric gender dysphoria needs to be dispassionately scrutinized like any other area of medicine, no matter which side of the aisle is cheering it on. But in the United States, it has not been.

I was familiar with the other authors — there are nine of us in all — and I was confident that we could produce a rigorous, well-argued document that could do some good. Collectively, we had all the bases covered, with experts in endocrinology, the methodology of evidence-based medicine, medical ethics, psychiatry, health policy and

… Read the rest

Heather Cox Richardson yesterday

Immediately after the catastrophe became apparent, Texas officials began to blame cuts to the National Weather Service (NWS)—part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—for causing inaccurate forecasts. The “Department of Government Efficiency” cut about 600 staffers from the NWS. After the cuts, the understaffed agency warned that “severe shortages” of meteorologists would hurt weather forecasting.

All five living former directors of the NWS warned in May that the cuts “[leave] the nation’s official weather forecasting entity at a significant deficit…just as we head into the busiest time for severe storm predictions like tornadoes and hurricanes…. Our worst nightmare is that weather forecast offices will be so understaffed that there will be needless loss of

… Read the rest

Yeah no.

https://twitter.com/Wommando/status/1941755117121814702 No. See, claims about exhaustion and pressure could explain and perhaps excuse some things, like resort to alcohol or drugs, or playing loud music, or eating a whole pizza. Such claims cannot excuse things like torturing animals or setting people on fire or downloading kiddy torture porn. It’s not relaxing or stress-relieving to torture or harm sentient beings or to look at images of such torture and harm. It may be fun, if you’re a sick fuck, but it’s not stress relief.… Read the rest