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A Call To RICO Climate Change Science Deniers
GregLaden writes: The argument could be made that the organized effort to disrupt climate change science and the development of effective policies to address climate change is criminal, costing life and property. The effort is known to be generally funded by various actors and there are people and organizations that certainly make money on this seemingly nefarious activity. A group of prominent scientists have written a letter to President Obama, Attorney General Lynch, and OSTP Director Holdren asking for this to be investigated under RICO laws, which were originally designed to address organized crime.
Sorry, we have this pesky thing called free speech ( at least in the USA ). You cant squelch those that do not believe you, and speak out about it.
Yes, this is generally true. We have severe limits on it (e.g. time, place, and manner restrictions are fine), but we do have free speech. It causes a lot of problems because what most people choose to say is either stupid or easily manipulated by dark forces.
Climate change deniers are mostly people who have been easily manipulated by dark forces.
We don't criminalize dissent here. Congressmen who cost many lives by supporting bad policy or who keep young men in prison for millions of extra man-years because they won't give the Smarter Sentencing Act a vote on the house floor because they're too afraid of looking soft on crime are left alone. We don't hurt them just because they murder people through policy, whether that's keeping people in prison to die or failing to support reforms necessary to combat global warming. Murdering with your hands is bad. Murdering through obviously bad policy decisions isn't something we criminalize.
With climate change, politicians are murdering the whole planet through bad policy decisions.
Once they're murdering a couple of billion people with free speech, it's debatable whether it's worth keeping speech free. There are legitimate arguments both ways.
They're not murdering a couple of billion people.
They're murdering all of the people.
Actually, I want to see whether or not those who are suggesting the use of RICO are living carbon neutral lives or not. Hypocrites shouldn't be able to use law to stifle dissent.
Not to start a flame war, but there are tons of scientists on both sides of this argument, and the dissenting scientists are not all shills of the oil companies and big business.
Anyway, no matter what side of the fence any one of us falls, the notion that you (meaphotically) are free to throw out ideas, claims, and opinions is your right under 1st Amendment Law. Under that same First Amendment Law, I (metaphorically) am free to challenge your thinking no matter the number of claimers or deniers.
great. let me know next time you are in a movie theater so that I can yell fire and maybe you will be maimed in the ensuing panic.
Heck, its just speech, right?
Investigate the folks calling for RICO under RICO. Sounds like they're organizing to violate the First Amendment rights of folks they oppose...