The Romm Treatment
Ben Hale, a philosopher who teaches environmental ethics at the University of Colorado, in Boulder, is “disheartened” by Joe Romm’s body slam of a fellow environmental ethicist. Presumably Hale is well acquainted with Romm’s rhetorical style so I’m not sure why he seems so taken aback.
https://wasmorg.com/2024/03/07/j18r5s0g0In fact, Hale seems utterly puzzled that Romm can’t see the value in a legitimate exchange of views. Ben, have you read Romm’s slash & burn attacks on journalists (Andy Revkin is a favorite whipping boy), Roger Pielke Jr., the Breakthrough Institute, among others? His modus operandi is nothing if not consistent: first he distorts your position (or article), then he builds his criticism of you on that artifice. I happen to think a part of Romm knows just how unstable that foundation is, which may explain why he lards these attacks with ad hominems and guilt-by-association smears. It’s ugly stuff. And for this, he gets wet kisses from the likes of Thomas Friedman and Time magazine. Now that is disheartening.
American Express Tramadol
https://ncmm.org/30jvke8 Ah, so the back door to legitimizing an otherwise-illegitmiate point of view is to insist that it has a legitimate place in the debate. We can even delegitmize a legitmate point of view by implicating it in an unfair closure of debate. So clever!