Friday
Feb072014
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill The prescience of James Delingpole
Feb 7, 2014 Books Delingpole Greens A director of a company involved in the Keystone XL pipeline project in North America has had a late night visit from a group of concerned environmentalists.
;)
James Delingpole's thesis doesn't seem far off the mark, does it?
Reader Comments (73)
hunter, Its fun trying to wind up anti frackers anti AGW anti capitalists on Twitter.
SayNoToFearmongers, you are technically correct with the Dr term, however the general public see the honorarium before a person's name and will always assume the person is a real doctor. Or if they understand the term a bit will think the person is intelligent. In both cases they will have been misled. And anyway, the term can only be used by PhDs when it is related to their doctorate, which in this case I suppose it could be valid as he has a PhD in metaphysics and other weird mumbo-jumbo.
SBML - sorry, don't mean to derail the thread - you're still wrong. Those who earn the title 'Doctor' are entitled to used in all places and in all things. You seem to be implying that people with bachelor degrees and a couple of years' on the job training in a vocational subject are 'more intelligent' than folks who have demonstrated some very strong credentials - namely:
the creation and interpretation of new knowledge, through original research or other advanced scholarship, of a quality to satisfy peer review, extend the forefront of the discipline, and merit publication;
a systematic acquisition and understanding of a substantial body of knowledge which is at the forefront of an academic discipline or area of professional practice;
the general ability to conceptualise, design and implement a project for the generation of new knowledge, applications or understanding at the forefront of the discipline, and to adjust the project design in the light of unforeseen problems;
a detailed understanding of applicable techniques for research and advanced academic enquiry.
Medical 'doctors' don't need to come anywhere near these standards - 'practicing safely' does not require the ability to conduct research, which, certainly in the context of climate science and in many other fields, means that medics are less well qualified than PhDs.
Here is the video of these arseholes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zQBzpZk6lyU
They are just getting warmed up. Earth First!ers reportedly sit around a camp fire, chanting, trancelike, for hours:
“Billions are living that should be dead. Billions are living that should be dead. Billions are living that should be dead.”
http://www.activistcash.com/organizations/271-earth-first/
I find the irony of the weather to be reflective of the argument.
They need to wear wool hats and parkas, in Houston?
SNTF, I have said nothing about the intelligence of medical doctors or the intelligence of people who have spent years studying to get a PhD. Nor do I compare medical doctors to science doctors. What I do talk about is the public's perception of the term "Dr". 90% of people if asked will say it means medical. 10% will say it means someone who is very intelligent.
You will note that I say you are technically correct. What I am trying to emphasise is that the public's view doesn't match that of what you are saying. They see medical doctors who have spent years getting the title in the same way as a scientist who has spent years getting the title. To them, both are highly intelligent.
Using the term as in the case of the freeman illuminati believing electronics engineer because he has a PhD in metaphysics is basically committing fraud. He's using it to say he's highly intelligent (which might be the case for his electronics skill) when in actual fact he has mental health problems.
As for using the term Dr, yes some do use it in front of their name all the time. That is not a proper (note I didn't say wrong) use of the term. PhD doctorates can use the term in official letters, when they are well known, or in their scientific writings. To use the term Dr when talking with the public about matters which is basically a hobby is not correct and just confuses the public.
@Les Johnson,
We are having one of the coldest winters in over 30 years here in Houston. What annoys me about this blatant bit of intimdation by mob is that the local news has not reported it in any sort of serious fashion.
Shame on our newspaper and TV journalists. These thugs are assaulting the basics of civil society and our media is basically silent. These thugs are assaulting one of the pillars of a modern society, energy. They are seeking to use threats of violence to increase suffering around the world, and lying about thepipeline to accomplish this.
and our President, by his enablement and even participation in the lies about KXL, has blood on his hands when these cretins cross the line they are clearly very close to.
SBML,
You seem to be implying that it's fine for medics to use their honorary titles in fields which are basically hobbies whilst genuine doctorate holders aren't? And the difference between 'wrong' and 'improper' is merely a game of semantics.
Unlike most titles in life, that offered by gaining a doctorate is earned. Maybe knights of the realm should deny their gifted gongs in circles where patronage is disdained? Likewise nobility whose pedigree labels and approved forms of address merely denote that their ancestors were despotic oppressors?
Not having this one bit.
Trespassing at night? This is nothing a McMillan Tac-50 cannot solve in 2 minutes
I condemn this.
Ever since the mid 60s,left wing middle classes have been in love with being revolutionaries, especially arts graduates.If they wanted to help th poor they could increase the food supply, improve sanitation and water treatment and reduce disease.
I well remember the 1970s -90s when the IRA was rampant and very creative with who was a "legitimate target", to say nothing of Islamic terrorists later on .
As someone in "the industry", (drilling can also be done for Greenie things like CCS or geothermal, but that's not how it's perceived) who also has family in it, I've been aware that the Greenie rhetoric is verbally violent toward us, but have never taken the threats too seriously.
However the harassment at the iGas site and the demo at someone's home shows that the extreme rhetoric is empowering some extreme people. Even a bit player like me could end up in some sort of "Honorary Consul" (cf. Graham Greene) situation.
Regarding the doctor/PhD argument, my experience travelling around is that it's more common in the USA and Germany for PhDs to use the honorific on their business cards and correspondence, but in the UK or Australia anyone other than a medical doctor using it is regarded as pretentious (and unusual - I haven't come across any and I do know a few PhDs).
Picture of a bunch of arrogant nylon clad threatening people with their faces covered. Their clothes appear to be relatively new and not cheap.
They certainly could be labeled as masked terrorists and if they keep practicing threats, stand to gain some true penal time to reflect on their sins.
kellydown et al - I use it at the Conversation but mainly to piss the commenters off rather than anything else. Some years ago I rented a place and shortly afterwards the power got cut off because the previous tenant didn't finalise his bill. I rang the company up and told them I was a doctor and needed the phone. They reconnected.
Apart from that I don't use it.
SBML -Does dropping the prenominal but appending the postnominal PhD to a business card meet with your approval. Apart from that again, the CCC tosspots do the sceptics cause a lot of good. I've forwarded the link to many trues believerccolleagues.
I fail to see why it would be regarded as pretentious to use a title one has worked hard to earn. I think the problem is more that people do not understand what a PhD entails or the contribution that the research it involves has (usually) made to our sum total of knowledge. I know fellow PhDs who do use the title on business cards and I do not regard it as pretentious, they're fully entitled to do so if they so choose. I choose not to but if one is listing one's professional qualifications on a business card (and why wouldn't you, especially if it will influence potential clients?) it would be rather odd to list bachelor and masters degrees and not a PhD. I only use my professional registrations in correspondence.
One of the young engineers who has worked with me for two years recently said "surely you've done enough research in your life to have a PhD" and was surprised to hear I already have one. I can always rely on my mum, however, to use Dr when addressing birthday and Christmas cards.
DocBud and kellydown get my point. I have no problem with the term Dr when used on business cards, the doctorate is usually linked to the job. Using it in general conversation is being pretentious and is so because the general public do not see Dr as a science thing, they see it as a medical thing. And in the public's eye medical doctors have worked hard to get it while they do not perceive scientists who get a Dr as hard workers. Not helped when you can get a PhD for stupid subject like metaphysics which probably entails laying about writing the odd essay. That's the issue, SNTF, the general public perception, nothing about actual work to gain the title. GrantB's use of it highlights that.
A friend knew I had worked at Bell Labs in the USA in the 1980's. He asked "But I thought you had to have a PhD to work at Bell Labs?". He seemed surprised when I said "Well I have a PhD, so that was not a problem".
SBML If the public choose to be ignorant of reality it is hardly the fault of those who have worked hard to obtain a PhD. Whereas I choose to rarely use the title I have earnt the right to use all the time, I do not consider those who do in anyway pretentious, after all, you cannot be pretentious for accurately representing yourself as who you are. You cannot obtain a PhD from a reputable university without convincing the examination board, including an outside expert in the field, that your research is original and of value. There are a small number of people who obtain their qualifications via dodgy 'universities' but that is no reason for those who have earnt the qualifications properly to hide their lights under a bushel.
Of course, public ignorance can work in our favour, when a comely young lass has a fainting fit, I can jump forward and say "give her room everybody, leave it to me, I'm a doctor."
SBML - let's face it. The world is awash with Drs. Took the border collie up to the vet. He is a Dr. My tooth quack is a Dr. Had a shoulder problem (tried to over hit a one wood) and was sent to a chiropractor. Guess what, she was a Dr, but apart from a BCh and a googol of other letters after her name she didn't appear to have any doctoral qualifications.
I waited. The receptionist finally said "the doctor will see you now Mr B". Thinks to self - why did I bother. She introduced herself by first name but I called her "Doctor Surname" continually throughout. So much so she kept asking me to call her by first name, but I insisted because she was a Dr after all.
All good fun.
I live in a town where Atheist activists forbid our Nuns from praying over ashes of dead babies they'd carried back from the landfill. A few years later, those proud Atheists held three prayer vigils for one dead elk.
Domestic terrorism. Hate crime. "nuff said. Disturbing the peace? Pick your crime and prosecute them.
This is what stupid little rich kids do in their spare time.....snot nosed little cowards! They all have nice cars and smartphones and ipads, they have electricity in their parents house and the dorm their parents pay for. Talk about worthless people............get a job, right after you take a bath.