I’ve thought of the Chinese Cultural Revolution analogy, wherein academics were sent out into the countryside to muck out stables and be “re-educated.” I’ve also thought of the Nazi Germany analogy, where many of the best scientists left Germany and helped the Allies. I suppose the Union of Concerned Scientists has to be labeled a terrorist organization. The analogies aren’t exact; how will it play out this time? Be safe, Dr. Dresser, we need your informed writings.
I see lots of parallels with the so-called socialist countries tactics where I grew up in the 1970-1990s in the actions of the current US administration. Keeping people from accessing free information and literally indoctrinating an entire generation of young people in former East Germany shut down freedom of speech and scientific information sharing. Its so vital that young people are educated broadly to learn about the World around them. Informed citizens will make much better choices. Really lots of bad news coming from the scientific power house of the World where Immigrants have made tremendous contributions. The US is a country of immigrants after all. Why would someone destroy what made a country great?
If you are literally on a proverbial or real enemies list, then consider that a high encomium. A job well done. I'm honored to be associated, however remotely with you. "Aspera ad virtutem es via"
Yes, I do consider it a high encomium. But it comes with costs. I am a former professor at Texas A&M. I am not a climate scientist, but a social scientist who studied climate change communication. About 10 years ago, my department head emailed to request an immediate sit-down in his office. I was puzzled. My recent 5-year review had been stellar. My continued NSF research funding (those indirects are very popular), new books and several peer-reviewed articles, along with my graduate students' professional advancement had earned me a gold star. I was gobsmacked to learn that he was passing along a directive to stop doing research on climate change communication. Apparently my research had enfuriated a powerful Texas couple who were important supporters of Governor Rick Perry. They requested that I be fired. Knowing this would be difficult, it was decided to separate me from my research endowment and the named professorship I held. My department head helpfully pointed out that my successful stream of external funding showed I didn't really need my research endowment. And, then he made it worse by attempting to implicate me in the censorship attempt: If I would cease research on climate change communication (including studying public perceptions of and policy implications related to, solar and wind energy), and refrain from telling anyone about our agreement, he would quietly arrange for me to have continued access to the endowment funds for the next 5 years.
I was lucky to find a position at another university, where I was able to transfer both my current PhD students and my external funding. Even with that, my students and I incurred numerous personal and professional costs. Things are worse now, and, while I don't want to be too negative, it's important not to trivialize the situation.
I’m really sorry to hear that. That’s every academic’s worst nightmare – political pressure and having your department head throw you under the bus. Up to now, I haven’t had any political pressure from my chain of command. But it’s a new world and I told my wife not to be too surprised if I got fired.
The situation is indeed dire. Might I suggest you write your comment into a posting on Substack Notes? My mother who taught sociology at an Oklahoma university (not the one in Norman) faced a similar problem back in the Vietnam era. Compulsory loyalty oaths from the school president a gentleman called Kamm I believe. The sociology faculty en masse chose to resign, my mother among them.
Dr. Peterson, thank you for your principled reaction to this outrage, taking your independent funding with you. Thanks to your mother and her colleagues, too, Michael!
An uneducated citizenry cannot support a democracy. At the current rate of GAST increase, 0.2 degC, we may see 2 degC by 2027, 3 degC by 2032 (thought by many experts to be the end of half of the humans on the planet), and the extinction level (100%) of 6 degC by 2047.
Prof D. --- thank you for posting this. I respect your courage. Having been a student at Tx A&M in the early 60s, even with modernization since, there is a ghost of the past that lingers in its culture. Put that with the current state governor/administration, there is not a lot of room for optimism. Nothing but genuine security and best wishes!
Reminds me of how China turned intellectuals/ professors into "enemies" and forced them to confess their "sins" and then executed or put them in prison.
I pray there will be no such third term. Medically speaking it's likely he will be in the equivalent of a concierge memory care unit by then. His current symptoms indicate this is his unhappy future and I feel genuine pity for him as evil a force as he has been.
Yes that actually happened during those dark times of the Cultural Revolution. I sometimes wonder if they aren't still at it, but in less drastic ways.
I feel like being a bit provocative here by noting that other climate experts like Roger Pielke Jr. were being put on “enemy lists” in the last few years and I didn’t see much pushback from the climate community.
You may not be aware that he was subject to an institutional witch hunt initiated from the White House and placed on social media block lists. Seems very real to me.
You'd have a much stronger argument if you linked to the relevant social media block lists, and proved they were initiated by the White House. Otherwise, you're just dumping BS on this blog.
To be clear, there is no literal enemies list that you can look at. Rather, it's a metaphor to represent the systematic targeting, marginalization, or persecution of certain groups.
Thank you for this post, Andrew. You are absolutely right in asking who are the beneficiaries of this seemingly chaotic deconstruction of civil society and the rights conferred to our citizenry. It's the billionaires asserting total domination over all levers of government.
You and others like you represent a threat to their agenda because the climate crisis could cause humanity to move in a direction of cooperation with a common purpose. It could cause greater community bonds and more independence from existing power structures. And of course, climate action would put the fossil fuel industry out of business, which the oligarchs won't tolerate. The oligarchs consider all of these possibilities as a threat to their agenda. That's why you are on their enemies list.
I'm tempted to say wear that as a badge of honor, but I don't want to come across as insensitive to the personal costs to yourself, your family and colleagues.
I applaud you for speaking out as you have. Thank you for the work you have done. I'll continue to support you in any way I can.
Well, I guess if government workers were productive and lead well and produced value for the people they work for, there would be no DOGE. But they aren't, so there is.
And if you think that tax law has pushed wealth to the top you are mistaken. The top pay most of the taxes and most people pay none. You know that. But you keep pushing false narratives so that may be why academia is less trusted than ever.
You and your fellow deniers made climate scientists' bed, Larry. Do you think tax laws determine the radiative consequences of adding fossil carbon to the atmosphere by the gigatonnes?
As a scientist, I see the the present US and global experiment as a track for better efficiency in our work and usefullness for society. We must think about how to become better integrated in people's whorries and involved in solutions
My friend, if you truly think that "professors are not America’s enemy. We are the lifeblood of our higher education system, whose research generates technological breakthroughs that make America an economic powerhouse. We also train the workforce that will keep America competitive in the high-tech world of the future." then you haven't dealt with the makeup of today's educational institutions.
The professors are 90% liberal, and are mostly occupied in churning out stunning, sitting-edge analyses of the poetry of leftwing Latvian lesbians and the like.
Not only that, but in many, many institutions professors are wild antisemites who are assisting the students in barring Jews from campus.
In the climate field, professor after professor has predicted imminent Thermageddon in ten years … they've done that for a half century and don't seem to have noticed that they have been universally wrong.
Where is your mea culpa for the endless stream of failed predictions? Because without that, what you write is a sick joke.
I'm sorry to be so blunt, but climate "science" is nothing of the sort. Consider. For forty years you "scientists" have been trying to narrow the uncertainty about the climate sensitivity … and every year, the uncertainty about that value increases.
In addition, despite climate models having climate sensitivities that vary by more than an order of magnitude, every one can reproduce the past. To me, this proves that they are carefully tuned.
And now that your joy-ride is almost over, I suspect we'll see more bogus "I'M AN IMPORTANT SCIENTIST, YOU CAN'T FIRE ME …
The problem, as Upton Sinclare observed, is that " 'It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.'
My best to you, and I hope you are more successful in your future profession whatever that might be …
I'm also told by those focusing solely on the genocide in Gaza that I shouldn't be distracted by trans people. I'm getting a bit sick of it. It's easy to say when it's not your safeguarding protections, safety, dignity or place on a team that's being taken away; along with the right to object to them being taken away.
As for being part of the global warming hoax; some high profile climate scientists made it very easy for this to stick over the covid debacle. They seemed to forget both how science works and what science is by making nonsense claims about Republicans being more likely to get ill than Democrats, as well as claiming that freedom of debate over such poor science was a threat to democracy. https://jowaller.substack.com/p/those-linking-climate-misinformation
It seems to me that a little timely attention over these purposefully divisive issues, vaccination and gender ideology, could have made a lot of difference in preventing the backlash that got a climate crisis denier into the White House.
Good luck in your struggles against this dreadful coup. I hope we in the UK don't get dragged into a similar problem.
I’ve thought of the Chinese Cultural Revolution analogy, wherein academics were sent out into the countryside to muck out stables and be “re-educated.” I’ve also thought of the Nazi Germany analogy, where many of the best scientists left Germany and helped the Allies. I suppose the Union of Concerned Scientists has to be labeled a terrorist organization. The analogies aren’t exact; how will it play out this time? Be safe, Dr. Dresser, we need your informed writings.
My apologies for misspelling your name (or did Autocorrect do it?), Dr. Dessler!
Standard operating procedure Bruce. This is how it's done.
More proof of the destination (military fascist state control) when you note each landmark along that well-worn path.
I see lots of parallels with the so-called socialist countries tactics where I grew up in the 1970-1990s in the actions of the current US administration. Keeping people from accessing free information and literally indoctrinating an entire generation of young people in former East Germany shut down freedom of speech and scientific information sharing. Its so vital that young people are educated broadly to learn about the World around them. Informed citizens will make much better choices. Really lots of bad news coming from the scientific power house of the World where Immigrants have made tremendous contributions. The US is a country of immigrants after all. Why would someone destroy what made a country great?
If you are literally on a proverbial or real enemies list, then consider that a high encomium. A job well done. I'm honored to be associated, however remotely with you. "Aspera ad virtutem es via"
Yes, I do consider it a high encomium. But it comes with costs. I am a former professor at Texas A&M. I am not a climate scientist, but a social scientist who studied climate change communication. About 10 years ago, my department head emailed to request an immediate sit-down in his office. I was puzzled. My recent 5-year review had been stellar. My continued NSF research funding (those indirects are very popular), new books and several peer-reviewed articles, along with my graduate students' professional advancement had earned me a gold star. I was gobsmacked to learn that he was passing along a directive to stop doing research on climate change communication. Apparently my research had enfuriated a powerful Texas couple who were important supporters of Governor Rick Perry. They requested that I be fired. Knowing this would be difficult, it was decided to separate me from my research endowment and the named professorship I held. My department head helpfully pointed out that my successful stream of external funding showed I didn't really need my research endowment. And, then he made it worse by attempting to implicate me in the censorship attempt: If I would cease research on climate change communication (including studying public perceptions of and policy implications related to, solar and wind energy), and refrain from telling anyone about our agreement, he would quietly arrange for me to have continued access to the endowment funds for the next 5 years.
I was lucky to find a position at another university, where I was able to transfer both my current PhD students and my external funding. Even with that, my students and I incurred numerous personal and professional costs. Things are worse now, and, while I don't want to be too negative, it's important not to trivialize the situation.
I’m really sorry to hear that. That’s every academic’s worst nightmare – political pressure and having your department head throw you under the bus. Up to now, I haven’t had any political pressure from my chain of command. But it’s a new world and I told my wife not to be too surprised if I got fired.
The situation is indeed dire. Might I suggest you write your comment into a posting on Substack Notes? My mother who taught sociology at an Oklahoma university (not the one in Norman) faced a similar problem back in the Vietnam era. Compulsory loyalty oaths from the school president a gentleman called Kamm I believe. The sociology faculty en masse chose to resign, my mother among them.
Will do.
Dr. Peterson, thank you for your principled reaction to this outrage, taking your independent funding with you. Thanks to your mother and her colleagues, too, Michael!
I've been contributing to the Climate Scientist Defense fund so I guess I'll be on that list too. A badge of honor in my estimation.
No good deed goes unpunished in this world we live in.
An uneducated citizenry cannot support a democracy. At the current rate of GAST increase, 0.2 degC, we may see 2 degC by 2027, 3 degC by 2032 (thought by many experts to be the end of half of the humans on the planet), and the extinction level (100%) of 6 degC by 2047.
Prof D. --- thank you for posting this. I respect your courage. Having been a student at Tx A&M in the early 60s, even with modernization since, there is a ghost of the past that lingers in its culture. Put that with the current state governor/administration, there is not a lot of room for optimism. Nothing but genuine security and best wishes!
Reminds me of how China turned intellectuals/ professors into "enemies" and forced them to confess their "sins" and then executed or put them in prison.
That will happen in Trump's third term.
I pray there will be no such third term. Medically speaking it's likely he will be in the equivalent of a concierge memory care unit by then. His current symptoms indicate this is his unhappy future and I feel genuine pity for him as evil a force as he has been.
Yes that actually happened during those dark times of the Cultural Revolution. I sometimes wonder if they aren't still at it, but in less drastic ways.
I feel like being a bit provocative here by noting that other climate experts like Roger Pielke Jr. were being put on “enemy lists” in the last few years and I didn’t see much pushback from the climate community.
I don't think being disagreed with by your peers is comparable to being seen as an enemy by those who wield very real political and financial power.
You may not be aware that he was subject to an institutional witch hunt initiated from the White House and placed on social media block lists. Seems very real to me.
I'm "not aware" because I don't think he was.
You'd have a much stronger argument if you linked to the relevant social media block lists, and proved they were initiated by the White House. Otherwise, you're just dumping BS on this blog.
I exported your post to Bluesky so that more people can be acquainted with your writing. Hope you don't mind.
Not a problem, thanks for spreading the word
Congratulations. Actually how does one check the enemies list?
To be clear, there is no literal enemies list that you can look at. Rather, it's a metaphor to represent the systematic targeting, marginalization, or persecution of certain groups.
Thank you for this post, Andrew. You are absolutely right in asking who are the beneficiaries of this seemingly chaotic deconstruction of civil society and the rights conferred to our citizenry. It's the billionaires asserting total domination over all levers of government.
You and others like you represent a threat to their agenda because the climate crisis could cause humanity to move in a direction of cooperation with a common purpose. It could cause greater community bonds and more independence from existing power structures. And of course, climate action would put the fossil fuel industry out of business, which the oligarchs won't tolerate. The oligarchs consider all of these possibilities as a threat to their agenda. That's why you are on their enemies list.
I'm tempted to say wear that as a badge of honor, but I don't want to come across as insensitive to the personal costs to yourself, your family and colleagues.
I applaud you for speaking out as you have. Thank you for the work you have done. I'll continue to support you in any way I can.
Well, I guess if government workers were productive and lead well and produced value for the people they work for, there would be no DOGE. But they aren't, so there is.
And if you think that tax law has pushed wealth to the top you are mistaken. The top pay most of the taxes and most people pay none. You know that. But you keep pushing false narratives so that may be why academia is less trusted than ever.
You made your bed....
You and your fellow deniers made climate scientists' bed, Larry. Do you think tax laws determine the radiative consequences of adding fossil carbon to the atmosphere by the gigatonnes?
As a scientist, I see the the present US and global experiment as a track for better efficiency in our work and usefullness for society. We must think about how to become better integrated in people's whorries and involved in solutions
My friend, if you truly think that "professors are not America’s enemy. We are the lifeblood of our higher education system, whose research generates technological breakthroughs that make America an economic powerhouse. We also train the workforce that will keep America competitive in the high-tech world of the future." then you haven't dealt with the makeup of today's educational institutions.
The professors are 90% liberal, and are mostly occupied in churning out stunning, sitting-edge analyses of the poetry of leftwing Latvian lesbians and the like.
Not only that, but in many, many institutions professors are wild antisemites who are assisting the students in barring Jews from campus.
In the climate field, professor after professor has predicted imminent Thermageddon in ten years … they've done that for a half century and don't seem to have noticed that they have been universally wrong.
Where is your mea culpa for the endless stream of failed predictions? Because without that, what you write is a sick joke.
I'm sorry to be so blunt, but climate "science" is nothing of the sort. Consider. For forty years you "scientists" have been trying to narrow the uncertainty about the climate sensitivity … and every year, the uncertainty about that value increases.
In addition, despite climate models having climate sensitivities that vary by more than an order of magnitude, every one can reproduce the past. To me, this proves that they are carefully tuned.
And now that your joy-ride is almost over, I suspect we'll see more bogus "I'M AN IMPORTANT SCIENTIST, YOU CAN'T FIRE ME …
The problem, as Upton Sinclare observed, is that " 'It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.'
My best to you, and I hope you are more successful in your future profession whatever that might be …
Best wishes,
w.
I'm also told by those focusing solely on the genocide in Gaza that I shouldn't be distracted by trans people. I'm getting a bit sick of it. It's easy to say when it's not your safeguarding protections, safety, dignity or place on a team that's being taken away; along with the right to object to them being taken away.
As for being part of the global warming hoax; some high profile climate scientists made it very easy for this to stick over the covid debacle. They seemed to forget both how science works and what science is by making nonsense claims about Republicans being more likely to get ill than Democrats, as well as claiming that freedom of debate over such poor science was a threat to democracy. https://jowaller.substack.com/p/those-linking-climate-misinformation
It seems to me that a little timely attention over these purposefully divisive issues, vaccination and gender ideology, could have made a lot of difference in preventing the backlash that got a climate crisis denier into the White House.