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Nobody can have any optimism, everyone must hold the view that the Great Barrier Reef is in imminent peril. If you don't and are vocal about it, you risk your c

Nobody can have any optimism, everyone must hold the view that the Great Barrier Reef is in imminent peril. If you don't and are vocal about it, you risk your career. https://phys.org/news/2021-10-court-physicist-intellectual-freedom.html https://phys.org/news/2021-10-court-physicist-intellectual-f... >Australia's highest court Wednesday dismissed an intellectual freedom claim by a university physicist who was fired in part over his public statements that scientists exaggerated damage to the Great Barrier Reef caused by climate change.

dtjb 4y ago
>Beginning in April 2016, James Cook University took a number of disciplinary measures over two years against Ridd, which culminated in Ridd being fired, for refusing to take down confidential information which he had placed publicly online. The university denied that the dismissal was over Ridd's views on climate change. Looks like it went back in forth in court for a few years, with the university ultimately winning on appeal that he was fired for cause (posting confidential info). https://sterlinglawqld.com/peter-ridd-loses-high-court-appeal/ https://sterlinglawqld.com/peter-ridd-loses-high-court-appea... http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/HCA//2021/32.html http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/HCA//...
- 2muchcoffeeman 4y ago
  I don't doubt that his views made the decision easier. But people made this a political issue. So it can't be fought with just facts anymore. There's going to be some politicking involved.
hz9090786 4y ago
No, anything less than fear and self-flagellation is prohibited. I am reminded of that Michael Crichton quote: “There’s an initial Eden, a paradise, a state of grace and unity with nature, there’s a fall from grace into a state of pollution as a result of eating from the tree of knowledge, and as a result of our actions there is a judgment day coming for us all. We are all energy sinners, doomed to die, unless we seek salvation, which is now called sustainability. Sustainability is salvation in the church of the environment.” (And yes, I’m aware that one can tag Crichton with a thought-terminating label such as “climate denier.”)

dtjb 4y ago

>Beginning in April 2016, James Cook University took a number of disciplinary measures over two years against Ridd, which culminated in Ridd being fired, for refusing to take down confidential information which he had placed publicly online. The university denied that the dismissal was over Ridd's views on climate change. Looks like it went back in forth in court for a few years, with the university ultimately winning on appeal that he was fired for cause (posting confidential info). https://sterlinglawqld.com/peter-ridd-loses-high-court-appeal/ https://sterlinglawqld.com/peter-ridd-loses-high-court-appea... http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/HCA//2021/32.html http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/HCA//...

2muchcoffeeman 4y ago
I don't doubt that his views made the decision easier. But people made this a political issue. So it can't be fought with just facts anymore. There's going to be some politicking involved.

hz9090786 4y ago

No, anything less than fear and self-flagellation is prohibited. I am reminded of that Michael Crichton quote: “There’s an initial Eden, a paradise, a state of grace and unity with nature, there’s a fall from grace into a state of pollution as a result of eating from the tree of knowledge, and as a result of our actions there is a judgment day coming for us all. We are all energy sinners, doomed to die, unless we seek salvation, which is now called sustainability. Sustainability is salvation in the church of the environment.” (And yes, I’m aware that one can tag Crichton with a thought-terminating label such as “climate denier.”)