Evil and Ignorant Comments to a Scientist Trying to Teach

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On Thursday I was asked to be a guest on Russia Today's Breaking the Set with Abby Martin.  It was the usual scientist and anti-Monsanto activist, one talking from reality and evidence and the other frothing forward silly and discredited talking points. False equivalence 101.

It started to feel a bit like an ambush when the feed died.  They knew I was on until 6:25 (there was limited satellite time purchased by them) and when I dropped at 6:25 the anti-GMO activist had free run to talk about "Bt in the blood", etc.  They later apologized, said it was a mistake and read my closing statement live.

However, right after the disconnection I felt like I had been swindled. I did check in on the message boards on the corresponding YouTube site, as I could at least get the word out there.

It was a wretched hive of tweaked-out nonsense. Still is.  I tried to add to the conversation.  Here are a few choice tid-bits of comments on the corresponding You-Tube site.



I'm not sure if I've ever seen the "shill" accusation by so many people at one time!  It is a great display of how beliefs are stated as facts with a complete absence of evidence!  It frames the entire movement in a nutshell.   And ckdoll spelled "douche" wrong, while boeingdriver29 wants me "6 feet under". 


I received two nice emails about the RT appearance. Another guy put up a huge post about my dog and a video I have posted online.  I did get a rather evil email from a certainly deranged nutcase, and maybe I'll share that another time.  It was from someone making a latent threat about someone in my family, obviously figured out from checking out Facebook or something else.  Pretty gross. 

Once again, it is why scientists don't engage a sector of the public that wants a right to know, but refuses to learn.  When we do, we are not met with the deserved gratitude.  We are met with false accusations, heinous insinuations, bogus corporate associations, and even hints of violence.  

I guess I'm grateful to participate and install this level of dialog permanently in the public domain. My hope is that those seeking information will be motivated by what they read on these sites, as a public scientist reaching out to educate is attacked and criticized by internet sock puppets hiding behind usernames, pumping out baseless accusations.  

I hope someone finds that compelling enough to reach out to us, as we try to correct a deficit in science understanding.   


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