Fake Debates, Bogus Tribunals-- Hallmarks of a Lost Argument
In poking through my Twitter feed I find a curious post. It is being circulated that I agreed to do a debate, but then backed out. What? As a guy that studied rhetoric, loves a debate, and coached debaters for a long time, I relish the opportunity to debate, especially scientific topics. I've debated evolution, climate and genetic engineering issues over the last decade. So to read online that I was invited to a debate and then backed out was quite surprising. Turns out that it starts from that guy in Ithaca that is obsessed with legitimizing his anti-GMO crusade. He has been harassing people on Facebook for some time. Apparently he and Jonathan Latham* (another anti-GMO, anti-science zealot) organized a debate, only didn't bother to actually extend real invitations to me, Jon Entine or Karl Haro von Mogel, of course, saying that they did, and that we won't show. In social media they are taking a victory lap, claiming that we are afraid to deb