Jerry Miskulin – 5/28/10

This page was last updated on May 28, 2010.

Scientists’ silence on spill deafening; Jerry Miskulin; Beaver County Times; May 28, 2010.

I encourage you to review Mr. Miskulin’s body of work in the archives. Mr. Miskulin has written at least 60 letters since 2004 (I didn’t critique all of them.). Most (all?) are illogical and full of falsehoods (not just wrong).

In recent letters, Mr. Miskulin expressed displeasure with the tea parties (here and here), proclaimed “Rush Limbaugh is a propaganda minister,” and told us “Tariff is the best way to reduce deficit.”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“In the past, it was writers and poets like Dickens, Sinclair and Dostoyevsky who marshaled the reforming spirit across the world.

“Then, in the 1800s and 1900s, the scientific world reigned supreme and the scientist took over the writer’s and poet’s position of eminence.

“But except for Sakharov, today’s scientists have been a sore lot when it comes to highlighting social and political injustice. I don’t know if they just don’t care or are afraid of all the stares. On every ecological disaster, the only quotes are made after the fact. Their myopic views are in direct contrast to what is needed in their profession.”

[RWC] Andrei Sakharov died in 1989.

What makes scientists - or persons in any other profession - more qualified than the rest of us to comment on alleged “social and political injustice?” In any case, has Mr. Miskulin missed all the scientists speaking out for and against the religion of manmade global warming?

“As oil pours into the Gulf of Mexico and more drilling is set for the Atlantic, I have to ask if we aren’t experiencing a tidal wave of bad decisions. Still, all we hear from scientists is deafening silence.”

[RWC] What does Mr. Miskulin want scientists to say, that they are against big oil leaks? I could be wrong, but I think that’s a position most of us hold.

Does anyone doubt Mr. Miskulin would be complaining if he heard any scientists publicly speak in favor of oil drilling, explaining the overall benefit to society vastly outweighs the costs? By the way, the BP CEO is a scientist. Dr. Tony Hayward has a Ph.D. in geology.

“With so much hate in the world, it would be a shame to just walk away. Dickens, Sinclair and Dostoyevsky: we know all they said. So I ask the best and the brightest of our time why they have feet of clay.”

[RWC] Who says “the best and the brightest of our time … have feet of clay?” Has Mr. Miskulin not been reading my website? <g>