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“What a great mistake the Arab countries made in expelling all their Jews [in the wake of 1948 establishment of Israel]. Because they expelled some of the most scientifically accomplished people in the world and in history. But that’s what HATE does to you.”
-- Dr Peter Ridd
I’d never heard of Dr Peter Ridd before. I
find on Wikipedia that he was at James Cook University (JCU) in Australia, where he "was the head of the Physics department from 2009 to 2016, and head of the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at that institution for 15 years.”
So, pretty senior, then.
He was fired in 2016 after disputes over the extent of the threat to the Great Barrier Reef.
Reading between the lines, I guess he had views that did not accord with the accepted narrative at the time -- which would have been something like panic and alarm over the coral bleaching events. Instead of viewing this as a good old academic stoush -- as we would have not so long ago -- the university took this as an affront, unacceptable “climate denialism”, or some such and fired him.
Dr Ridd took the case to court and won, then lost, then won again. It’s complicated. In the process, the High Court noted that the JCU had “not understood the whole concept of intellectual freedom”. Hah!
Thus we have an early case of Cancel Culture. I don’t like what you say, I can’t be bothered to argue with you, so I fire you.
ADDED: I don’t know what Dr Ridd’s position was on The Great Barrier Reef, but given that he was fired over it, I assume that he must have been arguing something along the lines that it’s not as bad as they say. If so, he’s been the one vindicated.
In 2022, the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) reported the highest levels of coral cover across two-thirds of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in over 36 years. After recent massive bleaching events impacted nearly 90% of Australia’s corals, it seems that anyone could see this news as a victory....
“There’s no question this is positive news—these data show reefs can recover rapidly from damage,” says WHOI’s Konrad Hughen, a principal investigator on the institution’s Reef Solutions Initiatiive.
--- Wood’s Hole Oceanographic Insitute.
ADDED (ii): Here’s another vid on the Great Barrier Reef. There’s a record amount of coral. So, it turns out my guess was correct. Dr Ridd was saying that it’s not as bad as it’s made out. And it seems he’s been vindicated.
In the meantime, he’s been fired. He was not allowed to have a robust debate. Oh, no. Just fired. That’s too bad, and too shocking and too wrong. We have to get rid of the Cancel Culture and to fight back against those who claim that “there is no such thing as Cancel Culture”. Cancel Them!
