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Saturday, March 28, 2020

A history of FLICC: the 5 techniques of science denial — John Cook


This is useful not only as a primer on recognizing and rebutting science denialism but also as a contribution to critical thinking in general.

I should be obvious by now that dismissing something as "conspiracy theory" without an adequate foundation is just another means of discrediting opponents and  achieving narrative control. But there are conspiracy theories out there that need debunking based on sound reasoning grounded in evidence.

Crazy Uncle
A history of FLICC: the 5 techniques of science denial
John Cook
hat tip to Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism

See also by John Cook

Using critical thinking to analyze misinformation

9 comments:

  1. "I should be obvious by now that dismissing something as "conspiracy theory" without an adequate foundation is..."

    Well remember you guys have others on the list then:

    You guys have:

    1. Myth
    2. secret neoliberal conspiracy theory
    3. evolved from the apes by random chance
    4. fantasy
    5. superstition
    6. ?

    Still cant remember what your 6 was...

    So you gotta update here:

    "I should be obvious by now that dismissing something as "myth" without an adequate foundation is..."

    I should be obvious by now that dismissing something as "evolved by random chance" without an adequate foundation is..."

    I should be obvious by now that dismissing something as "fantasy" without an adequate foundation is..."

    I should be obvious by now that dismissing something as "superstition" without an adequate foundation is..."

    I should be obvious by now that dismissing something as "insert 6 here " without an adequate foundation is..."

    Like that...

    ReplyDelete
  2. "...that asserting something as..." "...without context is..." "...just how Matt operates."

    ReplyDelete
  3. Truth is not on the list.

    6. speculation

    Evidence is not on the list.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Matt’s cherry picking again. Matt’s trained in denials.

    ReplyDelete
  5. "Truth is not on the list."

    Youre making my point...

    You douche bags wouldnt know truth if it walked up to you and punched you right in the face...

    ReplyDelete
  6. You guys are TRAINED to deny truth...

    GET.... YOUR... MUNNIE.... BACK....

    GET.... RE.... TRAINED.....

    ReplyDelete
  7. get the refund.. and then use the munnie to get re trained...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Trained at Trump university in denial Matt has a degree in it. No need for Matt to get a refund as that training works perfectly.

    ReplyDelete