The madness of crowds

The above video is 11:12, and do take the time to watch it. If you’re like me, you’ll appreciate not only the information given, but also the sardonic wit. Dr. Peter Ridd likens certain parts of the Climate alarmist crowd as witch burners, and repeats that theme throughout. He also references Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, an 1841 work by Charles Mackay that highlighted tulip mania, the South Sea Bubble, and other notable public exhibitions of madness. Climate Change is but the most recent.

I like Dr. Ridd, formerly of James Cook University in North Queensland, Australia. Not everyone shares my view. He holds a prominent position on DeSmog, formerly DeSmog Blog, a site that keeps track of climate “deniers”. The blog, which was once openly critical and demeaning of anyone skeptical of the alleged science of climate change, is now wearing more respectable clothing, merely listing the career, papers, prominent writings and media appearances without comment. The overall tone, of course, is to hold “deniers”, a propaganda term, accountable for heresy. See Dr. Ridd’s DeSmog page here. I find his resume’ quite impressive.

Ridd was fired by James Cook in 2018. Here’s Wikipedia on the subject [note that Wiki has de-credentialed him. He is merely Peter Ridd, the “Dr.” dropped]:

Beginning in April 2016, James Cook University took a number of disciplinary measures over two years against Ridd, which culminated in Ridd being fired, for refusing to take down confidential information which he had placed publicly online.^[6] The university denied that the dismissal was over Ridd’s views on climate change.^[12] Ridd filed two crowdfunded lawsuits, the second over the dismissal.

On 16 April 2019, Ridd initially won the lawsuit,^[13] with James Cook University found to be in violation of the Fair Work Act 2009; in September 2019, Ridd was awarded in excess of AU$1 million, together with AU$125,000 pecuniary penalty. While the two parties continue to disagree whether the case related to academic freedom, the ruling judge said the case was “purely and simply about the proper construction of a clause in an enterprise agreement”,^[13] although he also stated James Cook University had “not understood the whole concept of intellectual freedom”.^[14] In July 2020, JCU won an appeal against this judgement from the full bench of the Federal Court.^[15][16] Ridd appealed to the High Court of Australia, but that appeal was dismissed.^[17][18]

If you’ve followed climate as I have these past years, you’ll note that when they want someone fired, they can find a reason. However, Ridd has landed on his feet. I like his style and delivery. And humor.