When the White House Attacks
rogerpielkejr.substack.com
When the White House Attacks
An interview with Energy IQ
In this podcast I talk with Jerry McHugh of Energy IQ. Jerry asked me some good questions about my professional and personal experiences being attacked by the White House, investigated by Congress and having Paul Krugman and others in the media and scientific community call for me to be fired for my academic research and efforts to share it. All this followed my Congressional testimony in 2013 which, much to my surprise, went viral.
I tell Jerry that knowing where I’m at today, 10 years later, it has all been worth it despite the rough ride. Have a listen — and have a great holiday weekend.
Thanks for subscribing! Comments, questions welcome.
Roger: You lived through the attacks, etc., and seemed to have survived within academia but I was surprised you did not allude to others who received nasty personal and unwarranted attacks. For example, Judy Curry seems to have chosen a different path and seems to have received far less institutional support from within Georgia Tech and the scientific community in general. Going back to 2010 and her initial invitation to Steve McIntyre, she always struck me as having enormous scientific and persona integrity. I recall reading the attacks on your dad on Real Climate which were unbelievably nasty and without substance.
Do you have a clear sense of what drives this kind of character assassination?
The typical YouTube rabbit hole dweller will always have a totalising story about corruption, authoritarian control or straight up stupidity, but I'm sceptical of totalising narratives (which is already why I'm here). It feels like a form of religious fundamentalism in the way that moral norms are shelved in order to pursue the cause.
I also wonder what it would take to surface their true underlying motivations.