Dr Jarrod Gilbert Sociologist
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Research
  • Court Reports
  • Contact

Banged up by a criminal bloody headline.

30/7/2016

13 Comments

 
PictureA pissed off polar bear sniffing something
 I​n my Herald column this week, I said climate change denial ought be seen as a crime in order to express how gravely it should be viewed. Unfortunately, it ran under the headline 'Why Climate Change Should be a Criminal Offence', i.e. let’s bang people up for thought crimes. I didn’t write that and I sure as hell don’t believe it. 
 
"That decision was bloody criminal!" on a football filed is never a call for legal sanction against the referee.
 
Similarly, "Olympic athletes ought be seen as ambassadors of their country" is not a suggestion we give them diplomatic immunity.
 
You get the picture.
 
I don’t believe any rational person could read my column and think I wanted to criminalise anything.
 
But that's what the headline said. Despite two emails and one phone call to the paper, that misleading headline remains online. It has now been linked to my university's newsletter. Terrific.
 
While I’m disappointed that right-thinking people may be left with the impression that I want to curtail free speech, I’m more gutted that I had to address such a silly red herring with the climate change deniers who flooded my email inbox.
 
I would have preferred to spend that time calling them complete twonks.


* Shayne Currie, the editor of the Herald has jumped onto this and sorted it out. He's a good man.

13 Comments

    Disclaimer

    I reserve the right to change my mind in the face of superior evidence.

    Sponsored by

    Picture

    Picture

    WINNER: BEST BLOG

    Archives

    April 2022
    October 2019
    March 2018
    February 2018
    August 2017
    June 2017
    September 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly