# Mods, you are playing their ignorant game if "climate change deniers" is offlimits. **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 9, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931 "2012-08-09T03:49:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931/21 "2012-08-09T15:05:47Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Yes, that has been mentioned before. But it has no bearing on John’s post or my response. Then I’m not sure what your comment about rules made up on the fly and selectively applied had to do with anything. But OK. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931/22 "2012-08-09T15:12:34Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Then I’m not sure what your comment about rules made up on the fly and selectively applied had to do with anything. But OK. It was general outrage. I do appreciate your attempt to clarify though. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931/23 "2012-08-09T15:51:10Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > While this matter is being debated in moderator-land for posterity’s sake, it is my humble opinion that: > > Denialism is an accurate and useful term to describe positions that 1) fall way outside overwhelming scientific or historic consensus, and 2) rely on willful ignorance of evidence and conspiracy theorizing. > > I’m not sure there could be any description as accurate as “denialist” for a person who denies in the face of massive scientific evidence that HIV causes AIDS, or waves off graphic evidence of major declines in infectious disease following the advent of vaccination. > > “Denialist” may have a pejorative air to it, but it seems ridiculous to me to ban accurate characterizations because of the possibility of hurt feelings. “Pro-abortion” is a term I find grossly inaccurate and a distortion of my beliefs, but I can’t see banning that one either. Well, as long as management makes clear that there is no false equivalency… that is BTW another reason some false skeptics bring this to the forefront, to trigger in this case a false equivalence between a term (that is used by all) and direct insults. I’m willing to let it go as this ruling is specific to that thread, still I do think that other insults like the one where I got accused of just playing copy and paste are more serious, as pointed there I do think that the best opinion is an educated one. If anything as been clear in that thread is that at least my attacker is aware that in reality I did not accuse him directly, hence my puzzlement for that ruling. Still, I will follow the ruling as it has been made clear that it is not granting the ridiculous point from a few skeptics that it is an insult. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931/24 "2012-08-09T16:00:46Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > I don’t care about the word “denier” that much, apparently it makes people who use it incredibly happy. > > I’ll repeat, however, what I said on the thread and it is that such a term is not good for debating, even if we accepted it was 100% true. It is pejorative, even if true. Pejorative terms are frowned upon in any rational debate, even if true. > > This whole “it’s true so I’ll use it” doesn’t hold up in real life or debating. Do you tell your people on the street “dude, you’re ugly” because it’s true? Well, many ugly scientists that are skeptics do think that what you are saying here is a really silly point to make. I’m happy to know that it is a ruling that is just specific for this case and will not be imposed elsewhere, and I still make the point here that you are not the target of my disrespect, that is reserved for the ones that are getting paid to seed FUD. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931/25 "2012-08-09T16:01:36Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > I don’t care about the word “denier” that much, apparently it makes people who use it incredibly happy. > > I’ll repeat, however, what I said on the thread and it is that such a term is not good for debating, even if we accepted it was 100% true. It is pejorative, even if true. Pejorative terms are frowned upon in any rational debate, even if true. > > This whole “it’s true so I’ll use it” doesn’t hold up in real life or debating. Do you tell your people on the street “dude, you’re ugly” because it’s true? But similar to Holocaust denial and race-based intelligence/humanity arguments, getting overly hung up on objecting to the term asks for validation of the otherwise cockamamie position. When involved in a debate with either of them, would you prefer that people use “people who are skeptical that the Holocaust took place,” “those people that question the received history of the Holocaust,” “people who presume that racial differences are responsible for differences in performance…” I guess those are legitimate phrasings, but treating that particular spectrum of opinion to such treatment adds an unintended validity. Not that the terms can’t be used as a weapon per se, but that’s a different case than just referring to someone as a climate change denier in the normal course of a discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931/26 "2012-08-09T17:53:17Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Well, many ugly scientists that are skeptics do think that what you are saying here is a really silly point to make. I’m happy to know that it is a ruling that is just specific for this case and will not be imposed elsewhere, and I still make the point here that you are not the target of my disrespect, that is reserved for the ones that are getting paid to seed FUD. FUD is always wrong; however we may disagree as to what FUD is in a case-by-case basis. > [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > But similar to Holocaust denial and race-based intelligence/humanity arguments, getting overly hung up on objecting to the term asks for validation of the otherwise cockamamie position. When involved in a debate with either of them, would you prefer that people use “people who are skeptical that the Holocaust took place,” “those people that question the received history of the Holocaust,” “people who presume that racial differences are responsible for differences in performance…” > > I guess those are legitimate phrasings, but treating that particular spectrum of opinion to such treatment adds an unintended validity. Not that the terms can’t be used as a weapon per se, but that’s a different case than just referring to someone as a climate change denier in the normal course of a discussion. In a debate to sides exchange their points of view trying, in a civilised way, to at least get their points across clearly. If one decides to debate Holocaust deniers then, in that case, calling them deniers during the debate doesn’t foster the atmosphere of “debate ideas not people” that even high school debates must have. “Denier” is a good rallying cry when among the similarly-minded but it chills debate, again, even if true and appropriate. Alernative phrasing are akward, I agree, but you can simply, for that specific debate, use generic term as “the opposition”, “the other side”, even if you want to call them “motherfucking Hitler cock-suckers”. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931/27 "2012-08-09T17:59:49Z")
A very weak point considering that the luminaries of the other side (in the case of the skeptics of global warming) do not mind the term and many times **they embrace it themselves**. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931/28 "2012-08-09T18:35:58Z")
Jeez, didn’t your mother ever ask “if Johnny jumped off a cliff, would you jump too?” Just because someone whose views you respect calls people names doesn’t burnish their reputation or give them credibility or gives you the right to get personal and bitchy while you’re debating an issue. Name calling other people in a weak-ass attempt to denigrate them is no way to challenge an argument. Not in Great Debates, anyway. Argue the facts. Keep the poster out of it. Maybe you need a refresher on what constitutes [argument](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y). ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931/29 "2012-08-09T18:46:46Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Denialism is an accurate and useful term to describe positions that 1) fall way outside overwhelming scientific or historic consensus, and 2) rely on willful ignorance of evidence and conspiracy theorizing. Einstein was an ether-denier ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931/30 "2012-08-09T18:57:28Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Jeez, didn’t your mother ever ask “if Johnny jumped off a cliff, would you jump too?” > > Just because someone whose views you respect calls people names doesn’t burnish their reputation or give them credibility or gives you the right to get personal and bitchy while you’re debating an issue. > > Name calling other people in a weak-ass attempt to denigrate them is no way to challenge an argument. Not in Great Debates, anyway. > > Argue the facts. Keep the poster out of it. > > Maybe you need a refresher on what constitutes [argument](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y). 😕 The point was, and I already posted the evidence for it, that it is not just the ones I respect the ones who are doing so but also the ones that also do not have my respect, they do not shy away from it. It is not an insult as it describes what some people, that are not skeptics, are pushing on. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931/31 "2012-08-09T19:13:02Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > A very weak point considering that the luminaries of the other side (in the case of the skeptics of global warming) do not mind the term and many times **they embrace it themselves**. Utter rubbish. \*Some \*do, under \*some \*circumstances. Not in any sense all and certainly not all the time. Many object to the term because it is an outright insult, as has been pointed out to you many terms. Some Lesbians also embrace the term dyke. That does not give you me right to refer to lesbians as Dykes on the SDMB? Some Blacks embrace the term nigger. Does that give me the right to refer to Blacks as Niggers on the SDMB? The fact that \*some \*people of a group use a term \*some \*of the time does not give you the right to use it as a universal term of abuse. No matter how often a Lesbian calls herself a Dyke, no matter how many Blacks call themselves Nigger, I am not allowed to refer to them using those terms after I have been specifically and repeatedly told that those same people find them highly offensive the way that I am using them. Yet this is precisely what you do with the term “denier”. You have been repeatedly told by multiple users that the term is offensive and insulting, and you continue to use it in order to be insulting and offensive. And you try to cover your offensiveness by claiming that “They” embrace the term. That is as lame as me referring to every Black as a niggers because Richard Pryor, Chris Rock and Tupac Shakur embrace the term. Even when the specific Blacks I am speaking to tell me that they find my usage to be offensive, I will still refer to them as Niggers because people as “luminous” as Pryor, Rock and Shakur embrace the term. Frankly I am astonished that the Mods took this long to even address this issue. And even here, it only seems to have been forced because the other side was using equivalent insults against you. Personally, I have simply ceased participating in any thread where that term is used and at lest one regular poster has actually stopped posting altogether, in large part because of the the use of the term. Allowing posters to ascribe insulting labels, to one another is not a good way o fight ignorance. This is especially true when the posters being insulted have asked repeatedly that the insult not be used. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931/32 "2012-08-09T19:17:08Z")
As the OP showed, It is not just that Blake, the term is not an insult, your attempts at equating that term to insults are what is silly, I already agreed that on that thread the term will not be used, but clearly the management does not see it like you want to paint it in other threads. It is still an effort to get false equivalence on this subject. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931/33 "2012-08-09T19:21:31Z")
Argue the point. Debate the issue. Use facts, not opinions. This includes opinions about people who hold contrary views to yours. If you want to call people names, hold them up to ridicule, insult them, there’s a place on the board for that. It’s not called “Great Debates.” ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931/34 "2012-08-09T19:25:18Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > It is not an insult as it describes what some people, that are not skeptics, are pushing on. And that is the whole point. You are not calling me a denier as an equivalent to skeptic, any more than you call Blacks Niggers as an equivalent to Black You are specifically and deliberately calling me a denier as shorthand that I am \*not \*a skeptic and less worthy of consideration. in the same way that you call someone a Nigger as shorthand that they are not human and less worthy of consideration. The fact that you have finally admitted that the term is not equivalent to “skeptic”, is prejudicial and carries an accusation of “pushing” something is all the evidence the Mods should need to ban the use of the term. Equivalent terms such as “Fundy” have been banned for precisely those reasons. Yet for some reason “Denialist” is acceptable, despite the fact that we have here an open admission that it it is used to say that the opponent is dishonest, unscientific, is “pushing” something and not simply skeptical. Why is it that GIGO is not allowed to say outright that I am dishonest, unscientific, is “pushing” something in every single post in GD, yet he is allowed to call me word that he admits means \*exactly \*that in every single post? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931/35 "2012-08-09T19:27:15Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > As the OP showed, It is not just that Blake, the term is not an insult, your attempts at equating that term to insults are what is silly, I already agreed that on that thread the term will not be used, but clearly the management does not see it like you want to paint it in other threads. > > It is still an effort to get false equivalence on this subject. It’s like the term ‘Teabagger’, to my mind. Or, to use a few that I use, ‘CTer’, ‘Creationist’ or ‘Truther’. The fact that ‘Teabagger’ is self ascribed in no way lessens the fact that it’s MEANT as an insult. I think that, in general, the mods let all of these (plus, usually ‘denier’) go, but just skimming the thread in question it was probably pushing them, and at a guess someone complained and so they put their foot down (not exactly hard, either, since I didn’t see a warning issues, nor did they say that ‘denier’ was now on the banned list of insulting terms). Honestly, GIGO, you don’t NEED to toss out insulting terms on this subject…nor focus on the one aspect that your opponents have (i.e. they deny that climate change is happening, or at least deny aspects of the theory). I’m sure you are pretty frustrated that you have to seemingly say the same things over and over again, but I think you’d do better just sticking to the facts and letting them speak for themselves in these discussions. Just my 2 cents worth (and cheap at double the price!) FWIW… ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931/36 "2012-08-09T19:34:13Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > As the OP showed, It is not just that Blake, the term is not an insult, your attempts at equating that term to insults are what is irepesilly I see. So thousands of skeptics tell you that the term is insulting. You admit to using the term to mean that the people are not skeptics at all, but rather dishonestly misrepresenting themselves. And those thousands of people are wrong. We are not in fact insulted at you calling us liars. We are not insulted at your accusation that were pushing something. We are being silly. We don’t know how we feel about you referring to us by a term that you admit labels us as liars. Because some skeptics have embraced the term under some circumstances. :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > I already agreed that on that thread the term will not be used, but clearly the management does not see it like you want to paint it in other threads. That is my hope. One good thing to come out of this thread is that you have finally admitted that you don’t use the term as an equivalent of “skeptic”, and that you use it specifically to mean that any self identified skeptic is a liar and pushing something. That should be enough to enure that the term is finally deemed an insult, since you have now admitted that it is labeling any denier as dishonestly representing themselves. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931/37 "2012-08-09T21:57:36Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > One good thing to come out of this thread is that you have finally admitted that you don’t use the term as an equivalent of “skeptic”, and that you use it specifically to mean that any self identified skeptic is a liar and pushing something. That should be enough to enure that the term is finally deemed an insult, since you have now admitted that it is labeling any denier as dishonestly representing themselves. Nope, as it was clear on the context, only on that thread it was ruled as an insult, I disagree, but I follow the ruling. And it is really silly that the skeptics that are already telling you that it is not an insult should be then be dismissed just because others say so. What is clear is that it is considered silly, and even in the past, to declare that denier is an insult. As Barry Bickmore explains with sarcasm: > **[Monckton Ureservedl-ish Apologizes for Nazi Comment](https://bbickmore.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/monckton-ureservedl-ish-apologizes-for-nazi-comment/)** > > Lord Christopher Monckton, caught up in a media firestorm in Australia for calling economist Ross Garnaut a fascist while flashing up a slide with a rather innocuous statement of Garnaut’s ne… > [@](#): > > That’s why I avoid using the word “sympathizer.” The first time I heard that word, someone was talking about “Nazi sympathizers,” so when I heard someone speaking of “terrorist sympathizers,” I was appalled. I mean, obviously the person talking meant to imply that all terrorist sympathizers are closet Nazis. How else could I interpret it? For shame. Yeah, it is mostly whining what one is getting, but is coming from the ones that are not serious or just attempting to get a silly equation going, as mentioned before, I will not resort tho that word in the thread mentioned, the only thing to remark is that just like in the past, the moderators did not give that point to the less serious skeptics. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931/38 "2012-08-10T00:50:09Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > A very weak point considering that the luminaries of the other side (in the case of the skeptics of global warming) do not mind the term and many times **they embrace it themselves**. You sound like the racists who say “why can’t I call them niggers if they call themselves that the whole time?”. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931/39 "2012-08-10T01:34:03Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > You sound like the racists who say “why can’t I call them niggers if they call themselves that the whole time?”. Well, that only works by ignoring the history of the word itself, it is nothing at all like the silly equation you are trying to make. What it should give pause to many is that I have encountered already on several occasions efforts to smear proponents of this as racists, I have to insert here that there is an ongoing effort by racists to twist what environmentalists should be doing. [http://www.splcenter.org/greenwash-nativists-environmentalism-and-the-hypocrisy-of-hate/an-early-battle-defending-the-sierra](http://www.splcenter.org/greenwash-nativists-environmentalism-and-the-hypocrisy-of-hate/an-early-battle-defending-the-sierra) I only need to point out that as no dictionary goes for this peculiar definition of denier it is only a ridiculous item that some are trying to enforce in just another effort to control the discussion. > **[Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions](https://www.answers.com/redirectSearch?query=denier)** > > Answers is the place to go to get the answers you need and to ask the questions you want Well, I have to report that the Oxford dictionary is not really helping your side here. > **[Oxford Languages | The Home of Language Data](https://languages.oup.com/)** > > Explore Oxford Languages, the home of world-renowned language data. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931/40 "2012-08-10T07:29:07Z")
While Blake and Ají de Gallina may have a point, the parallels they draw to racial epithets are so overblown as to compel me to take their arguments less seriously. Furries make similar comparisons, with justifications that are risible yet probably more compelling than that in the global warming context. Racial epithets are the new Godwin. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mods-you-are-playing-their-ignorant-game-if-climate-change-deniers-is-offlimits/630931.md?page=3)