The Civil Heretic

[Marcus Bryant]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/ma...29Dyson-t.html

[EVAY]

I honestly do not know what the truth is about the science on global warming.

There is enough scientific information available for me to believe, which is quite different from knowing, that the climate of the earth is undergoing a warming period.

Furthermore, there is sufficient evidence for me to believe that said warming is, in part, a function of human endeavors.

Where reasonable people may disagree, it seems to me, is in the extent to which such warming trends could happen in the absence of human intervention, and, regardless of the answer to that question, whether or not we ought to do something to stop the trend.

My problem with the debate, and the reason why I have not participated in virtually any of the threads on the topic in this forum, is that I still think that
the science is not yet definitive to the point of proscription or prescription.

Having said that, it is precisely the 'losing friends or acquaintances or being attacked for taking a position' that prevents me engaging the topic. Dyson's intelligence and academic corpus are put into question because of his scepticism regarding the preferred path from this point forward. This, to me, is an example of the left being as intolerant of the disagreeable intelligence as they often accuse the far right of being.

[EVAY]

I am pretty jumpy about being considered a traitor to my class for actually being in favor of taxing the wealthiest people in this country as PART of a solution to the horrendous debt issue. I am tired to death of being considered a pariah among 'former friends' for being willing to declare that the Republican Party Emperor has no clothes, now, and has not for some time, been in anything other than a state of nudity when it comes to fiscal responsibility.

Given the sensitivity I feel on that issue, (one in which I feel confident of my knowledge about what needs to be done) taking on an issue where it is clear to me that there are lots more questions that need to be answered before I could formulate a reasoned approach is just more than I have the guts to do.

I admire people like Dyson. Perhaps when I am his age I will not care what others think so much. I just don't have the stomach for public conflict that some do.