Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture
Jun 10, 2021 42 tweets 14 min read Read on X
The science denial industry has deep roots - tobacco-cancer denial, lead paint/gas denial and other ancestral forms of commercial denial gave birth to modern forms of denial: anti-vax, anti-mask, "stop the steal" and, of course, climate denial.

doctorow.medium.com/i-quit-9ae7b60…

1/ Icons representing different denial techniques.
The denial industry has a well-developed and constantly evolving playbook. Wealthy interest seeking to sow doubt about reality - about WHETHER REALITY CAN EVEN BE KNOWN - can pay for skilled denialists to plan and execute denial on their behalf.

2/
The reality-based community has long made efforts to catalogue denial techniques, and in 2007, @MarkHoofnagle proposed a five-point denial taxonomy: conspiracy, selectivity, fake experts, impossible expectations, and general fallacies of logic.

scienceblogs.com/denialism/2007…

3/
Inspired by a call for a fleshed-out denial taxonomy, GMU Climate Change Communications prof @johnfocook expanded on Hoofnagle's work, creating the #FLICC model: Fake experts, logical fallacies, impossible expectations, cherry-picking & conspiracies.

academic.oup.com/eurpub/article…

4/ Icons representing each of the FLICC points, under the title
In a fascinating blog post, Cook enumerates all of the FLICC subtechniques, describing their relationship to the Big Five FLICC tactics, along with great, vector-based icons licensed CC BY-SA.

crankyuncle.com/a-history-of-f…

5/ A tree showing the relationships between each of the techniq
Here's the full taxonomy:

* Ad Hominem: Attacking a person/group instead of addressing their arguments.

“Climate science can’t be trusted because climate scientists are biased.”

6/ The ad-hominem icon, a human head in crosshairs.
* Ambiguity: Using ambiguous language in order to lead to a misleading conclusion.

“Thermometer readings have uncertainty which means we don’t know whether global warming is happening.”

7/ The ambiguity icon, a line with arrow heads at each end poin
* Anchoring: Depending too heavily on an initial piece of information when making subsequent judgments.

“2.2 million people might have died from COVID-19 so keeping it down to only 130,000 deaths is a good job.”

8/
* Anecdote: Using personal experience or isolated examples instead of sound arguments or compelling evidence.

“The weather is cold today—whatever happened to global warming?”

9/ The anecdote icon, a speech-bubble containing a double-quote
* Blowfish: Focusing on an inconsequential aspect of scientific research, blowing it out of proportion in order to distract from or cast doubt on the main conclusions of the research.

“The hockey stick graph is invalid because it contains statistical errors.”

10/ The blowfish icon, a blowfish.
* Bulk Fake Experts: Citing large numbers of seeming experts to argue that there is no scientific consensus on a topic.

“There is no expert consensus because 31,487 Americans with a science degree signed a petition saying humans aren’t disrupting climate.”

11/ The bulk fake experts icon: a group of three human figures.
* Cherry Picking: Carefully selecting data that appear to confirm one position while ignoring other data that contradicts that position.

“Global warming stopped in 1998.”

12/ The cherry picking icon: two cherries joined by a stem.
* Contradictory: Simultaneously believing in ideas that are mutually contradictory.

“The temperature record is fabricated by scientists… the temperature record shows cooling.”

13/ The contradictory icon, two arrows pointing at each other.
* Conspiracy Theory: Proposing that a secret plan exists to implement a nefarious scheme such as hiding a truth.

“The climategate emails prove that climate scientists have engaged in a conspiracy to deceive the public.”

14/ The conspiracy theories icon: a human head topped with a tin
* Fake Debate (false balance): Presenting science and pseudoscience in an adversarial format to give the false impression of an ongoing scientific debate.

“Climate deniers should get equal coverage with climate scientists, providing a more balanced presentation of views.”

15/ The fake debate icon, a set of balance-scales.
* Fake Experts (appeal to false authority): Presenting an unqualified person or institution as a source of credible information.

“A retired physicist argues against the climate consensus, claiming the current weather change is just a natural occurrence.”

16/ The fake experts icon: a pair of faces in profile, facing on
* False Analogy: Assuming that because two things are alike in some ways, they are alike in some other respect.

“Climate skeptics are like Galileo who overturned the scientific consensus about geocentrism.”

17/ The false analogy icon, an apple and an orange.
* False Choice: Presenting two options as the only possibilities, when other possibilities exist.

“CO2 lags temperature in the ice core record, proving that temperature drives CO2, not the other way around.”

18/ The false choice icon: a yin-yang symbol.
* False Equivalence (apples vs. oranges): Incorrectly claiming that two things are equivalent, despite the fact that there are notable differences between them.

“Why all the fuss about COVID when thousands die from the flu every year.”

19/
* Immune to evidence: Re-interpreting any evidence that counters a conspiracy theory as originating from the conspiracy.

“Those investigations finding climate scientists aren’t conspiring were part of the conspiracy.”

20/ The immune to evidence icon, a shield.
* Impossible Expectations: Demanding unrealistic standards of certainty before acting on the science.

“Scientists can’t even predict the weather next week. How can they predict the climate in 100 years?”

21/ The impossible evidence icon, an arrow pointing up, blocked
* Logical Fallacies: Arguments where the conclusion doesn’t logically follow from the premises. Also known as a non sequitur.

“Climate has changed naturally in the past so what’s happening now must be natural.”

22/ The logical fallacies icon, a speech bubble with an X in it.
* Lowered Expectations: Lowering the standard by which you grade a performance or assess evidence.

“Two snapshots of Mars show shrinking ice, so Mars is global warming.”

23/
* Magnified Minority: Magnifying the significance of a handful of dissenting scientists to cast doubt on an overwhelming scientific consensus.

“Sure, there’s 97% consensus but Professor Smith disagrees with the consensus position.”

24/ The magnified minority icon: a pair of faces facing one anot
* Misrepresentation: Misrepresenting a situation or an opponent’s position in such a way as to distort understanding.

“They changed the name from ‘global warming’ to ‘climate change’ because global warming stopped happening.”

25/ The misrepresentation icon: a Greek comedy mask.
* Moving Goalposts: Demanding higher levels of evidence after receiving requested evidence.

“Sea levels may be rising but they’re not accelerating.”

26/ The moving goalposts icon, an American football goalpost.
* Nefarious intent: Assuming that the motivations behind any presumed conspiracy are nefarious.

“Climate scientists promote the climate hoax because they’re in it for the money.”

27/ The nefarious intent icon, a horned devil.
* Overriding suspicion : Having a nihilistic degree of skepticism towards the official account, preventing belief in anything that doesn’t fit into the conspiracy theory.

“Show me one line of evidence for climate change… oh, that evidence is faked!”

28/ The overriding suspicion icon: a magnifying glass whose lens
* Oversimplification: Simplifying a situation in such a way as to distort understanding, leading to erroneous conclusions.

“CO2 is plant food so burning fossil fuels will be good for plants.”

29/ The oversimplification icon: a funnel.
* Persecuted victim: Perceiving and presenting themselves as the victim of organized persecution

“Climate scientists are trying to take away our freedom.”

30/ The persecuted victim icon: a human figure on its knees, beg
* Quote Mining: Taking a person’s words out-of-context in order to misrepresent their position.

“Mike’s trick… to hide the decline.”

31/ The quote mining icon: a double quotation-mark.
* Re-interpreting randomness: Believing that nothing occurs by accident, so that random events are re-interpreted as being caused by the conspiracy.

“NASA’s satellite exploded? They must be trying to hide inconvenient data!”

32/ An irregular quadrangle whose vertices are joined by differe
* Red Herring: Deliberately diverting attention to an irrelevant point to distract from a more important point.

“CO2 is a trace gas so it’s warming effect is minimal.”

33/ The red herring icon: a fish.
* Single Cause: Assuming a single cause or reason when there might be multiple causes or reasons.

“Climate has changed naturally in the past so what’s happening now must be natural.”

34/ The single cause icon: a triangle whose vertices are labeled
* Slippery Slope: Suggesting that taking a minor action will inevitably lead to major consequences.

“If we implement even a modest climate policy, it will start us down the slippery slope to socialism and taking away our freedom.”

37/ The slippery slope icon: a human figure slipping down tilted
* Slothful Induction: Ignoring relevant evidence when coming to a conclusion.

“There is no empirical evidence that humans are causing global warming.”

38/ The slothful induction icon: a sloth hanging from a branch.
* Something must be wrong: Maintaining that the official account is based on deception, even when parts of a conspiracy theory become untenable.

“Ok, fine, 97% of climate scientists agree humans are causing global warming, but that’s because they’re toeing the party line.”

39/ The something must be wrong icon: a document icon slashed by
* Straw Man: Misrepresenting or exaggerating an opponent’s position to make it easier to attack.

“In the 1970s, climate scientists were predicting an ice age.”

40/ The Straw Man icon: a scarecrow.
* Wishful Thinking: Choosing to believe something is true because we really want it to be true, instead of relying on scientific evidence.

“Forget climate model predictions of warming, I think we’re about to experience global cooling.”

41/
All of these are explained in depth in "The Conspiracy Theory Handbook," by Cook and @STWorg, available free in English, Czech, French, German, Green, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Spanish and Turkish.

climatechangecommunication.org/conspiracy-the…

42/
Images:
John Cook

CC BY-SA:
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/

eof/
ETA - If you'd like an unrolled version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

pluralistic.net/2021/06/10/fli…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK

Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @doctorow

Apr 22
Astrophysicist Adam Becker knows a bit about science and tech - enough to show, in his book *More Everything Forever* that claims tech bros make about space colonies, mind uploading, and other skiffy subjects are nonsense dressed up as prediction:



1/ hachettebookgroup.com/titles/adam-be…The Basic Books cover for Adam Becker's 'More Everything Faster.'
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

pluralistic.net/2025/04/22/vin…

2/
Becker investigates the personalities, the ideologies, the coalitions, the histories, and crucially, the *grifts* behind various science fictional pursuits.

3/
Read 24 tweets
Apr 21
Have you heard that tariffs are going to drive prices up? Me too. There's a good reason we're hearing a lot of talk about tariffs prices: tariffs are a tax that is ultimately paid by consumers.

1/
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

pluralistic.net/2025/04/21/tru…

2/
Trump plans to raise $6t in tariffs, making them the largest tax increase in US history:



But that $6t is just for starters.

3/ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/04/03/as-…
Read 42 tweets
Apr 18
It's damned hard to prove an antitrust case: so often, the prosecution has to prove that the company *intended* to crush competition, and/or that they raised prices or reduced quality because they knew they didn't have to fear competitors.

1/ A naked, sexless pull-string talking doll with a speaker grille set into its chest. It has the head of Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse avatar, and a pull string extending from its back. A hand - again, from a Zuckerberg metaverse avatar - is pulling back the string. The doll towers over a courtroom.
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

pluralistic.net/2025/04/18/cha…

2/
It's a lot easier to prove *what* a corporation did than it is to prove *why* they did it. What am I, a mind-reader? But imagine for a second that the corporation in the dock is a global multinational.

3/
Read 64 tweets
Apr 15
A lawsuit filed in February accuses Tesla of remotely altering odometer values on failure-prone cars, in a bid to push these lemons beyond the 50,000 mile warranty limit:



1/ thestreet.com/automotive/tes…A scene out of an 11th century tome on demon-summoning called 'Compendium rarissimum totius Artis Magicae sistematisatae per celeberrimos Artis hujus Magistros. Anno 1057. Noli me tangere.' It depicts a demon tormenting two unlucky would-be demon-summoners who have dug up a grave in a graveyard. One summoner is held aloft by his hair, screaming; the other screams from inside the grave he is digging up. The scene has been altered to remove the demon's prominent, urinating penis, to add in a Tesla supercharger, and a red Tesla Model S nosing into the scene.   Image: Steve Jurvetson (modified)...
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

pluralistic.net/2025/04/15/mus…

2/
The suit was filed by a California driver who bought a used Tesla with 36,772 miles on it. The car's suspension kept failing, necessitating multiple servicings.

3/
Read 62 tweets
Apr 12
A jury has ordered Blue Cross of Louisiana to pay $421m to a hospital specializing in a much sought-after type of breast reconstruction, primarily for cancer survivors.

1/ A 19th century medical illustration of a topless woman whose left breast has been consumed by a tumor. She is being menaced by an engraved illustration of a looming skeleton, who raises one hand as if to strike her. Behind them is a faded and distressed Blue Cross logo.
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

pluralistic.net/2025/04/12/pre…

2/
The insurer "preapproved" surgeries for thousands of patients, but then held back 92% of the payments it owed, with CEO Steven Udvarhelyi insisting that "authorization never says we’re going to pay you":



3/documentcloud.org/documents/2588…
Read 34 tweets
Apr 11
It's been more than a decade in the making, but Facebook - or, if you prefer, Meta - is going on trial for antitrust violations, with the highest possible stakes and the worst possible evidence (for Facebook).

1/ A Gilded Age courtroom scene depicting a judge high atop the bench wagging a disapproving finger at an expensively dressed figure in the foreground. The foreground character has lost his top hat, which sits on the floor, as he roots through a breifcase on the defendant's table. The foreground figure's head has been replaced with the head of Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse avatar. The figure's right hand has been replaced with a Facebook 'thumbs up' icon. Hanging from the judge's bench like an unfurled scroll is a sheet of paper; the contents of this sheet have been replaced with the first page ...
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

pluralistic.net/2025/04/11/it-…

2/
The Big Tech On Trial blog was started to follow the Google antitrust case, the biggest antitrust case of the century, which was barely noticed by most of the press.

3/
Read 80 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(