Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

Robert A asked in EnvironmentGlobal Warming · 1 decade ago

How important is the Lord Monckton Effect?

The effect is that if you spout enough rubbish eventually you will come to believe it..

Update:

PMSL a lot of creativity on both sides of the argument

10 Answers

Relevance
  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    The Monckton effect is a bit more nuanced than that. You need to be able to speak fairly eloquently, with a British accent (makes you sound smart), and throw some numbers around to make it seem as though you know what you're talking about. Throw in some self-inflation by claiming that you were Margaret Thatcher's science advisor and a member of the House of Lords (doesn't matter that it's not true), and then you have the Monckton effect.

    Or you could call it the Watts or McIntyre effect. Just have some minimal expertise in a field marginally related to climate science, and put together some pretty pictures and graphs. And of course the key to any of these effects is that you vehemently criticize climate scientists and AGW. It helps if you call them frauds and compare climate scientists to Nazis.

    These effects are only important to people who are desperate to find any reason to deny the scientific reality of AGW. Most other people are immune to the garbage being spewed by the Moncktons of the world.

  • 1 decade ago

    <<These effects are only important to people who are desperate to find any reason to deny the scientific reality of AGW. Most other people are immune to the garbage being spewed by the Moncktons of the world.>>

    That's not true--the predictions from the supposed scientific authorities (peer reviewed!) consistently underpredict the warming. What is happening is that on an emotional level the nonsense from the Monctons really does intimidate the so-called scientists. If the Denier lobby did not exist I don't think the predictions would be off as much.

    The same thing happened with the tobacco industry intimidating the medical community. The claims by the experts have always under-reported the dangers of smoking (and still do)--when you hear a report saying that smoking or secondhand is more harmful than previously thoughht it usually is not because there actually is new data not seen before, but because sociologically the medical community is becoming more comfortable accepting evidence that has been around for a while.

    It really is fascinating looking at the data and seeing the warming occur much faster than what the "peer reviewed" studies claimed would happen, and the Moderates just disregarding the data and sticking with the "peer reviewed" severely erroneous models.

    The whole thing is a sad comedy of errors.

  • Trevor
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago

    I sometimes wonder if Monckton’s global warming denial is nothing more than a charade designed to generate media attention. He’s attempted similar schemes in the past and these have backfired on him in spectacular fashion.

    For example, a few years ago he made a huge issue about the fact that he had been forced to pay out £1 million to a couple of mathematicians who had solved a puzzle that Monckton claimed was unsolvable (the Eternity Puzzle invented by Monckton).

    He portrayed himself as a victim who had been forced to sell his house, had been declared bankrupt and whose life had been destroyed. He hired publicists to get his story into as many publications as possible. It turned out that Monckton had taken out an insurance policy and it was the insurers that paid out the prize money.

    He has contradicted himself on numerous occasions, often when he is put on the spot and has to come up with quick answers. This gives the impression that either a) he doesn’t know what he’s talking about or b) he keeps lying and the lies come back to haunt him.

    Personally I find it hard to believe that anyone of sane mind could come out with some of the stuff that Monckton does, which leads me to wonder, is he perhaps a pathological liar or suffering from a condition which causes his unusual behaviour.

    You have to wonder, why does he pretend to be a Lord (he is a Viscount and should refer to himself as such, ‘Lord’ should only be used as a third party salutation – it’s one of the peculiarities of the British heraldry system); and why does he claim to be a member of the House of Lords (he did stand for election but received no votes, at which time he declared the electoral process to be a ‘bizarre constitutional abortion’).

    Such blatant lies are obviously going to be exposed, especially considering his penchant for flirting with the media. It seems very, very strange to me that a rational person would conduct themselves in the manner that Monckton has. And so I wonder, is he in full control of his faculties or is the whole act just an attention grabbing stunt?

    I know Monckton’s wealth comes from the oil industry (his father or grandfather was Chairman of the Iraq Oil Company, he inherited the estate) but I don’t believe he is directly currently connected with any oil concerns other than via the SPPI which supports and publishes his ‘papers’ and is funded by Exxon.

    How important is the Monckton effect? In respect of climate change I don’t think it is of any real relevance. All he’s done is to provide material that has been perpetuated by other deniers. As such, his sphere of influence is restricted to those that were already non-believers or to those with little or no comprehension of the climate.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    it's quite important.

    speaking persuasively is a different talent to research. the best proponent of the science i have heard recently, on th eradio, turned out to be an economist - lord Stern. we need more persuasive speakers to interpret the science in an acessible way.

    dana, i sound smart because i am, its all to do with the words i use, not the accent, that just makes me sound like a school teacher. monkton is smart, and bad. if he had been at hogwarts he would have been in slytherin house.

  • How do you think about the answers? You can sign in to vote the answer.
  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    "the Monckton effect is roughly 20% to 30% as important as the Gore effect.

    apparently the extreme right Monckton effect Carry's less weight than the radical loony left Al Gore effect."

    That's funny, because usually when I hear about Al Gore, it is from denialists who, lacking anything scientific to say, resort to making disparaging remarks about Al Gore. The truth is that most of what we hear from climate realists can be traced to actual scientist who have been publishing long before Al Gore made his movie while denialists, lacking any scientific background rely on ad-hominem attacks and pseudo-experts like Andrew Whatsit and Lord Mocking-tone.

    Global warming is happening.

    http://www.skepticalscience.com/global-cooling.htm

    We are causing it.

    http://www.skepticalscience.com/empirical-evidence...

  • 1 decade ago

    ROBERT is a pathetic COPYCAT.

    Of his 10 answers, all have been copied from answers already posted before. He simply picks the one he thinks is best, adds "This is a good question" and posts it as his own.

    This time he copied DANA1981's answer...

    Join me in reporting this as Abuse!

  • 1 decade ago

    It's a propaganda tradition to repeat nonsense until people start to believe it. He, like other climate change deniers uses classic propaganda techniques. He has been likened to Lord Haw Haw during the second world war. Importance is related to how many people think for themselves and how many believe his nonsense.

  • 1 decade ago

    Monckton usually speaks to evangelicals. His audiences do not believe in science to begin with. At least in the U.S. he is not as important as the radio talk show personalities that cater to people who can't deal with complex subjects.

  • 1 decade ago

    Lord Monckton has no credibility with anyone who fact checks. Sad how all the freedom lovers are influenced by this aristocratic nincompoop's pseudo-credentials. He is a cog in the propaganda machine.

  • 1 decade ago

    the Monckton effect is roughly 20% to 30% as important as the Gore effect.

    apparently the extreme right Monckton effect Carry's less weight than the radical loony left Al Gore effect.

    probably because Monckton uses proper English & seems to be a little better acquainted with the facts & the scientific method.

    so we need at least 2 more Moncktons to bring things back into proper balance, or one more that's better financed, more flamboyant & more willing to make up graphs from nonexistent data.

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.