Bali: manufacturing consensus

It would appear that jetting off to a far-flung tropical island for a 12-day gabfest on climate change is restricted to people who believe that jetting off to far-flung tropical islands risks drowning said islands. Skeptics and terrorists need not apply.

Scientists and journalists who are known to disagree with the supposed consensus on climate change were refused credentials to speak at, or cover, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia, according to a post by Andrew Bolt, a commentator for the Herald Sun in Australia.

(Consensus, as anyone with a grounding in philosophy of science knows, is the highest form of proof. It is to science what the Creed of Nicea is to Christianity.)

Perhaps the people denied access really do not merit accreditation. But this sort of thing has happened before, and it’s all just a little too convenient. Fifteen thousand delegates escaped the cold to head for Bali, not counting the thousands of spoilt rich party kids who tag along as protest groupies. You’d think they could spare the seats.