Andrew Bolt's Blog,7/6/18; The stupid case of Epistemology and Peter Ridd; The tipping edge;

  Peter Ridd's sacking pushes the limit of academic freedom | Gay Alcorn | Opinion | The Guardian

 

I hate to say it because we know what this is really about. The cause of Ridd has been championed by those parts of the media and certain institutes – well, the Institute of Public Affairs – that have done all they humanly can to stop serious action in this country against climate change.
They have no interest in fair-minded coverage of the weight of scientific evidence, now overwhelming, that human action is causing global warming, and that urgent action is required globally to limit its dangerous impacts. Their interest is ideological, with an endearing lack of self-awareness in their charge that the “warmists” are the ideologues. They leap on the 3% or so of scientists who argue their colleagues have got it all wrong and would risk everything on those odds.
So, it is not that these Ridd champions – Andrew Bolt, Terry McCrann, the Australian, which now reports as fact that Ridd is a “marine science whistleblower”– have any inherent concern about academic freedom.

James Cook's actions are premised on the belief that the University is greater than just the individuals within it and unlike Thatcherites Society or the University does exist and it's patterns of behaviour are there to deliver outcomes beneficial to everyone in the excercise and methodology of in this case Marine Science. Science and it's methods of scepticism being the essence.

Ridd however demands a bigger space and the breakdown of the rules of discourse declaring the university as meaningless. As did Thatcher when she said there is no such thing as Society only individuals and the power they and their interest groups can enforce. Ridd refuses to see James Cook as a Collective wants to bring down it's structure and tradition like a house of cards. What's odd is here we have a conservative fighting for academic anarchy and being supported by the right wing traditionalists of the Murdochians media. However James Cook isn't simply soapbox corner nor does it feel the need to be reduced itself or it's reputation to one. So they are assisting Ridd in his right to remove himself and to find a soapbox from which to continue his opinions and be heard. In other words they are did him a favour by sacking him. He has found the forum  or ear of public opinion but that's all (ODT)

 Tipping point': Unilever to run Australian plants on 100% green power

 

 Consumer goods giant Unilever says it will run its Australian manufacturing plants entirely on clean energy within two years, with the country having passed a "tipping point" where going green is no longer a financial disadvantage

It won't be long before NewsCorp stands a lone voice on fossil fuels and even Andrew Bolt will fall over the tipping edge