Scientists Ask Obama to Prosecute Climate Skeptic Groups

No matter what your opinion is on global warming, you at least have to accept the opinions of other people right? Even if you vehemently disagree with someone, they still have the right to say and believe whatever they want. You wouldn’t just throw someone in jail for having a different opinion on global warming. Unless of course you think your opinion is correct without a shadow of a doubt, and everyone who promotes an opposing idea are criminals for daring to go against scientific orthodoxy.

That seems to be the stance that several scientists have taken recently. Researchers from multiple universities just wrote a letter to President Obama, asking him to open an “investigation of corporations and other organizations that have knowingly deceived the American people about the risks of climate change, as a means to forestall America’s response to climate change” under the RICO Act. They seem to think that there is some vast conspiracy among multiple groups that are tied to the oil industry, to stifle climate science with a misinformation campaign.

The idea of using the RICO Act to investigate climate skeptics was first proposed by Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse. He argues that these groups should be investigated for the same reasons our government used RICO to look into the tobacco companies. But unlike the dangers of smoking, nearly half of the population disagrees with the idea of man-made global warming. If the Obama administration went through with this, they would be investigating and prosecuting groups who disagree with an idea that for tens of millions of Americans, is not a settled science.