Denialist's Deck of Cards

A while back I read a book about the abolition of the slave trade, Bury the Chains. One of the interesting things about the book was that the movement to abolish the slave trade was one of the earliest popular social movements, and it established the kind of approaches still used today to gain popular support for social causes. It also established some of the basic techniques used to fight back. My personal favorite: those slave ships are like a cruise vacation!!!

My old friend Hal pointed me at a recent paper called the Denialist Deck of Cards.

denialism is the use of rhetorical techniques and predictable tactics to erect barriers to debate and consideration of any type of reform, regardless of the facts.

It's interesting to compare this compilation of tactics to what you see today on many issues. The most obvious one that comes to mind is global warming. Check out the tactics, map to your observations of what's gone on for the last 10 years. I think we're closing in on the Aces, but maybe we're just into the face cards.