The Rule of Law seems finally to have died out in Britain. This case apparently turned into a decision on climate change itself, rather than whether or not the protesters involved were guilty of “criminal damage and unlawful trespass“.
I was also quite interested to find out that James Hansen is now the “world’s leading climate scientist” — a title that I suspect he never claimed for himself. In fact, upon closer inspection, it appears that only climate advocacy groups were calling him that until the trial. I would suspect that news sites lifted it uncritically from Greenpeace’s press release, which certainly appears to precede all the other articles on the verdict.
Unfortunately, in the long run, it looks like this is going to legitimize this sort of pointless vandalism. If causing about $60,000 worth of damage is excusable, what’s next? Will this ruling allow eco-terror in Britain?
If I were to declare someone the world’s leading expert on something I wish to believe is dangerous (but without the cachet presently given the theory of man-made global warming), break the law to ‘publicize’ my belief, and be put on trial, would -I- be let go?
What do you think?