Corporate climate misinformation differs categorically from conspiracist fabulation

Evidence

Oil companies and Republican officials who charge climate scientists with bias make arguments that can be refuted by showing that the science is not biased. Accusations of bad faith and bias, of distortion and misinformation, are an ugly politics to be sure; it is certainly not politics according to the deliberative ideal in which reasons are met with reasons in a common effort to justify public policy in the most convincing way. But it is a politics in which it is possible for intentional misinformation to be countered by better information. In contrast to the corporate misinformation campaign, the new conspiracist “hoax” deniers serve up not misinformation but fabulation. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 245

Categorization

• DEFINE: Key distinction between refutable misinformation (corporate) and conspiracist ‘hoax’ claims that structurally resist counter-evidence.
• XREF: connects to: Anti-government ideology independently motivated climate-change denial beyond industry funding — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 74; Fossil fuel funding manufactured doubt that made climate change a partisan media issue — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 160; News outlets demanded false balance on climate because backers and advertisers bought it — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 162 (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• Conspiracist climate denial rejects expertise itself, unlike corporate misinformation #expands (0.90) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 249
• Corporate climate deniers are corrupt, not confused about reality #expands (0.85)
• Polarization and motivated bias differ from conspiracism in being corrigible #expands (0.85) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 263
• Corporate misinformation can be refuted; hoax conspiracism cannot #expands (0.80) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 243
• Conspiracism targets knowledge-producing institutions rather than individual facts #expands (0.80) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 242
• Factual correction of conspiracism usually fails or backfires #expands (0.75) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 119
• Conspiracism differs from bullshit in its emphatic demand for affirmation #expands (0.75) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 166
• Climate skeptics treated hacked emails as evidence of scientific fraud #exemplifies (0.75) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2737