It didn't take long for the controversial new editorial writer a theNew York Times to deliver the goods ' the goods in this case being tired and weak excuses for why mainstream media publications should give credence to climate change deniers. On Friday afternoon, theTimes published the first column from Bret Stephens, in which he argues "ordinary citizens also have a right to be skeptical of an overweening scientism" in relation to climate change. SEE ALSO: We're about to test out hacking the Earth's climate. That should scare and inspire you. While theTimes doesn't seem to have any writers extolling the flat earth theory or delving into the issues around chemtrails, it saw fit to recently hire Stephens, a noted conservative writer, best known in the science community for his climate change denial. He didn't waste any time. And theTimes clearly saw an opportunity, finding it necessary not just to publish the column but also send a push alert about it. NYT edit board has cited 'rock-solid scientific consensus" for "swift action" on climate change https://t.co/IQH8HWXBBs Latest NYT alert pic.twitter.com/DVaSeTnGZn ' Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) April 28, 2017 The column extolls the virtues of skepticism in the face of certainty, leading off by pointing out that a lot of people were sure that Hillary Clinton would beat Donald Trump. Yes, the new conservative writer started off by trolling his audience while also constructing a laughable straw man argument. In Stephens's world, "data" is all the same and anyone who can add together numbers is a scientist who should be taken with a grain of salt. The push alert in particular rubbed people the wrong way. HeyHey guysHello friends are you listening'Hey[walks around poking everyone] Ok now that I have your attentionWe hired a new doofus! pic.twitter.com/GkSUYQCprH ' southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) April 28, 2017 Reasonable people can disable push notifications, @nytimes. pic.twitter.com/ink9bHiNxm ' Andisheh Nouraee (@andishehnouraee) April 28, 2017 The column comes just as theTimes builds up a climate reporting team. "As the earth's temperature continues to break records, climate and environmental reporting is taking on new urgency," the company wrote on a very pretty page touting the open jobs on its team. Image: New york times/screenshotThe column also comes one week after March for Science and one day before the People's March for Climate. Stephens was theoretically hired to bring "balance" to theNYT's pages, with some feeling the publication had skewed too far to the "left." Others have pointed out that this kind of "balance" tends to be a fool's errand, particularly as other kinds of "balance" are ignored. Think of never having hired a woman of color as a columnist but feeling like putting this on your page is progress pic.twitter.com/QYMx3wD1Ii ' Jack Mirkinson (@jackmirkinson) April 28, 2017 We can only feel sympathetic for the science editors at theTimes, one of whom decided the best defense is a good offense. It is, admittedly, a good burn. Congrats to all the tweet aggregators who will make very viral content out of all this. ' Michael Roston (@michaelroston) April 28, 2017 WATCH: This NYU student went undercover as a worker in a Chinese iPhone factory
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