This article is manipulative, bordering on malicious.
Its claim boils down to "Data visualization techniques can't be interpreted literally" -- which is obvious -- but is titled and written in such a way to provide ammunition to climate change deniers that "the other side" is being loose with facts, or something.
Absolute and insulting garbage. Whoever wrote this, edited it, approved it for release, and whoever posted it here, should be ashamed.
If "your side" is being loose with facts, then pointing that out isn't just providing ammunition to "the other side". Arguments are not soldiers you need to support unconditionally to secure victory for "your side" in the war of public opinion. Pointing out when "your side" is wrong will hopefully help it make better arguments in the future.
But "my side" isn't being loose with facts. That's my point. Data visualization techniques are always lossy, that's just how they work. The article tries to paint this lossiness as deception, and that's wrong.
> one shouldn't suppress truth and normalize deceit.
My point is that the article is claiming deceit where none exists. Data visualization techniques are always lossy, that's just how they work. The article tries to paint this lossiness as deception, and that's wrong.
Just in case someone actually still doesn't realise - this is a bullshit claim. (that arson is relevant in this situation) There are fires every year and they will happen. Climate change doesn't start fires. What it does is extends the fire season and makes forest management harder, which provides more fuel when the fire is burning.
The number is correct. The relevance is bullshit. Australia will have fires every year, arson or not. It needs to keep them under control either way - which is related to climate and forest management. If arson can create out of control fires, so can lightning.
I don't have any figure or analysis, but I would actually expect arson to be worse, since lightning strikes are more or less random whereas a skilled arsonist can theoretically start the fire in the right place (upwind, etc.)
I'm not sure what you're looking for here. Fires are out of control. Have you got someone proving that fire caused by lightning could be controlled easier than fire started by arson?
Basically if you claim they're relevant, it's on you to find an explanation how/why. Not on everyone else to disprove every possible theory. Otherwise we're stuck in gish gallop.
You can't prove a negative. If they're connected and people have proof and it's relevant, they'd present it. And again, arson-related arrests are real and I'm not disputing them.
This would not even be an interesting topic if it wasn't pushed so strongly on social media with a lot of bias. (Wasn't as interesting a decade ago when it was a firefighter starting fires) So let's do a reasonable thing and drop that whole thing until someone comes up with a credible proof, not a theory abused by bots and media.
Newscorp should definitely not be your source for anything climate related.
It's well documented that the Murdoch's (of Newscorp ownership) are part of IPA thinktank [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Public_Affairs] push to portray climate change as imaginary. IPA drives Murdoch properties, right wing and conservative talking heads and seemingly 99% of the 'oh the greenies did (that thing that was enacted by the government in power)' conversations.
> obviously misleading maps are posted as representations of fire damage
The maps referenced in the article aren't "obviously misleading" -- data visualization techniques are always lossy, that's just how they work. Claiming they're misleading is the real deception.
Its claim boils down to "Data visualization techniques can't be interpreted literally" -- which is obvious -- but is titled and written in such a way to provide ammunition to climate change deniers that "the other side" is being loose with facts, or something.
Absolute and insulting garbage. Whoever wrote this, edited it, approved it for release, and whoever posted it here, should be ashamed.