Is misinformation about the climate criminally negligent?
My girlfriend is taking a critical thinking class through the philosophy department at the Rochester Institute of Technology. The general theme of the course is about pseudoscience (astrology, cryptozoology, UFOs, etc.). It appears that global warming skepticism (or "denialism", as the professor is putting it) has made the list.
The above link is to a blog post written by another professor within RIT's philosophy department advocating for criminal sanctions against organized global warming skepticism. Read the blog post; it isn't long.
So the professor (of a critical thinking class, remember) is proceeding under the assumption that global warming skeptics are in the same category as astrologists, and the discussion is currently focused on whether criminal sanctions are justified for those who speak out against the narrative.
How would you all respond to something like this? I haven't had a detailed discussion with her about this just yet. I got the email this morning, so I apologize for shooting from the hip. I'll be back with more information about the classroom content. For now I'm just looking for reactions to the blog post, and how you would respond to it if you were in that class.