The courts are already tied up till kingdom come … unless you’re rich and pushy

PZ will never realize the above stated irony of this. He simply doesn’t have the gray matter necessary.

Also, generally, libel suits must demonstrate harm. Thus Stu Pivar must demonstrate that PZ’s attacks have caused him harm. I will be most interested to see what harm is alleged.

I doubt that “becoming unpopular among Darwinist fanatics” can be considered a harm, when – as I assume everyone knows < ;> – it is one of the clinical tests for sanity.

Did milk squirt out of anyone else’s nose here, like it did mine when I read this?

Such Schadenfreude is unseemly. I set my milk down before reading the story.

I agree with Mike. Although it isn’t like anybody has accused PZ of being much of a clear thinker so I suspect the irony of his statement would be wasted entirely on him.

But hey, this sort of double standard is pretty much business as usual for people of Myers political persuasion. If you disagree with them you must be silenced, but if you try to silence them then you are guilty of censorship.

Don’t hold your breath expecting Myers or anybody in his camp to appreciate the irony of this situation.

If everyone who has been called a crackpot (which probably includes every one of us at one time or another, no doubt!) sued then the courts would be tied up till kingdom come.

As for the withdrawn quote from de Grasse Tyson, which seems to be the only other substantive point Pivar has, even if the quote wasn’t taken out of context as Tyson and others have claimed (with a reasonable amount of evidence), or used without permission, then its still Tyson’s choice as to whether he wants to continue to be seen endorsing Pivar’s material. I can hardly believe that Tyson would have been so easily badgered or frightened into withdrawing the quote after one bad review from Myers.

While I’m all for defending one’s corner, especially when it comes to innovative and new scientific theories, I really do detest nuisance law suits no matter who the target is, and this certainly appears to be one of them.

Everyone on UD should be reading Scott Adams’ blog. Not only is he hilarious, but he’s often insightful at many points along the way.