Many of us are familiar with the evils perpetrated by Jerry Sandusky, a star among the Penn State football coaches. He was found guilty of molesting several young boys, many from fatherless homes.
Valid criticism has been aimed at Penn State because it took so long for the molestation to be uncovered. There were reports of abuse, but no one did anything about it.
Penn State has not learned. Another scandal, intellectual rather than sexual, is brewing.
A Penn State professor, Dr. Michael Mann, has been accused of junk science. He is suing his accusers. This priceless paragraph from Greenie Watch describes the dilemma:
“In Mann’s lawsuit he characterizes himself as having been “awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.” Mann’s claim is what might be called an embellishment — he has, to use the definition found at the top of this post, “made (a statement or story) more interesting or entertaining by adding extra details, esp. ones that are not true.” An accurate interpretation is that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change did win the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, and the IPCC did follow that award by sending to the AR4 authors a certificate noting their contributions to the organization. So instead of being a “Nobel Peace Prize Winner” Mann was one of 2,000 or so scientists who made a contribution to an organization which won the Nobel Peace Prize.”
One may wonder just where, in the grey area between truth and deception, Dr. (don’t you just love to preface such a person with that title!) Michael Mann lies.
Penn State’s other dilemmas. Will Dr. Michael Mann be allowed to go on claiming himself to have been awarded the Nobel Peace Price?
Another Penn State dilemma: Will they have a real investigation, not just a faculty whitewash, of Dr. Michael Mann’s work? Will that real investigation also investigate those participating in what critics claim is a whitewash provided Dr. Michael Mann by his fellow faculty members?
Still another Penn State dilemma: Will Penn State allow these kind of pseudo-intellectual shenanigans to continue as long as they allowed Jerry Sandusky’s sexual perversions to damage helpless, young boys.
We will find out if Penn State even cares what the definition of a “Nobel Prize Winner” is, or if its faculty is making false, or magnified, claims about awards they did not actually receive.
