Still, the myth persisted.
I would like to believe that most of the scientists involved were acting in good faith (and we'll come back to that word in just a moment) and not engaged in deliberate fraud, but it is hard to hold to that belief when I read emails detailing ways to suppress any research that criticizes global warming orthodoxy. When the methods of that suppression involve the deliberate destruction of reputations, it becomes even more difficult.
Sign 1. Critics are treated as heretics.
Global Warming has been used to predict a higher than average number of hurricanes and to explain a lower than average number of hurricanes. It has been used to explain floods, droughts, the flourishing of species, and the extinction of species. It has been used to predict the expansion of deserts and an accelerated ice age. Global warming is blamed for heat waves and hard freezes, as well as extended moderate weather patterns. In short, every weather related phenomena has been attributed to Global Warming.
Sign 2. Every question has the same answer.
Raw climate data is hidden from public scrutiny. In at least one case, the raw data has been thrown away, discarded in favor of data modified by the group. The modification methods are kept secret. Computer models are kept secret. Methodologies are guarded jealously.
Sign 3. Belief comes from faith, not a knowledge of the facts.
We are told that the science is too complicated, too difficult for anyone but a select few to understand. This select group is determined not by qualifications or any objective criteria, but by how well the hold to the orthodoxy. The group works to define the orthodoxy, and to defend it against any detractors.
Sign 4. An elite group is formed, priests, to spread the faith and punish the unbelievers.
We know that several groups routinely acted to massage the data to make it fit the theory, instead of the other way around. Computer code was written to produce the desired result, instead of the one that most accurately represented the data.
Sign 5. When fact and belief collide, belief wins.
I could go on, but you get the point. Well, some of you will anyway. The true believers in the Church of Global Warming will not lose the faith, no matter what is said.