A Better Word Than Denier

More people are upset about word "denier" appearing in a paper in Nature, like Keith Kloor and Judith Curry.... Not me, too much -- I think it's a fitting word for the phenomenon, and it's not a word I automatically associate with those who deny the Holocaust, and I don't think you can remove a perfectly good word from the English language just because in one area it applies to some odious people -- but I recognize it doesn't apply to everyone who disagrees with the "consensus" view on AGW -- though there isn't really one of those either, because all thinking people have things they think are known to certain degrees, and other things they think aren't known as well, all to differing degrees, and the set of all these things differs with each individual, but when writing about climate change you can't exactly refer to groups of people by their integrated probability distributions.

{Aside: But like Judith Curry, I'm not a fan of these efforts to find something wrong with people who think other than the "consensus," especially perverse efforts to blame it on their brain or their genes or because their daddy once gave them a spanking. I mean, come on, there are very few real sciences that end in "ology," and mining them for political support is, well, odious.}

So what's a better word than "denier?" The problem is, of course, that "skeptic" isn't accurate, since all scientists are skeptics, as anyone who's ever attended a hot science seminar knows. In fact, skepticism is the best thing about science, and the reason it's gotten us so far. So maybe

cynic

would work, because Merriam-Webster says it means "one who believes that human conduct is motivated wholly by self-interest," which seems to be a better fit to the position that most "skeptics" take. Or

dissenter

MW: One who withholds assent; one who differs in opinion. Not bad. Sounds clunky, though, and doesn't have any edge to it, that sense that "skeptics" aren't skeptics based solely on the science.

nihilist

Eh, no. We could make up a word:

anthony

as in, 'the climate anthonys oppose all CO2 regulations, period' or even better

motl

as in, 'the motls would have called the first sewage system a Marxist plot,' but it would seem mysterious to the general public, until it caught on.

scoffer

isn't bad: "to show contempt by derisive acts or language; to treat or address with derision."

Climate scoffers think the role of clouds has been grossly underestimated.

It doesn't quite capture honest skepticism -- that of the few who really do have objections primarily to the science (though are there any "skeptics" who don't coming from an ideologically conservative position? [And, since some commenter will surely ask, vice-versa?] Though to be honest I feel like I have a much better idea of the political ideologies of prominent "skeptics" than I do of prominent "nonskeptics," at least for the big-names.)

I kind of like "scoffers." It seems to suit the times, too, what with the decline in civility and manners coming from the motls. But it has something for the scoffers, too, doesn't it, a certain ring to it, a attitude deep within it that one might remember when the chips are down and the sea ice is almost gone. "You're damn right I'm a climate scoffer! Why the hell aren't you??"

I might try it for awhile.