In 1633, Pope Urban VIII ordered chief inquisitor Father Vincenzo Maculani da Firenzuola to begin the indictment of Galileo Galilei for heresy. Galileo had been promoting the notion that the Earth was not the center of the solar system (and the universe) but rotated around the sun. When passing sentence, the Church declared, “Galileo…have rendered yourself vehemently suspected by this Holy Office of heresy, that is Scriptures, that the sun is the center of the world, and that it does not move from east to west and that the earth does move and is not the center of the world.” Having the church’s grand inquisitor try to describe the fine points of astrophysics was like your grandfather trying to describe TikTok. But it was good enough for a conviction.
Nowadays, we might chuckle at the stubborn ignorance of Galileo’s accusers or at the Flat Earth conspiracy nuts, but assaults on science and scientists continue to rage on to this day. Last week, KCCI chief meteorologist out of Des Moines, Chris Gloninger announced his resignation, citing a string of death threats.
Now Mr. Gloninger is originally from New York and may not have appreciated that Iowans take our weather seriously. We expect accurate, frequent and interesting weather updates, capable of stimulating endless topics of conversation and neighborly debates. Criticizing meteorologists in Iowa is not merely an accepted practice, it is a competitive sport. Iowans secretly understand that no mere scientist can master the confounding complexities of predicting our weather. And when we express our disgust at meteorologists, unique among professions, for getting paid for being wrong most of the time, we are just joking and don’t literally wish they were dead.
It is therefore a little hard to understand why a viewer of Gloninger’s forecasts would be so disturbed as to threaten his life. Did he hear the phrase “continued hot and dry” one too many times? The police finally identified the offender as Danny Hancock 63. It turns out, what set him off was that, along with reporting the weather, the Emmy-award-winning meteorologist regularly included information about how human activity affects climate change. This prompted Mr. Hancock to write that he was “…sick and tired of your liberal conspiracy on the weather.” And, “We conservative Iowans would like to give you an Iowan welcome you will never forget.” Which generally means a big porkchop dinner with mountains of mashed potatoes and lots of corn on the cob. But Gloninger was afraid it was something much more sinister.
“When I was in Boston,” Gloninger told The Washingtonian, “I was preaching to the choir.” But since coming to Des Moines, he said it was like being “in the lion’s den.” If he was referring to the Bible story, it might be worth noting that the lions never actually ate Daniel. And, in all likelihood, Mr. Hancock was just blowing off steam and Gloninger overreacted. Police fined Hancock $150.
That humans affect climate change is commonly accepted by climate scientists and others who take the trouble to know stuff. The emerging facts about climate change can clash with long-held beliefs and political identity, just as the Church of the 1600’s rejected that the Earth revolves around the sun. Eventually, they were convinced. But it took Rome 300 years to admit that Galileo was right and to clear him of heresy.