Framing Science : Is Name Calling an Effective Communication Strategy?

A few bloggers have registered their reaction to last week's PRI radio segment that questions the wisdom of calling climate change and evolution opponents "deniers." Most notably Orac, Mike the Mad Biologist, and Mark Hofnagle argue that their preferred brand of name calling remains the best communication strategy.

Alarmist Orac, a self-styled deep thinker: Sometimes there's no other way to describe it. Except maybe one.

This time around, he's perturbed at a certain word, a certain term that we skeptics sometimes feel compelled to use when confronting cranks who are not interested in honest debate but rather perpetuating a scientifically discredited point of view because of ideology. Such cranks include creationists, anthropogenic global warming denialists, 9/11 Truthers, "alternative" medicine mavens, and even Holocaust deniers.