One Final Note on Climate Change

One of the things that disturbs me is the lack of strong language for those who stole the information that has resulted in the present uproar.  While I have no patience for the suppression of evidence and data, equally, I have no tolerance for using illegal and at least questionably moral means of forcing one's hand.  I think we do well to go by the adage that one may not do evil so that good may result.  We may not torture others to get information that may save innocents--another way must be found.  And while this does not amount to torture, it is a matter of theft.  Hacking e-mail messages and publishing them abroad is certainly not a reputable means of addressing what is certainly a devastating problem of integrity in the scientific realm. 

But I don't see much questioning of the source and of the morality of the exposure itself.  What the scientists have done, if I understand correctly the allegation and they are true, is despicable; but what about what those who have exposed the scientists have done?  Is it in any wise better?  Standing on higher moral ground?  Perhaps this is a point that needs some further consideration and not a little outrage in itself.  And outrage not from those who have been violated, but from those who have witnessed and accepted this violation as common practice. 

It is a quandary.