Scientists On Trial For.... Earthquakes?

[Yassen]

Yes, those evil plotting scientists are being put on trial for the 300 victims who lost their lives in 2009 to the L'Aquila earthquake. How you ask? I'll just quote the news article and let you see for yourself. Yes, the article is pretty biased, but really how else can you see this event without scratching your head and wondering what the hell are they thinking?

Ignorant Prosecutors Blame Scientists for Earthquake Victims


Just like in the bloody old times of the Roman Inquisition, some Italian imbeciles are trying to blame some Italian scientists for the 300 victims of the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake today. How this stupidity has reached trial is beyond me.

The trial for manslaughter against seven seismologist and other government experts started yesterday. They are accused of failing to warn people about the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that killed 308 in L'Aquila, Italy. Because, of course, everybody knows you can predict Earthquakes and warn people well in advance. These evil scientists just keep that information for themselves because they love to see people killed and nuclear plants melting down.

The morons prosecuting these scientists say that they gave "inexact, incomplete and contradictory information," failing to warn against the big earthquake after smaller tremors were felt in L'Aquila six months before the catastrophe hit the medieval city, smashing it down to a hill of rocks.

Of course, every single seismologist in the world has pointed out the obvious: you can't predict earthquakes of any size and you can't tell when a big one is going to hit, even if small ones happen first. 5,200 international researchers wrote a letter to the Italian government, which I hope contained the phrase "Are you really this fucking stupid?"

But of course, what would you expect from the bunch of morons who have failed to prosecute a corrupted assclown like Silvio Berlusconi for all these years? I'm not surprised that they have launched this witch hunt, trying to pin the blame of someone instead of just accepting that nature doesn't give a damn about humans and it will never warn against these catastrophes.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5842498/ignorant-prosecutors-blame-scientists-for-earthquake-victims

Edit: There's been plenty of criticism regarding the bias of this article so I decided to also link a more objective source.

Seven scientists and other experts went on trial on manslaughter charges Tuesday for allegedly failing to sufficiently warn residents before a devastating earthquake that killed more than 300 people in central Italy in 2009.

The case is being closely watched by seismologists around the world who insist it's impossible to predict earthquakes and that no major temblor has ever been foretold. Last year, about 5,200 international researchers signed a petition supporting their Italian colleagues and the Seismological Society of America wrote to Italy's president expressing concern about what it called an unprecedented legal attack on science.

The seven defendants are accused of giving "inexact, incomplete and contradictory information" about whether smaller tremors felt by L'Aquila residents in the six months before the April 6, 2009 quake should have constituted grounds for a quake warning.

Specifically, prosecutors focused on a memo issued after a March 31, 2009 meeting of the Great Risks commission which was called because of mounting concerns about the months of seismic activity in the region.

Story: Complex geology behind the Italian earthquake
According to the commission's memo ? issued one week before the big quake ? the experts concluded that it was "improbable" that there would be a major quake though it added that one couldn't be excluded.

The 6.3-magnitude quake killed 308 people in and around the medieval town, which was largely reduced to rubble. Thousands of survivors lived in tent camps or temporary housing for months.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44590497/ns/world_news-europe/#.TnihWdSLZ5Z

Yes, the scientists didn't correctly warn the people about the potential for an earthquake, but that's because earthquakes are completely impossible to correctly predict. Even small shakes of seismic activity can not predict an earthquake, and causing a panic over a false alarm would have pissed off as many people as it has now.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Ugh, really?

That's just...

I can't...

If anyone needs me, I'll be in the angry dome.

 

[Blunderboy]

It's about time. Damn you science!


My mind boggles at this 'logic'.

 

[Zefar]

Hmm living on the moon with no oxygen. Doesn't sound so bad now.

But good lord those people really need learn how stuff works.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

.........I don't want to live on this planet anymore...

Seriously, WHAT IN THE !@#$. What, are we gonna start prosecuting weathermen for not predicting that a lightning bolt was gonna fall on someone's head? x_x

 

[ssgt splatter]

Ugh, really?

That's just...

I can't...

If anyone needs me, I'll be in the angry dome.

Is there room in there for two?

Government on trial should be a new reality series, right? Wouldn't that be one of the highest rated programs ever? I'd think so.

Better make it three.

 

[Robert Ewing]

Are the prosecutors angry Christians or something? Wow, this just seems... wrong. And incredibly primitive. It's like when the Aztecs sacrificed someone when they got the weather wrong.

 

[Soviet Steve]

Due to Berlusconi I have no respect for modern Italy, and this does not surprise me in the least.

 

[twistedheat15]

Ha, time to text my friend in italy about how retarded her gov is being again. Then again, italy did want to sue nintendo saying they deserve profits from Mario because he's italian, so mebbe they learned how to prosecute and wanna throw it around like a new toy.

 

[Fbuh]

This reminds me of how much people on the East Coast freaked when that tiny 5.9 earthquake happened in Virginia. People just like drama.

 

[Jonluw]

The stupid. It hurts so much.
I totally expected this to be coming from some religious nuts in the US.

 

[Sonicron]

Dear Lord. Just when you think you've seen the highest levels of stupidity...
Is it wrong of me to want to inflict bodily harm on these prosecutors by hitting them with my really, really heavy geography books? Wait, don't answer that - I don't care.

 

[harvz]

...do me a favor, call me an ambulance, my sides are about to split. how are people this stupid? oh well, at least now i know that if there is an earthquake here and i fall over, a seismologist did it.

 

[Mariner]

Atleast this way it will be easier to do my plan or eradicating the idiotic from this planet since the stupid don't die in droves any more.

 

[jumjalalabash]

Love how they are blaming the scientists instead of blaming the office in charge of warning the public.

Ugh, really?

That's just...

I can't...

If anyone needs me, I'll be in the angry dome.

Is there room in there for two?

Government on trial should be a new reality series, right? Wouldn't that be one of the highest rated programs ever? I'd think so.

Better make it three.

Lets make it a whole damn party. I'll bring the spiked purple soda.

 

[Blue Hero]

Dear Lord. Just when you think you've seen the highest levels of stupidity...
Is it wrong of me to want to inflict bodily harm on these prosecutors by hitting them with my really, really heavy geography books? Wait, don't answer that - I don't care.

They'd probably try to sue whoever wrote your geography books for failing to warn them about you.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

Due to Berlusconi I have no respect for modern Italy, and this does not surprise me in the least.

I find i hard to respect italy at as a country at all actually.

I mean today we have Berlusconi. A couple of decades ago they were in cahoots with Adolf Hitler. Before that we're talking Christian Catholic supression of science and witch-hunts, and before that! The roman empire, pretty much equally bad if not WORSE than Hitler.

Let's face it, Italy is pretty much a country of pure evilness. Note that im not making a blanket statement about the PEOPLE of italy now, since I happen to be of the opinion that a people and a country is not the same thing, so if you happen to be italian and feel wrongly accused then no need to get your panties in a bunch because im mostly referring to italy as a sovreign state (i.e the actions of government officials and the like).

 

[AlloAllo]

...Weird, I thought I had already answered to this...


Well! For what I remember about this news, and I remember little because I really don't care about this one way or another, the problem was that a guy did predict the earthquake, but no one listened to him. The guy was Giampaolo Giuliani, a technician of the institute of physics, and everyone just kind of pointed and laughed at him.

Probably it's still not fair, but it's not like they're trying to burn them at the stake because "the sciency wizard has betrayed us"...

...*shrugs*

EDIT:

I mean today we have Berlusconi. A couple of decades ago they were in cahoots with Adolf Hitler. Before that we're talking Christian Catholic supression of science and witch-hunts, and before that! The roman empire, pretty much equally bad if not WORSE than Hitler.

Let's face it, Italy is pretty much a country of pure evilness. Note that im not making a blanket statement about the PEOPLE of italy now, since I happen to be of the opinion that a people and a country is not the same thing, so if you happen to be italian and feel wrongly accused then no need to get your panties in a bunch because im mostly referring to italy as a sovreign state (i.e the actions of government officials and the like).

...Well, to be completely honest, it's not like at the time the world was "OMG HITLER IS EVIL"... and the Roman Empire was evil? It's not like it can be evil only because it has "empire" in the name! They had lots of wars, that is what countries DO.

...As for the Christian Catholic repression, well, first of all it was more of a Spanish thing, and second, at the time it wasn't Italy but a lot of little weak states trying to backstab each other...

Now, THIS can be seen as evil.