Does "criticism of Norgaard" mean "Norgaard's criticism"?

Question

Does "criticism of Norgaard in response to frivolous complaints" mean "Norgaard, in response to frivolous complaints, criticised the complainers"?Context:The fact that there is a blatant effort on behalf of the academic establishment to distance itself from Norgaard, with information about her being deleted from University websites, illustrates how the climate change alarmist movement is none too keen on having Norgaard’s ideas receive too much public attention. Indeed, You Tube is now deleting videos that contain criticism of Norgaard in response to frivolous complaints.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

It seems to mean other people's criticism of Norgaard, but I don't know enough about the person and the circumstances to do more than guess based on the grammar.

CalifJim · Answer

NL888Does "criticism of Norgaard in response to frivolous complaints" mean "Norgaard, in response to frivolous complaints, criticised the complainers"?

No. That is a contorted interpretation. I think you're parsing the sentence wrong.

NL888You Tube is now deleting videos that contain criticism of Norgaard in response to frivolous complaints.

You Tube is now deleting videos ( that contain criticism of Norgaard ) in response to frivolous complaints.

The people at You Tube are deleting videos that show people criticizing Norgaard.
They are doing this because they received complaints about those videos.
The complaints are considered frivolous by some.

CJ

NL888 · Answer

"the academic establishment to distance itself from Norgaard" appears to mean "the academic establishment is acting against Norgaard." And YouTube appears to support her by deleting the videos that are unpleasant to Norgaard?

The doublethink in the context leads to confusion.

CalifJim · Answer

NL888The doublethink in the context leads to confusion.

Indeed it does! That is one of the most confusing pieces of writing I've ever seen here on the forum! I had to Google more about the whole affair to figure out what was going on.

It all started when Professor Norgaard made her extreme views known in a paper and in a speech, as I understand it. In response, people began to put videos on You Tube that criticize her for these views by making fun of her.

Universities ("the academic establishment") are embarrassed by these extreme views and, at the same time, embarrassed by all the attention that the videos are creating because the videos make it look like the professor, part of the academic establishment, is an idiot.

I don't know if it is members of the academic establishment or if it is other people, but somebody is trying to get those videos removed from You Tube by saying they violate You Tube's terms of agreement, namely, that you can't have a video that makes personal attacks on others or makes fun of others. They focus on the aspect of making fun of Norgaard rather than on what her opinions are. Now some people are saying that it is frivolous for them to say that the videos must be removed because of the personal attacks when the real reason they want the videos removed is based on Norgaard's extreme opinions.

I'm still a bit confused even after working it out that far.

CJ

Does "criticism of Norgaard" mean "Norgaard's criticism"?

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