I'm tempted to do the same with some of my relations as well. On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 12:01 PM, GMoney <[email protected]> wrote: > > Whew...that's awesome stuff. I should get my entire family a copy of this > book for Christmas. > > "Heretic!" they will cry. > > On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 10:50 AM, Larry C. Lyons <[email protected]>wrote: > >> >> >> http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/how-ignorance-greed-and-ideology-are-warping-science-and-hurting-democracy-20111115#ixzz1fgCiFxdc >> >> How Ignorance, Greed and Ideology Are Warping Science and Hurting Democracy >> >> RS Politics Daily >> >> by: Julian Brookes >> >> >> 'Fool Me Twice: The Assault on Science in America' by Shawn Lawrence Otto >> Rodale >> "Whenever the people are well informed" an optimistic Thomas Jefferson >> wrote, "they can be trusted with their own government." Sure but >> what if the people have no clue? >> >> Most of the big challenges facing America and the world today from >> climate change to disease to population growth revolve around >> science and technology. If we We, the People are going to make >> smart decisions on what to do about these problems, we need to have at >> least a rough understanding of the basic science involved. Problem is, >> we don't. >> >> As science writer Shawn Lawrence Otto points out in a tough-minded new >> book, Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America, too >> many Americans are either plain ignorant of science or actively >> hostile to it, or both. And that's as true of political leaders and >> journalists as it is of ordinary citizens (to say nothing of corporate >> leaders who see action on climate change, say, as a threat to the >> bottom line). We think climate change is a hoax; we're convinced >> vaccines cause autism; we truly believe as Newt Gingrich claims to >> that embryonic stem cell research involves killing children. >> >> To go back to Jefferson's point, how can we be trusted with our own >> government how can we take on the huge challenges we face if we're >> so poorly informed? Or, as Otto puts it: "How can democracy continue >> to function in a century dominated by complex science, where science >> affects every aspect of life?" His short answer: it can't unless we >> make some big changes, changes in how students learn science, in how >> journalists describe science, in how scientists explain themselves to >> the public, in how money functions in politics. >> >> We recently got Otto on the phone to talk about America's >> dysfunctional relationship with science. Some highlights below. >> >> How it's harder to be "well informed" than it was in Jefferson's time >> >> Jefferson believed it required no degree of education for people to be >> able to do this, but science has vastly expanded our knowledge now and >> most of our big policy problems do require a great deal of education >> to understand. This is going to be a problem that we are going to be >> dealing with more and more as the century unfolds. >> >> Scientific illiteracy in Congress >> >> Look at the 94 of 100 newly elected GOP members of Congress who have >> either said flat-out that they believe climate change is a vast hoax >> or that they have signed pledges to oppose any mitigation efforts. And >> this goes against all the evidence presented to every government >> around the world, including our own. This also extends to people like >> John Boehner, who has advocated in the past for teaching creationism >> in science classes, and who claims to believe that climate scientists >> are saying that carbon dioxide is a carcinogen. >> >> Obama's science record >> >> As a candidate he didnt seem to really know very much about it, and >> in fact he turned down an invitation to do science debates that would >> have been broadcast nationally on PBS, in exchange for faith forums in >> which he debated religion. But he seems to have changed his >> perspective and he realized that science is central to most of the >> major unsolved problems that the United States is facing. He's been >> stymied in some of his ideas by the recession as well. He made a >> political decision between climate change and health care, and he went >> for health care and put climate change off until after the 2010 >> elections. I think that was a strategic miscalculation that has >> allowed opponents of the number one science issue to coalesce in their >> opposition. >> >> Anti-science liberals >> >> Democrats arent exempt from anti-science views at all. For instance, >> a couple of months ago the all-Democrat San Francisco Board of >> Supervisors voted 10 to 1 to require cell phone shops to post warnings >> that cell phones may cause brain cancer, even though theres no >> scientific evidence whatsoever to show. Also on the Left, you see the >> idea that maybe vaccines cause autism, which is not supported by any >> science that we know of. >> >> Key differences between anti-science views on the left and right >> >> Largely on the left it seems to focus on mind-body purity. On the >> right they tend to focus on either beginning of life and issues around >> contraception and evolutionthe things fundamentalists get all upset >> aboutor on climate change, particularly environmental and regulatory >> issues. >> >> The role of vested interests in promoting anti-science views >> >> Take climate change. Simple scientific observations and scientific >> evidence are challenging the vested economic interests that have grown >> around the internal combustion engine and hydrocarbons. They are >> looking at their entire business model being threatened by this new >> knowledge we have. And as a result, in the last ten years theyve >> invested about $2 billion setting up phony think tanks, doing bogus >> science, and spending money on lobbying and advertising efforts trying >> to set up a smoke screen to confuse the public. >> >> The (unhelpful) role of the news media >> >> Something has happened with the last generation of journalists, who >> have been taught the postmodern idea that there is no such thing as >> objective reality. But there is such a thing as objective reality >> and we can measure it, and by measuring it weve doubled our lifespan, >> multiplied the productivity of our farms by 35 times, and totally >> changed the world. By not acknowledging that, reporters end up >> creating something called, "false balance," essentially reporting on >> two sides of a story and letting the audience decide what they think >> is the objective truth or who is right. Thats really shirking their >> responsibility to dig and inform people whats really going on. >> >> The difference between theory and opinion >> >> Science is always provisional, that is just the nature of inductive >> reasoning. Scientists are very, very careful not to say that something >> is absolutely true. But, its a mistake to think that provisional >> scientific knowledge is on the same level as opinion and to put >> someone who is telling you real knowledge that has been measured and >> tested and gone through peer review on par with somebody who is just >> giving an opinion. >> >> How to mend America's fractured relationship with science >> >> First of all, scientists really need to reengage in our public >> conversation. Most Americans, when polled, dont even know a living >> scientist. Thats got to change. Scientists need to get back out there >> and talk to their neighbors, speak in churches and talk to people >> where they go. People need to hear that voice in our political >> discussion again. The voice of values and religion those are an >> important part of our conversation; but we need a plurality of voices >> and we also need the voice of facts, and reason, and knowledge. >> >> The other thing people can do is support an organization, a grass >> roots movement started by scientists and others called >> Sciencedebate.org, which is a call to get candidates for public office >> to debate these issues that they dont want to talk about, and base >> their points in debates on reason and knowledge and not talking points >> that they pull out of their rear end. >> >> Why the book's titled Fool Me Twice >> >> Theres an old saying that president Bush humorously flubbed up but >> that is critically important to all of us as Americans: Fool me once, >> shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Most people dont have time >> to study the science of things and find out whos telling the truth >> and whos blowing smoke. And antiscience vested interests from >> megachurch evangelists to oil and gas companies to antivaccine >> activists are taking advantage of that to try to fool us while our >> scientists have been busy doing science. It's our responsibility to >> not let that happen, not to let them fool us twice, but to be the >> tough, hard-headed, critically minded, pro-science Americans that kept >> the world safe for democracy and put a man on the moon. Our own >> economy, our own environment, our own moral legacy, and the quality of >> the lives of our own children are depending on no one else but us. >> >> >> http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/how-ignorance-greed-and-ideology-are-warping-science-and-hurting-democracy-20111115 >> >> -- >> Larry C. Lyons >> web: http://www.lyonsmorris.com/lyons >> LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/larryclyons >> >> There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always >> has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant >> thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, >> nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance >> is just as good as yo >> >> > >
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