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Re: [Phys-l] The Perils of American Stupidity




In a message dated 11/9/2010 8:44:55 PM Eastern Standard Time,
marx@phy.ilstu.edu writes:

I take strong issue with these posts characterizing the American Right as
stupid and/or ignorant.
These is often the characterization made by people on the Left. Since I
am a Conservative and a
scientist, it is my experience that these characterizations are largely
false. While it is true that there is
somewhat less support for anti-global warming initiatives on the Right, it
is largely because of the
politization of climate science and sloppy science. The Right is not
dominated by the Religious Right
presently, rather it is dominated by the Tea Party ideals, which are
primarily based on the Constitution
in its present form, the idea of smaller, more efficient government, a
properly-regulated capitalist
economy, and reduced government spending. The majority of Americans are
anti-abortion, but neither
side of the argument is stupid for holding the belief. The Tea Party is
not promoting Creationism, nor
Intelligent Design. I have also failed to see the anti-intellectualism in
the Tea Party that you all have
spoken about. You are speaking in stereotypes and repeating things you've
heard without taking time
to find out what people really think.





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Anti science is not limited to right wing politics. Extremism from either
the right of left often have elements of anti science. But you have to be
living in a cone of silence to be unaware of the connection between extreme
right wing politics, creationism and global warming denying. Science is all
about accepting facts even ones we find inconvenient. Since you mention the
tea bag party I would ask you how you assess Sarah Palin's friendliness to
science. Or tea baggers like the Delaware candidate who thought
scientists were putting human brains in mice and that evolution is a myth. Let me
suggest that as a conservative scientist you should spare at least some of
your exception for your fellow conservatives.

Bob Zannelli



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Science takes a hit on Election Day

Technology leaders constantly complain about lousy education; time for
them to step up to the need for real science
By Dan Gillmor
*




YouTube screen shot
Eric Schmidt and James Cameron

The Democrats weren't the only big loser in yesterday's election. Science
got clobbered, too.
Fueled by disdain for government interference with business and tanker
loads of cash from the energy industry and its allies, the Republican party has
been moving steadily into the denial camp on global climate change, or at
least deep skepticism. And it's practically an article of faith among the
tea-party activist crowd. A recent survey from the Pew Research Center for
the People & the Press showed a yawning gap between Democrats and
Republicans over the issue, with just 38 percent of Republicans believing that the
earth is getting warmer -- a belief that drops to 23 percent among tea party
Republicans.
By every account, the Republican takeover of the House is likely to derail
any possibility of serious action on climate change during at least the
next two years, longer if President Obama is defeated for reelection in 2012.
And Republicans in the House have vowed to go to war against the Obama
administration's environmental policies, including its (too tepid) approach to
climate change. Republicans have proclaimed their intention to use their
new investigatory powers -- the majority party controls congressional
investigations -- to go after climate scientists.
The Republican attack on science is nothing new. The Bush administration
made an art form of it, not just on climate but by supporting such
anti-science initiatives as creationism; at one point during his presidency George W.
Bush said he thought intelligent design should be taught in class as the
other side of the issue, implying two roughly equal sides to an issue where
essentially all the scientific evidence supports evolution and virtually
none supports creationism.
The war on science has extended into the classrooms of America. Biologists
are constantly warding off creationists' efforts to put "intelligent
design" (the standard code word for creationism) into the curriculum. Climate
science will likely face even more hostility, especially given the moneyed
interests fighting to curb the truth. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which
spent so freely to elect the Republican House, has ginned up a "teaching guide"
in collaboration with a textbook publisher that should know better to
persuade kids that we can't afford to save the planet.
There's at least one major industry in this country that absolutely relies
on workers who don't deny reality, and who need to have learned well in
math and science. It's the technology industry, the leaders of which are
constantly wailing about the lousy quality of American schools.
Most of the tech leaders were silent on creationism, shamefully so. At
least a few, including Google's Eric Schmidt, have offered their opinions that
global climate change is a serious issue that we have to deal with sooner
than later. Schmidt made that point rather forcefully last week during a
Churchill Club conversation with film director and environmental activist
James Cameron.
The tech industry as a whole has been loath to take on causes that don't
have a direct impact on its own immediate bottom line. But what better cause
could there be than to defend science, the bedrock of everything that makes
this industry work.
No group of leaders, speaking out loudly in defense of science and against
propaganda, could have a greater impact on this critically important issue.
Time is running out for them, and for all of us.


* A longtime participant in the tech and media worlds, Dan Gillmor
is director of the Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship at
Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass
Communication. Follow Dan on Twitter: @dangillmor. More about Dan here. More Dan
Gillmor