How the Right-Wing War on Science Has Made Americans Dumber at Every Level

[one...two...tree 2,762]

On the April 5th edition of Real Time with Bill Maher, science education activist Zack Kopplin [2] confronted The Wall Street Journal's Stephen Moore over myths about science funding, pointing out that Moore, who questioned the need for funding research on "snail mating habits," is "not a scientist":

As it turns out, the reason actual scientists are conducting this type of research is because snails carry parasitic worms that kill children [3]:

Watch where you jump in for a swim or where your bath water comes from, especially if you live in Africa, Asia or South America. Snails that live in tropical fresh water in these locations are intermediaries between disease-causing parasitic worms and humans.

People in developing countries who don't have access to clean water and good sanitation facilities are often exposed to the infected snails. Then they're left open to the parasitic worms.

The worms' infectious larvae emerge from the snails, cruise in shallow water, easily penetrate human skin and mature in internal organs.

The result is schistosomiasis, the second most socioeconomically devastating disease after malaria. As of 2009, 74 developing nations had identified significant rates of schistosomiasis in human populations.

Moore is not some fringe right-winger. He is the senior economics writer and an editorial board member for The Wall Street Journal. And, while on a nationally televised show, he called for killing a government-funded scientific study while bragging about not understanding the research behind it.

If this sounds familiar, it's because Rush Limbaugh said virtually the same thing on his radio show earlier that day, suggesting that science today is an extension of the Democratic Party:

For conservative media like Moore and Limbaugh, scientific ignorance is a feature, not a glitch. From climate science [4] and polar bears [5] to economics [6]to condoms [7] to social sciences [8] to duck penises [9], conservative media peddle the same anti-science behavior over and over and over. The logic goes that scientists are inherently biased because they care about science. It's third-rate sophism combined with fourth-rate Luddism.

This is not to say that all scientists are correct just by virtue of them being scientists. Rather, media should respect the scientific method, whereby scientists present arguments with data and rigourously test ideas until a consensus emerges. It's essentially a free market for scientific ideas. Does that sound like something conservatives should be interested in?

http://www.alternet....ber-every-level

Edited April 9, 2013 by Lincolns mullet

[Darnell 8,479]

Right Wingers stopping scientific research? OK - I think I know what to use the ammo for now.

Thanks for that !

[decocker 7,198]

science is a lie propagated by satan to confuse liberals.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

On the April 5th edition of Real Time with Bill Maher,

Stopped reading right there.

Edited April 9, 2013 by The Patriot

[ValerieA 350]

"Facts have a liberal bias" - Rachel Maddow

[james&olya 1,121]

Thank you, LM, for bringing this to my attention! I had missed that show. This demonstrates so well how corrosively destructive conservatives embrace of ignorance can be!

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

On the April 5th edition of Real Time with Bill Maher, science education activist Zack Kopplin [2] confronted The Wall Street Journal's Stephen Moore over myths about science funding, pointing out that Moore, who questioned the need for funding research on "snail mating habits," is "not a scientist":

As it turns out, the reason actual scientists are conducting this type of research is because snails carry parasitic worms that kill children [3]:

Watch where you jump in for a swim or where your bath water comes from, especially if you live in Africa, Asia or South America. Snails that live in tropical fresh water in these locations are intermediaries between disease-causing parasitic worms and humans.

People in developing countries who don't have access to clean water and good sanitation facilities are often exposed to the infected snails. Then they're left open to the parasitic worms.

The worms' infectious larvae emerge from the snails, cruise in shallow water, easily penetrate human skin and mature in internal organs.

The result is schistosomiasis, the second most socioeconomically devastating disease after malaria. As of 2009, 74 developing nations had identified significant rates of schistosomiasis in human populations.

Moore is not some fringe right-winger. He is the senior economics writer and an editorial board member for The Wall Street Journal. And, while on a nationally televised show, he called for killing a government-funded scientific study while bragging about not understanding the research behind it.

If this sounds familiar, it's because Rush Limbaugh said virtually the same thing on his radio show earlier that day, suggesting that science today is an extension of the Democratic Party:

For conservative media like Moore and Limbaugh, scientific ignorance is a feature, not a glitch. From climate science [4] and polar bears [5] to economics [6]to condoms [7] to social sciences [8] to duck penises [9], conservative media peddle the same anti-science behavior over and over and over. The logic goes that scientists are inherently biased because they care about science. It's third-rate sophism combined with fourth-rate Luddism.

This is not to say that all scientists are correct just by virtue of them being scientists. Rather, media should respect the scientific method, whereby scientists present arguments with data and rigourously test ideas until a consensus emerges. It's essentially a free market for scientific ideas. Does that sound like something conservatives should be interested in?

http://www.alternet....ber-every-level

You do know this is the second time you have referenced this exchange. The man did not say he was not for science. He said Debt is the biggest problem facing the next generation. I agree.

[decocker 7,198]

You do know this is the second time you have referenced this exchange. The man did not say he was not for science. He said Debt is the biggest problem facing the next generation. I agree.

if you want the next generation to be competitive, in order to pay that debt, what are we going to invest in them? bootstraps made cheaply in china?

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

if you want the next generation to be competitive, in order to pay that debt, what are we going to invest in them? bootstraps made cheaply in china?

Sigh extremist... All the guy was saying is that we need to attack the issue of debt and it should be out top priority .No one is saying don't invest in science.

[decocker 7,198]

Sigh extremist... All the guy was saying is that we need to attack the issue of debt and it should be out top priority .No one is saying don't invest in science.

you obviously don't grasp the op.

[Karee 4,191]

On the April 5th edition of Real Time with Bill Maher,

I stopped reading there.

Stopped reading right there.

Guess I should read the whole thread before posting.

Edited April 9, 2013 by Karee

[decocker 7,198]

I stopped reading there.

i don't like bill maher either, this isn't about bill maher. this is about the exchange between zach kopplin and stephen moore. and it's important stuff. this country wants to get back on top of their game, the topic of research funding and education is about as relevant as it gets.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

i don't like bill maher either, this isn't about bill maher. this is about the exchange between zach kopplin and stephen moore. and it's important stuff. this country wants to get back on top of their game, the topic of research funding and education is about as relevant as it gets.

Private industry has around 7 times the revenue the Federal government does, and somehow manages to actually make money, unlike the Federal government that currently spends half again as much as it takes in revenue. So you say government needs to take more money out of the private sector for research. Wrong. Private industry has the money and the incentive to conduct its own research.

For all the money the US spends on public education, the schools are not producing the people in enough quantity to satisfy the needs of industry. Other countries are. Something is wrong with this equation. I have seen where industry works hand in hand with public education. That system is successful, since the schools actually provide industry with the people they need. I have also seen the flip side when that cooperation ends, because of some hippie save the planet bullshit.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Sigh extremist... All the guy was saying is that we need to attack the issue of debt and it should be out top priority .No one is saying don't invest in science.

No, he tried to make a mockery of scientific research by openly questioning the validity of studying snails. And while he doesn't need a science degree to form an opinion, his opinion was obviously ignorant and curiously a repeated talking point by the Right Wing media. They don't bother to do their homework and look into why these snails were being studied because if they did, they would have known the benefits to humans. Or maybe they did know that, but have such a distrust in science to disbelieve anything can possibly be discovered through research, and in that case, they really are dumber than a doorknob.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

No, he tried to make a mockery of scientific research by openly questioning the validity of studying snails. And while he doesn't need a science degree to form an opinion, his opinion was obviously ignorant and curiously a repeated talking point by the Right Wing media. They don't bother to do their homework and look into why these snails were being studied because if they did, they would have known the benefits to humans. Or maybe they did know that, but have such a distrust in science to disbelieve anything can possibly be discovered through research, and in that case, they really are dumber than a doorknob.

Conceptually, I'm leaning toward the doorknob theory but I don't understand why you are insulting the intelligence of doorknobs. What did they do you?