People Can Be So...
Jun. 12th, 2019 01:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
waitingmanInteresting article on today's newsfeed, taken from Newsweek magazine in May...
Flat Earthers & The Rise Of Science Denial
Interesting, because it actually addresses why these people believe these things & that science, or scientists themselves, must bear part of the blame. In a nutshell, people like to have things presented to them as finite certainties - whereas science is by its own nature, continuously evolving, changing & updating as we learn & discover new things. Especially where the Solar System, galaxy & Universe are concerned. Also, because no self-respecting scientist would come out & state plainly & categorically that vaccines don't cause autism, it leaves the field wide open for people to think that they do & there are any number of 'experts' on Youtube or the blogsphere who will plainly & categorically say that, using a crowbar to pry open the sensible caution of scientists & flood it with cherry-picked research, circumstantial & highly anecdotal 'evidence', hearsay &, inevitably, conspiracy theories about government control & cover-ups... And lizard people running the world, I presume
But they still love Donald Trump...?!?!?!?!?
Harking back to an earlier post of mine about the disadvantaged & ill-educated being angry at the modern world because they either don't understand it, or can't be a part of it, the Sciences & scientists are seen as an elite - not to be looked up to, or aspired to, but to be distrusted. And it's, at least, partly because scientists don't communicate effectively with people who aren't scientists - who, while they look to it for answers, are either not satisfied with the answer, or don't understand it. Either way, it means they don't trust it, because it didn't tell them what they wanted to hear. Scientists know their work is ongoing & therefore there are no finite, certain answers. What we think is right today, could be wrong tomorrow... & there's obviously evidence of 'certain' scientists getting it horribly wrong in hindsight (Thalidomide, anyone??). So... once bitten, twice shy...
Perversely, many people will take the word of a self-described expert as gospel... The Earth is flat!! Vaccines give your babies autism!! The moon landings were fake!! Astronauts & pilots are on the government payroll!! 9/11 was an inside job!! Just watch this video on YouTube!!!!!!!
The modern snake oil salesman doesn't have a carpet bag... just a blog & a YouTube channel...
Flat Earthers & The Rise Of Science Denial
Interesting, because it actually addresses why these people believe these things & that science, or scientists themselves, must bear part of the blame. In a nutshell, people like to have things presented to them as finite certainties - whereas science is by its own nature, continuously evolving, changing & updating as we learn & discover new things. Especially where the Solar System, galaxy & Universe are concerned. Also, because no self-respecting scientist would come out & state plainly & categorically that vaccines don't cause autism, it leaves the field wide open for people to think that they do & there are any number of 'experts' on Youtube or the blogsphere who will plainly & categorically say that, using a crowbar to pry open the sensible caution of scientists & flood it with cherry-picked research, circumstantial & highly anecdotal 'evidence', hearsay &, inevitably, conspiracy theories about government control & cover-ups... And lizard people running the world, I presume
But they still love Donald Trump...?!?!?!?!?
Harking back to an earlier post of mine about the disadvantaged & ill-educated being angry at the modern world because they either don't understand it, or can't be a part of it, the Sciences & scientists are seen as an elite - not to be looked up to, or aspired to, but to be distrusted. And it's, at least, partly because scientists don't communicate effectively with people who aren't scientists - who, while they look to it for answers, are either not satisfied with the answer, or don't understand it. Either way, it means they don't trust it, because it didn't tell them what they wanted to hear. Scientists know their work is ongoing & therefore there are no finite, certain answers. What we think is right today, could be wrong tomorrow... & there's obviously evidence of 'certain' scientists getting it horribly wrong in hindsight (Thalidomide, anyone??). So... once bitten, twice shy...
Perversely, many people will take the word of a self-described expert as gospel... The Earth is flat!! Vaccines give your babies autism!! The moon landings were fake!! Astronauts & pilots are on the government payroll!! 9/11 was an inside job!! Just watch this video on YouTube!!!!!!!
The modern snake oil salesman doesn't have a carpet bag... just a blog & a YouTube channel...
