When politics takes hold of science.

[AztecWilliam]

Politics, it seems, has reached out its long arm to meddle in just about everygthing. But science?!

Science should be objective. It should study and report its findings without political spin. Well, that's the way it was supposed to work.

Here are some quotes from the article I am linking. They should cause fair-minded people to wonder what's going on. . .

. . . science has taken on an authoritarian tone, and has let itself be co-opted by pressure groups who want the government to force people to change their behavior.

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(for whatever reason) scientists stopped speaking objectively and started telling people what to do.

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. . . it became apparent (in the ClimateGate affair) that climate scientists, if not overtly cooking their books, were behaving as partisans out to create a unified perception of the climate in order to advance a policy agenda.

www.american.com/archive/2010/july/science-turns-authoritarian

AzWm

[aztecwin]

Politics or Profit or both corrupt.

[AlwaysAnAztec]

Just ask the Texas Board of Education.

[aztec70]

Where is the Admin.? This is the wrong board.

[Bob Forsythe]

Jul 28, 2010 14:04:07 GMT -8 aztec70 said:

Where is the Admin.? This is the wrong board.

You do have political forums on this board, William.

=Bob

[The Great Aztec Joe]

I think William put it in Off Topic for an obvious reason.

[Bob Forsythe]

Jul 28, 2010 11:51:10 GMT -8 AztecWilliam said:

Politics, it seems, has reached out its long arm to meddle in just about everygthing. But science?!

Science should be objective. It should study and report its findings without political spin. Well, that's the way it was supposed to work.

Here are some quotes from the article I am linking. They should cause fair-minded people to wonder what's going on. . .

. . . science has taken on an authoritarian tone, and has let itself be co-opted by pressure groups who want the government to force people to change their behavior.

= = = = = = = = = = = =

(for whatever reason) scientists stopped speaking objectively and started telling people what to do.

= = = = = = = = = = = =

. . . it became apparent (in the ClimateGate affair) that climate scientists, if not overtly cooking their books, were behaving as partisans out to create a unified perception of the climate in order to advance a policy agenda.

www.american.com/archive/2010/july/science-turns-authoritarian

AzWm

Well, since you stuck it here, the problem with this opinion piece is that it doesn't offer examples of scientists saying those things. Rather it's an activist group (Friends of the Earth) and a political appointee (America's chief climate negotiator). Certainly some scientists are activists, but hardly even a majority of them.

And let's face it; quite often in this country in particular, when scientists offer an objective analysis, someone attacks them - the Creationists fight against evolution is the classic example - without understanding a thing about the science.

It's also nonsensical to claim that scientists have allowed themselves to be co-opted. If a majority of scientists were agreeing with this guy's right-wing political views, he'd be more than happy that he had co-opted him. What he doesn't like is that they don't agree with him and that makes his argument nothing more than yet another political attack by someone who doesn't understand the science. And let me be clear, when I state someone doesn't understand the science, I'm writing about people who have not worked in the field, have never developed any models and are essentially dilettantes.

=Bob