Yes, Virginia, there really is “science”

It is emblematic of our times that such an irrational ideologue as Kenneth Cuccinelli not only ends up as a state attorney general, but gets to remain one as he spends taxpayer money on the favorite current witch-hunt of the extreme right: science denialism (variation “climate”).

It’s bad enough that the internet has provided a conduit for every crazy in the country to spew his anti-science religion; it’s another level altogether when we give such one of the crazies this level of power, and uses it to devote his office harassing an award-winning scientist who got fed up and left the state five years ago.

Certainly, conditions are ripe for another bout of McCarthyism. Most of us thought it would be muslims who would be singled out to be persecuted. Although there should be enough of that going on to disquiet us all as Americans, the anti-science movement is what grabs most of the headlines.  I think most scientists are hoping at this point that the obscene overreach in these cases will lead to a backlash, as the McCarthy era ended, but of course there’s a catch:  the same people who don’t believe in scientific facts are generally those who don’t believe education (let alone teachers) should be funded either.

Hey Virginia Republican deficit hawks – are you demanding a full accounting of the money spent on this never-ending witch hunt?  According to the article, the Democratic-led Senate is trying to but the Republican-led Sate House is sure to block the measure.

News flash:  there are no deficit hawks, only politicians.  And a large current crop of politicians is gleefully exploiting public ignorance while often (but fortunately not always) denying their own:

Even dedicated opponents of climate action concede that hauling climate scientists before Congress and challenging their findings could easily backfire, as many representatives lack a sophisticated grasp of climatology and run the risk of making embarrassing errors.

Did the writer actually use the word “many”? Seriously? Most scientists lack a sophisticated grasp of climatology (one reason that outspoken scientists have made a botch of currying political support for action); I challenge every single federal and state congress office holder in the country to show me a single colleague of theirs who does not “lack a sophisticated grasp of climatology”.

But of course, we can’t trust the climate scientists to do their job ethically.  Obviously, there is a giant conspiracy among all the thousands of climatological experts (the real ones, not the pretend ones whose report Cuccinelli’s “case” is based on) to perpetrate a hoax of enormous magnitude on the entire human race.  I’m not sure how they are getting all the glaciers to melt and ecosystems to transform, or what they have to gain to go to so much collective trouble (a scientist here and there will stick to a disproven theory to salvage a career spent going down the wrong path, but this is an individual, not collective behavior, as science by definition is inherently self-correcting).  All I know is, they are trying to destroy my life, because somehow making a gradual switch off a fuel that has been propping up evil dictators for decades and is on its way to skyrocket in price (a lot because it’s been propping up evil dictators) is definitely going to destroy my American way of life, just don’t ask me to explain how.  It doesn’t matter that CO2 is a well established greenhouse gas and is at unprecedented levels in our atmosphere, and is produced in large quantities by human industry.  Thousands of scientists are clearly trying to trick us into destroying our economy by faking all the climate data.  Pretty soon the evil bastards will figure out how to raise sea levels to destroy our hard-earned vacation homes, because they hate America.  You’ll see – and remember you read it here.

• Related Posts
• Bookmark
• Tags