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The_Dunedan · 12-03-2009, 09:08 AM

Part of the problem leading to this rejection (which is lamentable in the extreme) is that alleged "scientists" keep getting caught engaging in dishonest, misleading, or lazy behavior that has real consequences.

DDT, for example, has turned out to be mostly harmless (unless you're a mosquito). Rachel Carson and her enablers have turned out to be liars who manipulated their research in order to reach predetermined (and unsupported) conclusions regarding the toxicity of DDT and it's effects upon wildlife. The decision to ban DDT was made by an unelected bureaucrat, who did not attend a single day of the EPA hearings on the issue and over-rode EPA's own scientists, studies, and reccomendations and banned DDT with the stroke of a pen. The flunky in question later turned out to be a Carson disciple who admitted to having made up his mind before the hearings even began.
The American Spectator : DDT, Fraud, and Tragedy
The Straight Dope: Was Rachel Carson a fraud and is DDT actually safe for humans?
Hawaii Reporter: Hawaii Reporter

Then of course you have the wonders of Thalidomide, which the FDA said was safe, and Gulf War Syndrome, which is now all but officially acknowledged as having been caused by using American soldiers and marines as guinea-pigs to test dangerous cocktails of various vaccines and other drugs. Add into this the apparent wide-ranging and quite Orwellian suppression of dissent, falsification and massaging of data, destruction of data, and obstruction of investigation and transparence at East Anglia, and you can see why people may have a hard time trusting scientists.

My take on it is not that science itself is being rejected, far from it. What's being rejected is intransparent, politicized, "do what we tell you because we're smarter than you, and don't you DARE ask for explanations when something doesn't make sense!" attitude which has crept into science over the last 50 or so years, ever since DARPA and the Manhattan Project made science a Gov't-sponsored growth industry. People are tired of being condescended to, lied to, and ordered around by people who are either unaware of or simply don't care about the effects these edicts have on people out in the wider world.

12-03-2009, 09:08 AM	#16 (permalink)
The_Dunedan Junkie	Part of the problem leading to this rejection (which is lamentable in the extreme) is that alleged "scientists" keep getting caught engaging in dishonest, misleading, or lazy behavior that has real consequences. DDT, for example, has turned out to be mostly harmless (unless you're a mosquito). Rachel Carson and her enablers have turned out to be liars who manipulated their research in order to reach predetermined (and unsupported) conclusions regarding the toxicity of DDT and it's effects upon wildlife. The decision to ban DDT was made by an unelected bureaucrat, who did not attend a single day of the EPA hearings on the issue and over-rode EPA's own scientists, studies, and reccomendations and banned DDT with the stroke of a pen. The flunky in question later turned out to be a Carson disciple who admitted to having made up his mind before the hearings even began. The American Spectator : DDT, Fraud, and Tragedy The Straight Dope: Was Rachel Carson a fraud and is DDT actually safe for humans? Hawaii Reporter: Hawaii Reporter Then of course you have the wonders of Thalidomide, which the FDA said was safe, and Gulf War Syndrome, which is now all but officially acknowledged as having been caused by using American soldiers and marines as guinea-pigs to test dangerous cocktails of various vaccines and other drugs. Add into this the apparent wide-ranging and quite Orwellian suppression of dissent, falsification and massaging of data, destruction of data, and obstruction of investigation and transparence at East Anglia, and you can see why people may have a hard time trusting scientists. My take on it is not that science itself is being rejected, far from it. What's being rejected is intransparent, politicized, "do what we tell you because we're smarter than you, and don't you DARE ask for explanations when something doesn't make sense!" attitude which has crept into science over the last 50 or so years, ever since DARPA and the Manhattan Project made science a Gov't-sponsored growth industry. People are tired of being condescended to, lied to, and ordered around by people who are either unaware of or simply don't care about the effects these edicts have on people out in the wider world.