At least as far as the thought process goes.
For years people have been saying that the denial of climate change science is akin to the denial of evolution. Not that they are tied to together in any classical sense, just in the way that undesirable facts are pushed aside and critical thinking takes a back seat to just being critical. Now they are being tied together a real way, that could affect the thinking and science skills of a generation.
According to the New York Times:
Critics of the teaching of evolution in the nation’s classrooms are gaining ground in some states by linking the issue to global warming, arguing that dissenting views on both scientific subjects should be taught in public schools.
Fundamentalists and corporatists have more than being politically right-of-center in common; both groups are also extremely tenacious. Every time creationism is shot down as religion masquerading as science, the religious right repackages it under an assumed name, and in less offensive wrappings. “It’s just Intelligent Design, it has nothing to do with any ‘particular’ religion.” Of course when it’s unwrapped, it’s still the Bible. And the corporatists that deny the science of climate change like to use a favorite of the fundamentalists – equal time. Whether a person is talking about global warming or creationism, equal time boils down to this: “We don’t like what science says about this, so we put forth that science doesn’t work…At least in this case.” So mountains of evidence are ignored, peer reviewed studies are tossed aside and the entire scientific method is forgotten in order to push a predetermined conclusion. The opposite of science in the name of sound science.
The advocates of torture use the same type of rationalizing that the fundamentalists and the corporatists use to come up with their desired results. (Hence the overlap in beliefs.) It’s also the same type of thinking that allowed for a 100% conviction rate of witches in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, albeit to a much worse degree. Considering where we are now as a country, this attack on reality coming from multiple quarters does not bode well for the future of our country.
Glenn Beck, as other demagogues have done before him, has capitalized on the ignorance and prejudices of his audience. He repeats ludicrous assertions about the Constitution and inverts the meaning of words, like “progressive,” knowing full well these people will not do the simple task of opening a dictionary, or the Constitution for that matter, that will prove him wrong. In reality, early progressives ended child labor, gave us safe food and fought for women to have a vote. In Beck’s twisted world, progressives started the ovens in Nazi Germany. He paints Hitler and fascism, the most right-wing person and ideology, respectively, of the modern age, as leftist. After he gets done disemboweling history and reversing the meaning of words, real history and real definitions have as much in common with his versions of reality as the “God of Love” did to the medieval God that demanded people be burned at the stake to save their souls. By enshrining this type of uncritical thought into a type of pseudoscience, taught in schools, we are guaranteeing that other counties will surpass us academically - and quickly.
In the past, even resent past, people used this type of thinking to rationalize their prejudices against other races. (Going to ignore the racists of today for this, because they don’t count as sentient beings.) The same non-thought that goes into bigotry goes into throwing out undesirable science. I am not implying that the outcomes are equal, only that the process is the same. The end result is known, and no amount of facts will change that outcome. But there are those today that use the excuse of religion to separate us from one another. They claim that sexuality is a choice, and maybe for them it is, but for most of us, it’s not. They ignore science, common sense and personal observation in order to hold on to the disgusting proposition that some are less than others.
We need real science and critical thinking taught in schools, regardless of how popular or unpopular the conclusions of science are. Until we can think critically and embrace reality, no matter how unpleasant it is for us, we will continue to have a bigoted, pro-pollution, pro-torture, superstitious segment of society. And that can’t be good.
Edit for link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/science/earth/04climate.html
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