I'm not the least bit surprised at the Pew poll showing that only 6% of scientists are Republicans. Republicans, at least these days, are all about belief, whether it's in some magical beings and magical places and magical events or magical economic schemes that somehow never seem to be demonstrable. I was told some years ago of a Mensa study indicating that religiosity declined significantly in proportion to IQ, but I can't confirm it.
I was trying out the new digital TV spectrum on Blue Moon this morning. We're some 6o miles south of home port on the Florida coast. I was amazed at the proportion given over to bombastic preachers such as the one trying to "prove" with authoritarian proclamation and a bullying tone, that the first amendment really asserts a Christianist agenda and that secularists, scientists, intellectuals and of course "Liberals" are the enemies of freedom.
Is it just me, or do they sound just like Republicans arguing that they stand for small, cheap and almost impotent government?
Yes, digital broadcasting is a big improvement in terms of picture and number of channels available, but the price we pay is to suffer greater indignities against truth, reason, logic, history, justice and most of all -- freedom of religion. I have to wonder if the age of reason would ever have dawned, even as briefly as it did: i have to wonder if there would have been an American Revolution had the vast majority of militant, authoritarian dullards been able to have such means of expression as technology has given them.
Posted from the Delray Beach Yacht Club
I'm not quite clear how you can compare preachers teaching a "Chritianist agenda" and republicans wanting smaller government.
ReplyDeleteOne is a bit extreme and I'm sure even the republicans would agree with that. Notice I don't say right wing radicals....you have to remember there is a difference.
I believe in limited government and I not even republican. That is not an extreme thought, it is a rational viewpoint on how government should be. I don't think the two even compare.
I found that statistic surprising. How can that be that occupation is so determined by political leanings? Perhaps it makes sense, but still, it's unsettling. Does this really show that society is more divisive and divided than I thought? It's hard to find consensus if you never even meet someone who doesn't agree with you. Are we living and surrounding ourselves with people who only agree with us? That does not bode well for democracy for all.
ReplyDeleteOctopus has returned ... in an inky mood.
ReplyDeleteWhat surprises me about the 6 percent statistic is not how few scientists self-identify as Republican but how many. Considering how the Republicans have treated science, basic research, advanced education, and their antipathy towards global climate change, stem cell research, alternative energy research, and the teaching of evolution in public schools ... it is a wonder why there ANY scientists who consider themselves Republican.
Consider Bobby Jingo's lambasting of volcano research, former Senator Santorum's bashing of our federal weather service, traditional Republican hostility towards funding for the arts, the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Health, and grant-making organizations. The Republican agenda has been anti-science and anti-intellectual for decades.
Why should anyone these days even consider a post-doctoral fellowship (which adds 4 to 6 years of intensive education on top of a basic bachelor's degree) when there are too few jobs available and those that are available pay below poverty wages?
That is why the USA ranks below 50 other nations on all indices of advanced educational attainment (even below Iran) ...
... and why I self-identify as independent and liberal.
Oh what distressing - though not at all surprising - comments & ideas. Speaking as a college/university level academic - the anti-intellectual mantra of the republicans in the last election was beyond troubling. I currently teach at a school in a very conservative part of the country, but in the last election almost every one of my fellow faculty members that I knew was voting Obama. On the whole - we as a faculty are very liberal though our geographic area is not. I share that for what it is worth in light of Fogg's statistic.
ReplyDeleteAs for the final paragraph of Fogg's post - it got me to thinking about what would have really happened if the the writing of the Declaration of Independence & the Constitution was covered by CNN & Fox! I'll bet they never would have been written! Or signed! The great irony is that the system of government established by both documents would have caused the documents to have never been accomplished! Our system of checks & balances (now know as arguing & snipping through the media) would have prevented the ratification of either document!
Octopus,
ReplyDeleteSome people trained as scientists work for Exxon, Phillip Morris and every other kind of evil corporation. Just like anyone else, a percentage of them are willing to sell their souls to the devil. After all, someone has to write all those bogus "refutations" of global warming, etc. In a way, considering how many scientists are employed by large corporations, I'm surprised that there aren't more of them who will self-identify as Republicans.
Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteThink about it -- where does the ideal point lie, between totalitarianism and anarchy? At best we can only describe it as being somewhere on a wide spectrum between those limits and therefore calling for limited government is rather pointless without some position on that spectrum. The question hidden by the slogan is how little can we get away with and how much can we tolerate.
Of course you can't call a degree of government involvement completely linear and in some areas it may be that someone wants more and in other areas less. In my opinion, the more you try to apply this trope to real life, the less useful it becomes except as a rallying cry for those who feel inhibited by the law.
It seems obvious to me that we have had too little government involvement in many areas beginning with the Carter administration; in securities trading and banking, for instance.
I think we have far too much in terms of involvement in personal and family behavior. Strange isn't it, that those who call for "limited government" seem to have been behind this situation and those most often accused of being Nanny State Liberals have been against it.
As for the final paragraph of Fogg's post - it got me to thinking about what would have really happened if the the writing of the Declaration of Independence & the Constitution was covered by CNN & Fox! I'll bet they never would have been written! Or signed!
ReplyDeleteThat is a frighteningly accurate thought Squid.
How apropos! This article at Salon.com, Why America is flunking science, was just posted today. The article doesn’t blame science illiteracy on poor education. You guessed it: How about politics and pop culture!
ReplyDelete