What is it with Republicans vs. Science? (1 Viewer)

[Heathen]

For the life of me, I can't understand it. What is the GOP's beef with science? You have the 'i didnt come from no monkey' crowd, sure. They fought science in schools for awhile and some still do.
But a lot of people are well educated yet have this almost cultish, 'their side vs our side' attitude about basic science as if it threatens their very core compass. People who are lawyers, doctors, PhD candidates..
very intelligent human beings by merit in the least. Yet they seem to lose their better judgment and give into 'what does my side say' when scientific issues arise....

Is it religion? Is it social issues which tie into religion?

The pandemic has turned a disturbing number of one side of the political spectrum into science denying anti-vaxxers. Already, we've seen what 'conservative'
approaches to a pandemic end up costing us (hundreds of thousands of lives, embarrassment from our allies across the globe). Those are just the facts. Even
Democrats are to blame in red states where their constituents cause them to lose their spine and peer pressure to delude their own reality (John Bel Edwards - a DINO, for example, Manchin, etc.).
And in all honesty, a 'D' by their name doesn't make those people any less complicit.

What is it about conservatism that so opposes science these days? Has Covid not already shown that when you fight basic biology with ignorance, we all lose? Or is this just a broader problem
with the US being so right wing that anything outside 'keep your head down and do as i do' is slandered with propaganda (Communist, Marxist, any 'ist' that sounds scary).

Maybe this doesn't even warrant a discussion. But it's frustrating that the richest country on Earth is so shamefully poor at being scientifically competent - at least with regard to
its citizens views on public health. I just don't get us sometimes.

 

[zztop]

NIH budget cuts affect research funding beyond US borders

European leaders say they will fill the funding void. Is that realistic?

arstechnica.com

 

[zztop]

American science to soon face its largest brain drain in history

Over the first half of 2025, the USA has cut science as never before. This disaster for American science is a gift to the rest of the world.

bigthink.com

• Throughout the 20th and the first quarter of the 21st centuries, the US became a world leader in science, technology, healthcare, and education by investing in scientific research.
• In 2025, that is rapidly changing, as unprecedented federal cuts, the defunding and closing of many institutions, and devastatingly reduced budgets present an extinction-level event for American science.
• Just as the exodus of scientists and scientific projects from Nazi Germany became known as “Hitler’s gift” to the rest of the world, the actions of the US today seem similarly poised to reward the rest of the world. Here’s an insider’s view into what’s happening.

 

[LA 2 L.A.]

American science to soon face its largest brain drain in history

Over the first half of 2025, the USA has cut science as never before. This disaster for American science is a gift to the rest of the world.

bigthink.com

• Throughout the 20th and the first quarter of the 21st centuries, the US became a world leader in science, technology, healthcare, and education by investing in scientific research.
• In 2025, that is rapidly changing, as unprecedented federal cuts, the defunding and closing of many institutions, and devastatingly reduced budgets present an extinction-level event for American science.
• Just as the exodus of scientists and scientific projects from Nazi Germany became known as “Hitler’s gift” to the rest of the world, the actions of the US today seem similarly poised to reward the rest of the world. Here’s an insider’s view into what’s happening.

What Trump and his Republicans are doing to us is a far greater existential threat in regards to falling behind China technologically, than anything China can do to overcome us technologically.