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

Users who are viewing this thread

    Heathen

    Just say no to Zionism
    Joined
    Sep 28, 2019
    Messages
    884
    Reaction score
    866
    Age
    34
    Location
    Utah
    Offline
    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.
     
    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.


    I've said it before - Your educational systems like many other things in the US are binary. Things are either rigth or wrong. Not "could be right under x and y circumstances"

    "The vaccines have side effects so they must be dangerous" - Not "The vaccines have side effects but the danger of contracting Covid while unvaccinated are far greater"

    Everything is either good or bad
     
    My view is that when science tells them something that don't want to hear, they dismiss it as "not science".....Also science apparently to some of them can never change....
     
    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.
    As far as COVID is concerned it's my understanding that viruses like this produce rumor, speculation, divisiveness, disbelief, etc., in most societies that get hit by them. Now, that doesn't explain the anti-science in climate change deniers, for example.
     
    My view is that when science tells them something that don't want to hear, they dismiss it as "not science".....Also science apparently to some of them can never change....

    That's an interesting point. This binary view of science seems to be a pattern of needing to confirm some ultimate unchanging source of truth, or else disregarding it altogether. I'm not going to say some on the left aren't guilty of confirmation bias there - but in the lens of the scientific method and science being a process of 'what we currently know based on a body of evidence', yes, science is and should be open to change and reform based on new, more sound evidence unseating prior evidence.
     
    I've said it before - Your educational systems like many other things in the US are binary. Things are either rigth or wrong. Not "could be right under x and y circumstances"

    "The vaccines have side effects so they must be dangerous" - Not "The vaccines have side effects but the danger of contracting Covid while unvaccinated are far greater"

    Everything is either good or bad
    That falls within the range of my opinion that Conservatives are basically exclusive, so Liberals are inclusive.

    A binary approach which forces all things to either be good or bad is being exclusive in that respect.

    Where as a typical function which maybe used to model a scientific proposal produces an array of intermediate values which are inclusive of the full range of input.

    Gravity is, it's neither good nor bad. It's both a theory and a law.
     
    Just like Farb said the other day: “we were told that the vaccines stop transmission and they don’t so that was a lie.“

    It’s like there isn’t any understanding of the idea that the virus has mutated multiple times since the vaccines were made, and that has affected the efficacy of the vaccines.

    It’s binary thinking. Good or evil.
     

    That's not surprising, we are very much like Russians.

    In the 18th and 19th centuries an awful lot of folks got off a boat from Russia. They were an early immigration wave that came here before, during, and after our founding, and has since settled in and have had children and then more children here.

    I think when one includes all Slavic peoples we're a bit more English than we are Slavic, but it's close.
     
    Just like Farb said the other day: “we were told that the vaccines stop transmission and they don’t so that was a lie.“

    It’s like there isn’t any understanding of the idea that the virus has mutated multiple times since the vaccines were made, and that has affected the efficacy of the vaccines.

    It’s binary thinking. Good or evil.

    You're over thinking it.

    It's not binary thinking unless you're meaning "us" vs "them."

    It's not that there was a mutation that changed the virus at all. It's that there is someone who said something that can be intentionally misconstrued in order to make an argument that frames "them" as liars and evil.

    Anyway, I guess you're right. it is binary thinking,
     
    We didn't even discuss environmentalism, climate change, and even evidently vaccines. Republicans are absolutely "anti-science" and I can't think of a ingle issue where science supports republicans on a Republican vs Democrat position,
     
    That's an interesting point. This binary view of science seems to be a pattern of needing to confirm some ultimate unchanging source of truth, or else disregarding it altogether. I'm not going to say some on the left aren't guilty of confirmation bias there - but in the lens of the scientific method and science being a process of 'what we currently know based on a body of evidence', yes, science is and should be open to change and reform based on new, more sound evidence unseating prior evidence.

    Yes, in a nutshell...and add religion into the equation (as Saul pointed out) and it really gets weird....
     

    Create an account or login to comment

    You must be a member in order to leave a comment

    Create account

    Create an account on our community. It's easy!

    Log in

    Already have an account? Log in here.

    Advertisement

    General News Feed

    Fact Checkers News Feed

    Sponsored

    Back
    Top Bottom