How the Leftists F**K up science

[BaalChatzaf]

Betsy Speicher brought the following article to my attention.  Read it and let a frisson of fear run through your body.

http://www.city-journal.org/html/real-war-science-14782.html

[Brant Gaede]

Great article.

The war goes on.

--Brant

bad science is not science

[Ellen Stuttle]

The concluding paragraphs of the article Bob linked to:

The Real War on Science

by John Tierney, City Journal, Autumn 2016

/Quote/  "Just as in the debate over dietary fat, [climate] dissidents get smeared in the press as corporate shills—but once again, the money flows almost entirely the other way. The most vocal critics of climate dogma are a half-dozen think tanks that together spend less than $15 million annually on environmental issues. The half-dozen major green groups spend more than $500 million, and the federal government spends $10 billion on climate research and technology to reduce emissions. Add it up, and it’s clear that scientists face tremendous pressure to support the “consensus” on reducing carbon emissions, as Judith Curry, a climatologist at Georgia Tech, testified last year at a Senate hearing.

“'This pressure comes not only from politicians but also from federal funding agencies, universities and professional societies, and scientists themselves who are green activists,' Curry said. 'This advocacy extends to the professional societies that publish journals and organize conferences. Policy advocacy, combined with understating the uncertainties, risks destroying science’s reputation for honesty and objectivity—without which scientists become regarded as merely another lobbyist group.'

"That’s the ultimate casualty in the Left’s war: scientists’ reputations. Bad research can be exposed and discarded, but bad reputations endure. Social scientists are already regarded in Washington as an arm of the Democratic Party, so their research is dismissed as partisan even when it’s not, and some Republicans have tried (unsuccessfully) to cut off all social-science funding. The physical sciences still enjoy bipartisan support, but that’s being eroded by the green politicking, and climate scientists’ standing will plummet if the proclaimed consensus turns out to be wrong.

"To preserve their integrity, scientists should avoid politics and embrace the skeptical rigor that their profession requires. They need to start welcoming conservatives and others who will spot their biases and violate their taboos. Making these changes won’t be easy, but the first step is simple: stop pretending that the threats to science are coming from the Right. Look in the other direction—or in the mirror."  /end quote/

Ellen