THE REPUBLICAN WAR ON SCIENCE

by Chris Mooney | Nonfiction | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0465046754 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wing6of8wing of Silver Spring, Maryland USA on 10/16/2018
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3 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wing6of8wing from Silver Spring, Maryland USA on Tuesday, October 16, 2018
A book that I recently acquired for the purposes of giving it away.


Journal Entry 2 by wing6of8wing at Alexandria, Virginia USA on Saturday, October 20, 2018

Released 5 yrs ago (10/21/2018 UTC) at Alexandria, Virginia USA

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This book is going to meet-up with me and hopefully going home with someone else. When I first saw it, I thought it might be one that SqnutZips would enjoy, although I think there are several others in the group who might be interested.

Any future reader or recipient of this book is encouraged to leave a journal entry here on the BookCrossing site to let prior readers know the fate of the book. You can make an anonymous entry without joining the BookCrossing movement, but if you are interested in joining, it is a free and spam-free community where your contact information is not shared with others. Best of all, members receive private messages via e-mail from books like this one when those books are journaled, allowing for long-term relationships between books and readers.

Journal Entry 3 by ResQgeek at Alexandria, Virginia USA on Sunday, October 21, 2018
I'm sure that I would find the premise of this book agrees with my own opinions on this subject matter, so it would probably be interesting to read. However, I also suspect that it would completely piss me off as well, so I don't know whether I will actually read it.

Journal Entry 4 by ResQgeek at Alexandria, Virginia USA on Monday, June 10, 2019
Call me a masochist, but given the current deplorable state of our political arena and its utter refusal to base public policy debate on any sort of evidence based merit, I decided that I might as well dig into this to see what it might offer.

I guess I should preface my comments with some disclosure: My degree is in engineering, and have spent my entire adult life immersed in technology, so I have developed a really strong affinity for the scientific process and the benefits of an evidence-based approach to knowledge and understanding. All of which is to say that this book is preaching to the choir in my case.

I am currently a little less than a quarter of the way through the book, and so far, it has been an enlightening look at the relatively recent history of the Republican party with respect to its attitude and approach to science as it impacts public policy. What seems obvious at this point of the book is that the title is (a little) misleading. There is a long history of moderate Republicans who both understood science and adapted their policy goals in light of scientific evidence. A better title for this book might have been "The Conservative War on Science", because the growing antipathy of the Republican party towards legitimate science has coincided with the increasing control of the party by the extreme conservative elements therein.

I recently listened to a podcast that described how Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh apparently worked together (either intentionally or not) to engineer the final takeover of the party by the conservatives, ushering in our current era of extreme partisanship. Interestingly, this book also points to these two as a turning point in the party's relationship to science. It was only after Gingrich became Speaker of the House that his party dismantled the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), which had provided non-partisan summaries and evaluations of science to members of Congress for them to use in deciding public policy. With the elimination of OTA, members of Congress became dependent upon outside "experts" (often funded by special interest groups) to provide their scientific "evidence" to support their policy positions, resulting in the politicization of science.

So far, I've managed to keep my reactions at the level of exasperated head-shakes and heavy sighs. We'll see if I can maintain that level of composure as I work my way through the rest of the book.

Journal Entry 5 by ResQgeek at Alexandria, Virginia USA on Monday, June 17, 2019
So. I'm more than three-quarters of the way through the body of this book (exclusive of the extensive notes and index), but I'm going to set this aside for a bit while I go on vacation. Aside from not wanting to carry a slightly bulky hardcover book with me on the trip, I don't think I'm in the mood for this content while I'm away. I will finish this when I return.

In the meantime, here are some further thoughts about what I've read so far (in the form of bullet points):

  • Rather than openly state their policy beliefs, conservative politicians have attempted to disguise their opposition using the language and form of science. In the pursuit of such goals, they contrast their calls for "sound science" against the findings of "junk science". And while, on their face, it would seem obvious that policy decisions should be based on sound science and not junk science, when we look closely at what is meant by those terms, it isn't so straight forward. As used by those on the political right, "sound science" is the banner that calls for conclusive evidence that has little or no uncertainty associated with it. In contract, scientific findings that admit to uncertainty is "junk science". And, as anyone who actually understands the scientific process should understand, very little valid science is without uncertainty. The right uses these terms to sow doubt about the evidence and to postpone valid policy decisions based on such evidence.

  • Much of the "science" advanced by the right and its industry partners is, in fact, not valid science. Either it presupposes a conclusion and then cherry picks the evidence to support that conclusion, which violates the very notion of evidence based scientific inquiry, or it proposes hypotheses that are simply beyond the ability of science to actually test. Either way, no amount of embellishment with scientific sounding jargon changes the fact that this does not constitute valid scientific inquiry.

  • By providing public platforms for contrarian "experts" to voice their quasi-scientific viewpoints, and only allowing a limited number of conventional scientific voices to be heard, the conservative politicians create the appearance of significant scientific debate and disagreement where there is, in fact, little or none.

Journal Entry 6 by ResQgeek at Alexandria, Virginia USA on Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Finished. I don't think I'm going to expound at at any further great length about this book. It presents a huge pile of evidence showing how conservatives have manipulated and abused science and scientific language to protect the core policy positions espoused by their core constituencies, namely big corporations and socially conservative religious groups. This politicization of science to protect corporate profits and promote religious viewpoints is costly and dangerous and continues, more than a decade after the publication of this book, to be a significant component of our divisive political landscape. If nothing else is clear after reading this book, those of us who believe in the power of science to answer questions and solve problems must be vigilant in guarding against additional abuses of science, and must do what we can to de-politicize the use of science in our public policy debates.

Journal Entry 7 by ResQgeek at Rockville, Maryland USA on Saturday, July 20, 2019

Released 4 yrs ago (7/20/2019 UTC) at Rockville, Maryland USA

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This book will be available at the July BC-in-DC meeting.

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Journal Entry 8 by wingSqueakyChuwing at Rockville, Maryland USA on Saturday, July 20, 2019
Caught! Thanks for sharing this book with me on an unbelievably hot day in Rockville, Maryland. The thermometer now reads 96 degrees Fahrenheit.

After reading the titleof this book, I was surprised that this book was published back in 2005 and not more recently. After reading your reaction to this book, ResQGeek, i decided to forego reading it as I am dismayed enough about the current demise of science-based research under our current federal administration. Anyway, I hope this book will eventually find a reader as its information seems important to know although depressing.

Journal Entry 9 by wingSqueakyChuwing at LFL - Vandegrift Ave (5811) (#7720) in Rockville, Maryland USA on Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Released 4 yrs ago (2/19/2020 UTC) at LFL - Vandegrift Ave (5811) (#7720) in Rockville, Maryland USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I'm releasing this book for...

***The 2020 Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes Release Challenge hosted this year by awaywithfairies. This book's title contains the word CAN.

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Enjoy the book!

Journal Entry 10 by wingSqueakyChuwing at Rockville, Maryland USA on Thursday, February 27, 2020
I selected this book from the Little Free Library of Twinbrook (#7720) to release elsewhere.

Journal Entry 11 by wingSqueakyChuwing at Derwood, Maryland USA on Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Released 2 yrs ago (4/7/2021 UTC) at Derwood, Maryland USA

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I'm releasing this book to the stewards of the Parkside Little Free Library in Derwood, Maryland, USA. I'll take a look at what they have to offer in their book-give-away tent before I leave there today! :D

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