Scientific Relativism
The Bad Astronomer gets a taste of liberalism and doesn’t like it. Regular readers of the BA know that he tends to ridicule conservatives, Republicans, and libertarians—yeah, sometimes with more than a bit of snootiness—but like many folks, when exposed to the reality that is the alternative, he concedes.*
A great post from him today, in which he engages a nutjob on the “meaning” of gravity. The nutjob tries to argue that astrology could have merit and reality, because for example science is still learning and might be wrong; take gravity—it may exist, but if we did not understand it, then its meaning would be useless to us as a species. The BA takes the position—so often and perhaps too often promulgated here—that truth is truth, no matter how you try to spin it. And gravity is, it does not have or need meaning.
And there it is. He continues, rightfully flabbergasted, that people think that everything has to have some relative meaning, and that objective facts can be false; indeed, yes, people earnestly believe that if something is true for you, no matter how demonstrably wrong it is, it has merit and is therefore true.
What you feel reading that is exactly the type of forehead slapping reaction we conservatives, Republicans, and libertarians have when trying to discuss abortion, gun control, climatology, criminal justice, foreign policy, healthcare, socialism, progressivism, education, and just about every other topic you can name. Facts cannot be ignored, but facts are objective. Something cannot be a fact because it feels good, seems right, or is the trendy bandwagon to jump on right now.
Something cannot be a fact because it feels good, seems right, or is the trendy bandwagon to jump on right now. Gun control, which the Mandarin beautifully describes as histrionic overdrive, is a great example. The facts tend to be clear: private carry of firearms does not increase crime; in some cases, crime goes down, in most cases there is no change, but crime never increases. Further, there is no opposite effect: in areas where guns are banned, crime always increases to where it safe to say that no handgun or firearm ban has ever been remotely successful. But people walking down the street with a firearm in a holster or over the shoulder just feels bad. It means that something must have failed. And look at all the celebrities who hate guns.
Ditto for climate change. The evidence that the economic structures of humanity are responsible for climate change has not been proven. Even though many of us want the facts to show our collective blame, and anyone who argues for extensive review and testing is clearly a denier, the reality is what it is: we do not understand climatology enough to suppress economic growth with cryptic cap and trade measures. Even though Hollywood celebrites want us to drive Priuses and go green, the people who support climate change control policies are having a very difficult time producing the needed evidence and reproducing the data. But that feels wrong, and it means that we need to wait.
And so on down the line with the other topics. When Senator Debbie Stabenow says she can feel climate change when she flies, it means she rejects objective truth in favor of some sort of scientific relativism.
Too bad science is judged and dismissed by the people least qualified to appreciate or represent it. And at the same time, it is too bad that scientists sometimes fail to use their training and skepticism on social topics. Because the resulting nonsense is what you get when you apply liberalism to reality.
* The BA tends to equate these folks with anti-science evangelists, but conveniently omits the equal or greater number of times liberals, Democrats, and progressives spew forth bad science or use religion as a weapon. A little more time spent with folks different from him would clarify this up for him, but….
Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.