In my limited experience, even the most unintelligent and backwards people say they believe in science but contend (because this is what their online “research” has taught them), that disciplines like epidemiology and climate change are driven by money and politics, rather than science itself.
Frankly, I have some level of sympathy for these folks, and I count myself lucky that I happen to know a significant number of high-level scientists in these fields, and thus I can vouch for their integrity personally.
Also, my brain is wired along the lines of what philosopher David Hume wrote: “We always disbelieve the greater miracle.”
What’s more likely? That millions of people, all around the globe, with “MD” and “PhD” after their names, working in research institutions and hospitals, conspired to develop and disseminate a story that COVID-19 was a serious disease when they knew it was no more dangerous than the flu? Or, alternatively, that these people followed legitimate science to reach their conclusions, and took measures to prevent even worse outcomes than those we actually experienced?
When I come across a conspiracy theorist whose ideas are completely baseless, it reminds me that, in so many ways, we’ve lost our ability to think. Then we see phenomena like Trump rising in the polls, and we have to admit that this is all completely predictable.
It depends on what you believe.
Fox News will tell you that our southern border is no longer being overrun, that we’ve discovered that vaccinations are unsafe, that we’re standing up against Sharia Law, we’re preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon, prices are coming down (or soon will be), Trump is an honest and effective servant of the American people and that the U.S. is once again respected on the world stage.
We live in a country where tens of millions of idiots believe every word of this.
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I met a guy today from a rural part of Central England–“nothing but farms and pubs,” as he put it. His father was an epidemiologist working for the United Nations, and so, as a boy, he lived all over the world and grew up largely in developing countries that suffered from horrific diseases.
He and his wife had the conversation one would expect from such people:
- Why are we so content to ignore climate change that is ruining our planet?
- Why are people so indifferent to the suffering of others?
- How is it possible that billionaires expect to live well here on Earth while 99.9% of us suffering with wildfires, devastating storms, blistering heat, losses of landmasses, and desertification?
- At the end of the day, is money really that precious?
Obviously, not everyone thinks this way, but to be in something of a “lovefest” for just a few minutes was a great relief.
relief.
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