Category: the Rant Board
There is something that I have seen since forever but is now more pronounced because of social media.
It seems "scientists say," is put behind everything that someone wants to be validated about:
Scientists say that women feel pain more acutely than men.
Scientists say women are less likely to notice pain and so need more care and attention by society.
Scientists say that men are unaware of their children's needs.
Scientists say that men are overprotective of their children's interests.
Scientists say that the disabled are more perceptive.
Scientists say that the disabled, being less perceptive need more help with some things.
... and so on.
I'm paraphrasing here, but even mainstream publications like the Huffington Post, The Atlantic, Fox News, NPR, and I even saw some of this in the Wall Street Journal! are publishing this drivel!
If you remember your eighth grade math, most of what I put above resolves to null sets. You can't be less and greater than 1. You can't be both hot and cold.
Of course you can feel all of these things, because you can feel any way you want to, believe anything you want to, worship any deity you want to. But none of that is science. None of that proves anything.
It's become obvious over time that this isn't just sloppy recording, it's rather a rigged game to portray different groups in different lights, depending on what is popular and cool.
What I personally find revolting is people's use of science to do this. Not real science, of course: this stuff would never measure up. Science in their case means conducting some surveys where anonymous people can say whatever they want. Can you imagine the Space Program or any other reputable scientific organization running like that?
And usually there are huge culture gaps that I am embarrassed to say I have missed on occasion, since during undergrad I took a lot of cultural anthropology, something that should teach one to evade such maneuvering.
I find this all really revolting, actually, on par with the State of Texas trying to get evolutionary theory removed from the classroom. It's the same game.
As I said, believe whatever you want, dance naked in the rain, howl at the moon, pray vehemently to a deity, blame one single group for all the world's problems, or whatever floats your boat, but don't corrupt the reputable disciplines of the sciences by attempting to take a few facts (usually out of context), take a hundred surveys, get a writer to make it look very professional, and fool most people most of the time. That, to me, is deception of the highest degree possible.
What you say makes sense.
It seems that "scientists say" has replace "the priests tell us" in our culture. Science--in its loosest meaning is our search for something to believe in.
But when you get crap like "scientists tell us that Obama's birth certificatte is not legitimate" it's people using "science" to bolster their own beliefs.
Just saying...
Bob
Absolutely right. And the shame of all of that, is that science has the potential to elevate us beyond the need for priests, by providing rational explanations to our very real natural world.
I'll confess that it saddens me more than angers me, because of what science actually is. And people are trying to make their case for belief with it.
It's become a blanket word, like "they". And yes, it is indeed very much like "the priests tell us" or some other variation. Now, yes, sometimes science gets it right. And when that happens there's usually a lot of sourcing to draw from, so that those who wish to can go ahead and research "why" science says this. It's much like religion in that way, save that religion's sourcing is often a lot more subjective. But I think we use it as a crutch, just like we use religion. Believing in something for its own sake (taking scriptures at face value without understanding their context, or believing something is true because "science" writes a convincing article or survey without giving us an idea how it reached its conclusions) limits our mental and spiritual growth. In short, I don't just believe something just because the scriptures I read mention it in a line. I look for the meaning and context behind that line. Same goes for believing something just because someone throws stats in my face, or posts a link simply saying it'is true. For example, babies. "Health professionals have been going this way and that for the last seventy years give or take about everything from breast feeding, sleeping habbits, crying, you name it. And there are lots of very convincing articles about all of those things.
It promotes ideas, or drugs. Seems it became popular in advertising a while back.
People use "scientist say" to get people to listen. If you pretend to be credible people will be less likely to argue. It's a matter of psychology. Of course, the hope is that most people are to smart for that. However I have seen this work. I have told family members something and they think I'm crazy. I then say something like "experts agree..." or "I read a study that says..." or "statistically speaking..." You get the picture. It is just a mind trick.