An excerpt from Letter to a Conservative Nation by Adam Dorr It is tempting to simply attribute the reckless irresponsibility of conservatives to scientific ignorance. After all, anyone who fully understands all of the available scientific evidence for phenomena like evolution or climate change cannot possibly deny that they are facts. But a moment’s reflection shows that ignorance is not actually a barrier to responsibility. Millions of people accept the truth of these scientific propositions without any real understanding of the details at all. In fact, we all accept thousands of scientific propositions every day with scarcely a second thought. You undoubtedly accept the fact that water is comprised of hydrogen and oxygen, for example. But how well do you actually understand the evidence for the atomic theory of matter? Your personal knowledge on the subject is probably close to zero, and yet you readily accept the fact that water is H2O. Clearly you don’t have to be an atomic physicist to accept scientific propositions about water. More to the point, it would be positively asinine for you to deny that water is H2O, given that tens of thousands of chemists and physicists who do fully understand the evidence agree that it is. The atomic theory of matter also happens to be integral to dozens of scientific disciplines, as well as to all of the technology upon which your modern lifestyle is based. Given that you do not deny that H2O is water, why do you deny the facts of evolution or climate change when these facts were arrived at using precisely the same Excerpted from Letter to a Conservative Nation scientific methods? Why is your acceptance of these facts selective? The answer, not surprisingly, is that you are selfish. Evolution and climate change are inconvenient truths to you, and you deny them because you don’t want them to be true. It’s all about what you want. You listen only to those who agree with what you want, you cling to any cherry-picked detail that supports what you want, and you refuse to listen to anyone who disagrees with what you want. It doesn’t matter that none of the biological or medical sciences even make sense without evolution. It doesn’t matter that the Pentagon and NASA think climate change is real. Your mind is made up by your personal desires rather than any consideration of logic or evidence, and if the actual facts contradict your desires, well, then it’s all just liberal “elites” colluding to hoodwink you. (And why, I might ask, do you respect elite soldiers and athletes, but not elite scholars or scientists?) Copyright © 2012 Adam Dorr
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 11:14:18 +0000
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