The anti-GMO movement is in trouble. And its a worthwhile movement. I implore my friends connected to it to really think hard about their messaging, because people see the anti-GMO movement as being in the same ballpark as the anti-vaxxer movement. Think about that. --- What you see here is that the conditions exist for GMOs to become a liberal equivalent of climate denial. But one thing is missing: the key validators from the liberal establishment. GMOs are actually an example of liberalism resisting the biases of its base. Though theres a lot of mistrust towards GMOs and fury towards Monsanto among liberals, the Democratic Party establishment is dismissive of this particular campaign. You dont see President Obama or Democratic congressional leaders pushing anti-GMO legislation. There are, of course, party actors whove been more helpful to the anti-GMO movement. In California, the Democratic Party endorsed a proposition to label GMO foods. But thats a modest step — and even that step hasnt yet made it to the national partys agenda. Part of the reason comes down to people like Tyson. Political scientists will tell you that parties, and the ideological movements that power them, are composed of much more than officeholders and electoral strategists. Theyre driven by interest groups and intellectuals and pundits and other validators that partisans and politicians look to for cues when forming their beliefs. When it comes to environmental issues, one of those validators is the environmental news site Grist. It wouldve been easy for Grist to simply cater to the biases of their audience and go on a crusade against GMOs. Instead, they had journalist Nathanael Johnson do a huge series exploring the science, practice and controversy over GMOs. His conclusion? GMOs are basically safe, though their benefits are overstated by proponents. Grist could have spun the issue, or ignored the issue, and profited off the resulting traffic. But they didnt. They pushed against the biases of their base. When it comes to scientific issues, Neil deGrasse Tyson has emerged as a key liberal validator. But given the opportunity to cater to his base and send a clip viral by whipping up anti-GMO hysteria, Tyson does just the opposite. We have systematically genetically modified all the foods, the vegetables and animals, that we have eaten ever since we cultivated them. Its called artificial selection. Thats how we genetically modify them. His basic advice to those worried about GMO foods: chill out.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 19:13:57 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015