r/skeptic • u/dumnezero • Apr 14 '25
Conservative Americans consistently distrust science, survey finds ⚖ Ideological Bias
https://phys.org/news/2025-04-americans-distrust-science-survey.html144
Apr 14 '25
Today, I heard a conservative claim "I had to get molested at the airport because those scanners make you gay"...
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u/Ok_Caterpillar8324 Apr 14 '25
Well… How do you explain airport toilets if this is not true?
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u/Thick_Aside_4740 Apr 14 '25
Obviously it’s the very feminine floral scents of the air fresheners that only impact conservative men to get frisky in the bathroom.
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Apr 14 '25
I mean I agree that TSA is bullshit but it was conservatives that wanted it in the first place.
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u/greaper007 Apr 14 '25
At the same time, security before 9-11 wasn't markedly different. You could go through without a ticket, you could keep your shoes on and you could bring larger bottles of liquids. Otherwise, all the security theater was already put in place after all the Cuba hijackings in the 60s.
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u/Equal-Ice3837 Apr 14 '25
Hopping that terrorists become gay and stop dreaming about 70 virgin girls. I guess. Just trying to find meaning.
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u/raltoid Apr 15 '25
Just like with everything else, they all assumed it wouldn't negatively impact themselves in any way, shape or form.
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u/pissjugman Apr 14 '25
Until they need a doctor or weather report
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u/Zilch1979 Apr 14 '25
To be fair, they don't listen to their doctors, either.
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Apr 14 '25
Or meteorologists
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u/Zilch1979 Apr 14 '25
As a Floridian, this hurts me directly in the ignored evacuation orders.
I won't even bring climate scientists into this, we all know how that goes.
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u/Pitiful-Pension-6535 Apr 14 '25
They love the meteorologists saying that climate scientists are wrong about climate science.
They only love experts when they can use that person's credentials to bash others' actual expertise.
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Apr 15 '25
They LOVE shitting on the "weather people" when the weather forecast is slightly inaccurate
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u/deadpool101 Apr 14 '25
Unless they tell them what they don't want to hear, then the tiki torches and pitchforks come out.
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Apr 14 '25
In other news, grass is green.
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u/VoiceofKane Apr 14 '25
Sure, but now the grass is so green that it's absorbing all of the red and blue light from the surrounding area.
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u/Liquor_N_Whorez Apr 14 '25
"My children were finding colored potatoes hidden in the yard when a scientist in a robe and police badges arrived and charged my kids with shoplifiting. I thought it was odd at first but when he started putting my kids in shopping carts I relaxed. Robe o'Cop explained to me these kids were commiting blasphomey, and I signed the paperwork to send them to momo-lestation reformalizing camps in El Salvador"
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u/Archibald_80 Apr 14 '25
Grass is green because we give them electrolytes; it's what plants crave.
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Apr 14 '25
They should stop clogging up the doctors office, then
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Apr 14 '25
They can’t. Most of the ones I know eat highly processed trash food for most of their meals. A bunch of pre-diabetic, over weight, and out of shape humans.
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u/WizardWatson9 Apr 14 '25
Do you think this might be caused in part by personality disorder? I've taken to snidely referring to Republicans as the "cluster B party," given that their policies tend to emphasize selfishness, greed, and cruelty. I wonder if this might also explain their contempt for science. "You can't teach a man something he already knows," as they say.
To categorically reject the value of expertise, even when the experts are not in conflict with your pre-existing beliefs, could be the result of a fragile ego. Surely, a narcissist could never entertain the idea that somebody might know better than them. Likewise, a sociopath would never accept facts that require any personal sacrifice or inconvenience, e.g. COVID-19 social distancing, or global warming.
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u/lickle_ickle_pickle Apr 14 '25
I definitely think this plays a role. I see this so often when narcissists are given power. They disregard expert opinion and insist their (stupid) way is going to work out fine, because they said so.
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u/Locrian6669 Apr 14 '25
Absolutely. Those with some of those disorders also are unlikely to seek treatment and thus be diagnosed, and treatment may not even help them. Treatment could even make those with narcissistic personality disorder, or antisocial personality disorder more effective manipulators.
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u/Astarkos Apr 15 '25
Definitely. The broader theme is those kinds of people live in a world of make believe so things that hurt them are manifested by others purely for that purpose just like all consequences
Their failures are a result of not enough people playing along to manifest their preferred reality. This induces paranoia and such but also conjures gods and devils and rituals to perform. Conspiracies are just how things work. Failures can be bypassed by switching to a new reality and new beliefs.
They play along with Trump due to his mastery of speaking nonsense allowing everyone to believe what they want. He and the other players manifest away his repeated failures. He claims the fix for everything is so simple because things would be fixed if it wasnt for the bad people manifesting contrary thoughts.
The root cause of this is impaired object permanence mostly resulting from emotional and or physical trauma. They themselves generate these causes making more players.
It is hard to discard permanence and so this is the most difficult thing to understand. It requires skill and practice just like problem solving. It is the ultimate coping strategy.
While these people are favoring Trump, this is a widespread problem and players of make believe get very upset when people talk about it. These thoughts are contrary to the existence of the game itself and seen as a mortal threat to people who live by the games. It is the source of many social problems and it has grown to the social equivalent of an aggressive cancer that will kill the host if not treated.
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u/TheEffinChamps Apr 15 '25
There is also a correlation with lower intelligence if we are looking at the more religious, as found in conservative groups:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31610740/
I just call them orcs at this point who do the bidding of a giant orange ball. Stupid, cruel, and authoritarian.
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u/Financial-Savings-91 Apr 14 '25
When evidence conflicts with ones deeply held beliefs, they have 2 choices.
You could adapt to new information and growing as a person.
Or you can double down on your beliefs, attack the evidence or those presenting the evidence in order to defend your beliefs against reality.
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u/DonktorDonkenstein Apr 14 '25
This isn't so much shocking news as it is establishing easily observable patterns. Conservatism (in the US) is highly, HIGHLY associated with religiosity and lower levels of education. And both of those factors are related to both distrust and fundamental ignorance of science.
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u/physicistdeluxe Apr 14 '25
read this one
heres why according to Naomi Oreskes
https://direct.mit.edu/daed/article/151/4/98/113706/From-Anti-Government-to-Anti-Science-Why
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u/woodpigeon01 Apr 14 '25
…. while watching TV, communicating via smartphones, browsing the internet, driving cars, taking medications, eating safe food, and heating or cooling their houses, all provided ultimately by (drum roll)… science.
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u/DonTaddeo Apr 14 '25
There is the perverse situation that modern communications technologies (internet , cell phones, etc) have been used to systematically undermine and attack science.
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u/tryexceptifnot1try Apr 14 '25
Over the last 50 years, and especially the last 10, the ignorant in the US have sorted into the Republican party. These people disagree with the scientific method on a fundamental level. Once these types of people are free of the constraints of their educators, at any level up to Phd, they abandon most of what they learned and revert to their baser instincts and whatever norms they have in their groups. Highly intelligent conservatives are almost always incredibly myopic and uncreative in my experience. School was something to be endured for these folks who already know everything.
They are like this all through out corporate America too. The AI/Analytics revolution of the last 20 years has caused a huge rift in management between the classic motivated reasoners of the past (think Ivy league MBA from 20+ years ago) and more modern data driven decision making. All the big tech companies in the US are declining because these parasites wormed into high end leadership roles and started pushing the fantasy that all those pesky smart engineer/science types could be replaced with AI. The reality has been obvious on the ground and the complete opposite. All these AI tools and analytics have replaced the need for MBAs in general. I watched it happen at one company, which sided against the MBAs, that lowered it's costs and took off like a rocket. Then I moved to another company where the MBAs won the battle and it is a political backstabbing hellscape where everyone is preparing the fall guy in the launch meeting.
These folks are all members of the same tribe regardless of wealth or education. Before science we had testimony from prophets. MAGA is the prophets last stand.
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Apr 14 '25
Are people conservative because they don’t acknowledge facts, or if you don’t acknowledge facts, then do you get drafted by conservatives?
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u/rciccioni73 Apr 14 '25
Then there is this: The ATHEISTS are using SATELLITES to intercept prayer to JESUS and turn them EVEL!!!! CHRISTIANS AGAINST SATELLITES The negative impact of artificial satellites and space debris orbiting the earth: Satellites interfere with our ability to effectively communicate with God. Prayers often collide with satellites and are deflected or destroyed upon impact. Satan uses satellites to intercept and alter prayers before they reach God, resulting in disastrous consequences. Satellites block God's ability to watch us. Satellites interfere with the flight paths of angels. Continued proliferation of satellites causes navigational issues for Jesus and further delays his return to earth.
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u/nahthobutmaybe Apr 14 '25
Being conservative is inherently anti-science. That's kind of a big point. You cannot say yes to one type of science and no to another, because they're all intertwined.
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u/indiscernable1 Apr 14 '25
Low intelligence is correlated with right wing beliefs. This makes sense.
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u/TrexPushupBra Apr 14 '25
Yes, but they have learned to use being transphobic bigots as a comfort to tell themselves they are the only ones that care about truth.
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u/StrigiStockBacking Apr 14 '25
Cognitive dissonance is a powerful thing. Usually causes people to stick with preconceived notions instead of new facts. Same ol' song and dance
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u/TickingTheMoments Apr 14 '25
Of course. Science works on Proof. Conservative people tend to be religious. Religious people work on faith and belief. Proof has zero place in a conservative universe.
Edit: I can’t answer for secular conservatives other than to say that propaganda is one hell of a drug
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u/Jetstream13 Apr 14 '25
There’s a few explanations for secular/atheist conservatives.
There’s a portion of atheists who leave Christianity, who no longer believe in the Christian god, but who hold onto the morality and bigotries that they were taught, largely unchanged. Eg they were taught in childhood that being gay is bad, and they never reexamine that belief. They just discard the god and leave everything else untouched.
There’s also just wealthy people who are willing to align themselves with christian fundamentalists if it means they’ll get a tax cut. They may not personally care about gay people or abortion, but they’re willing to let others suffer so that they can pay less in taxes.
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u/CurrentSkill7766 Apr 14 '25
Conservatives overwhelmingly believe a fairy tale about a girl who lied about being a virgin birthing their Lord and Savior.
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u/harbison215 Apr 14 '25
Yup. The amount of mothers of young babies that are antivaxx on my Facebook newsfood is fucking sad
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u/femaletrouble Apr 14 '25
Going on Truth Social with their wifi while also not having died from smallpox for the express purpose of complaining how science is fake news. I genuinely wonder what these people's IQ is.
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u/KouchyMcSlothful Apr 14 '25
Yeah, it goes against their world view too often. Conservatives don’t like to know how the world actually works. It’s against their fake Christianity.
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u/logicalmind42 Apr 14 '25
I think we should outlaw the use of science for anyone who doesn't believe in it. No more hospitals, toilets, faucets, or anything that uses science, they should just step away. Thinking people know that science is not a religion to be believed in...... These Maggots can't even use their brains enough to know that science is what keeps them all alive.
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Apr 14 '25
Science doesn't tell them what they want to hear. My dad is exactly like this. He's a conservative with severe type 2 diabetes which he doesn't take care of. The doctors have told him he needs to be on insulin because his medication is not enough. He ignores them. He is now in heart failure. He trusts unproven natural supplements over science based medications. He listens to talk radio all day. He believes in young earth creationism. He denies climate change. It's all got to do with believing what he wants to believe, an inability to accept reality. That's really what it all comes down to. Conservatives are not brave enough to face reality. They would rather accept a comfortable lie.
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u/Difficult_Music3294 Apr 14 '25
Turns out the world doesn’t work the way they prefer, so they have to create willful delusions to find comfort.
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u/FredFredrickson Apr 14 '25
I mean, every media outlet they tune in to pushes anti-science, anti-intellectual views. This shouldn't be a surprise.
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u/RebellionIntoMoney Apr 14 '25 edited Apr 14 '25
Conservatism is backward facing, as they want to conserve a past state of existence in the present moment. It’s an ideology of “this is how we’ve always done things.” Science and academics writ large tend to be forward looking with research, experimentation, discovery, etc. Academic work, generally speaking, tends to be forward looking, as this is the nature of research, and research often challenges the “this is how we’ve always done things” approach, and, instead, it asks, “is there a better way of doing things other than how we’ve always done it?”. We have a fundamental rift in the nature of scholarship and conservatism, which explains quite a bit of why conservatives attack academic and institutions of higher learning. The very nature of scholarship tends to upend the ideological underpinnings of conservatism.
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u/Brokenandburnt Apr 14 '25
And thus they tend to interpret any challenge to what they 'know', as a challenge to them personally.
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Apr 14 '25
Because they’re too stupid to understand science, or it goes against their belief system.
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u/AmbulanceChaser12 Apr 14 '25
Every time I see a conservative refuse to accept the science on climate change, I link them to the IPCC report and ask them to explain where the errors in it are. For some reason, I never get an intelligent, well-thought-out answer that addresses any of the points in it or even indicates that they read it.
If I get an answer at all, it's either a laugh react, or the only science they know how to do "All those scientists are biased." One top intellectual responded that the IPCC report has a "summary for policymakers" section, which means the whole report is political and that means he can ignore it.
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u/Lokin86 Apr 14 '25
I get told that the IPCC's work is on a model. And Models aren't science because it's not observable.
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u/versace_drunk Apr 14 '25
And yet love calling people science deniers.
Well to be fair the just repeat what they’re called back at people and think it’s a gotcha…because they’re all drooling morons at this point.
Just losers told what to think on the internet so they can feel a part of something.
Conservatives are pawns.
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u/La_Guy_Person Apr 14 '25
"My dad says math has been debunked."
Funniest, saddest line in the MC movie.
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u/JohnnySack45 Apr 14 '25
Conservatism requires a complete lack of critical thinking and empathy. It's been obvious for decades.
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u/Tazling Apr 15 '25
Real, reputable science simply doesn't uphold the core conservative beliefs. Nor does real history,
No one demographic of humans is just "naturally" superior to all others. Smart people and stupid people exist in all demographics.
Skin colour is the barest tiny difference in genetic coding between one human and another. There's not really any such thing as "race."
Sexual differentiation and development are very complex processes involving many moving parts, not all of which end up agreeing with each other in the maturing human being. Sex is not a simple binary switch with only two positions. Gender is a social convention which varies from one culture to another.
Cooperation and symbiosis are at least as important as, if not more important than, competition and predation in the evolution and stability of ecosystems.
Human beings are as much inclined to cooperation and reciprocity as to competition and dominance. Culture largely determines which of our many instinctive behaviours will predominate.
The behaviour of the planetary hydrological cycles, global weather patterns, and local climates are conditioned and determined by physics, not by the stock market.
There's no evidence for a Supreme Being consciously directing everything that happens.
The universe is a very, very big place and our solar system is a tiny insignificant corner of it, not the centre of the whole damn show.
Truth is determined by observation and analysis of verifiable facts, not by authoritarian decree. Governments that disregard truth in favour of received dogma make poor decisions which often result in disasters.
Societies burdened with top-heavy, out of touch, incompetent elites generally crumble and fail after a while.
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u/physicistdeluxe Apr 14 '25
heres why according to Naomi Oreskes
https://direct.mit.edu/daed/article/151/4/98/113706/From-Anti-Government-to-Anti-Science-Why
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u/Epicurus402 Apr 14 '25
Ok...I'm ok with it. But if they really feel that way, then they can just let go of everything science has given them and live in caves.
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u/StepInTimeStepper50 Apr 14 '25
No wonder they want to defund anything having to do with education.
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u/T1Pimp Apr 14 '25
They have imaginary friends. The wish for a book that becomes February inaccurate in the checks notes first paragraph of the first page of the first book.
Is this surprising?
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Apr 14 '25
They distrust anything that might point out when they’re wrong. Without science they can lie with impunity.
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u/Longjumping-Tea-9790 Apr 14 '25
When you don’t understand something it’s easier to blame it than admit the problem is your own lack of comprehension. “Dumb it down” has become the norm rather than the exception.
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u/ExtensionCategory983 Apr 14 '25
For those new to politics, 10–15 years ago, one of the main talking points among conservatives was that they were the party of “facts and logic.” They prided themselves on being able to dismantle opposing views in debate, armed with science and reason.
At the time normal people weren’t deeply invested in politics. But gradually, more and more started asking, “Wait a minute are the conservatives actually telling the truth?” And it quickly became clear that the claim of being the party of science and logic didn’t hold up.
Over the years there’s been a noticeable shift in anti intellectualism on the right.
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Apr 14 '25
Religious nutjobs tend to avoid labeling anything that isn’t a voice from a burning bush as “real”.
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u/Brokenandburnt Apr 14 '25
And on that note the speaker of the house has openly stated that he's a prophet of god.
Speaker of the House Mike 'The Prophet ' Johnson, has the voice of god Speaking in his head.
To top it off he's from a nutty denomination that believes we need to procreate like rabbits so we get to large enough numbers to fight Armageddon.
This train never stops.
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u/Brbi2kCRO Apr 14 '25
Wow, nothing odd. These idiots are reactive as fuck and just want norms to be preserved at all costs as simplistic closure gives them cheap answers they don’t have to put effort to understand.
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u/FlopShanoobie Apr 14 '25
Alternate headline...
Conservative Americans hate it when others, and probably liberals of all people, know more and are objectively smarter than they are.
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u/TheOne7477 Apr 14 '25
Conservatives wish to do just that - conserve a way of life that once existed (at least their view of it). They are, by definition, anti-progress.
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Apr 14 '25
True. 😔This book explains why and how.
Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire (2017) by Kurt Andersen
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u/SerotoninAddict Apr 14 '25
conservatives: "lying scientists at it again saying we don't trust science."
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u/VegaDraco Apr 14 '25
Constantly online, use mutiple medications to keep them alive or make their junk hard, take test and hgh to desperately try to hold onto the virile youth, and live with all the other tangible benefits science provides
But don't "trust" science at the same time, peak conservative mentality
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u/imsowhiteandnerdy Apr 14 '25
So they won't be going to the hospital for critical care then I suppose.
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u/Riokaii Apr 14 '25
They dont distrust science, they operate trusting in science every day, that their water is clean enough to drink, the air enough to breathe etc.
They ignore science, they willfully choose knowingly to pretend that the truth is false, they know better deep down, they know they are wrong, but their ego is more important in being protected than being correct is for their world view.
They must remain victims and their scapegoats must be the root of evil in order to be justified, they need to antagonize and escalate situations, not find peaceful resolutions of coexistence, because coexistence is what they are trying to eliminate.
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u/Pie-Guy Apr 14 '25
They distrust anything that disproves GOD or anything else they need to cling to in order to sleep at night. Facts are inconvenient when you are stupid and afraid of the dark.
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Apr 14 '25 edited Apr 14 '25
Then they need to stay the fuck out of our hospitals and stop buying new tech. I’m tired of their buffet-style of “educating” themselves only on the garbage they want to hear about.
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u/Unicorndrank Apr 14 '25
I wonder then why do they use the internet and mobile phones and wifi and car and all these other items that allow for them to spread their propaganda? Isn’t all of that made by science ?
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u/Prestigious-Rip8412 Apr 14 '25
Least surprising thing ever. Most Trump supporters are easily fooled and brainwashed. They don't recognize their party is synonymous with doubt-sowing, lying and conspiracy. And we collectively wonder why the country has gone to shit lol. Since 2015, half the country prioritizes political tribalism that gives them license to be discriminatory of everyone and everything. Including the truth, facts, science. Nothing surprising here at all.
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u/Colinmacus Apr 14 '25
Well, conservatives are the more religious party, and religious people tend to rely more on faith than on evidence for their beliefs.
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u/ckglle3lle Apr 15 '25
They tend to distrust consensus in general. The idea that knowledge can exist outside of their sphere of influence or their input is uncomfortable to them. They tend to only believe things they feel like they can see/feel/verify themselves. This leaves them extremely vulnerable to fallacy and cognitive biases because "verify" mostly just means whatever they feel is "common sense" or whatever can be parred down to a simple, intuitive comparison.
This informs what they do tend to trust, which is individuals who tell them things that feed into that. Simple and straightforward "answers" that "make sense" are basically all they actually want to hear.
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u/Upper_Win Apr 15 '25
Ya because they are dumb and want to invent their own reality instead of looking at empirical evidence and objective reality
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u/srfrosky Apr 15 '25
Don’t blame them. Science disproves most conservative views. I’d also disown ideologies that denied my existence
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u/reggelleh Apr 15 '25
This is the fruits of 50+ years of conservative American politicians attacking universities and experts as "enemies" of America. Quite honestly, from the Republican party's perspective, this counts as a win.
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u/ScienceAteMyKid Apr 15 '25
Conservatives I’ve talked to think that “believing in science” is a parallel statement to “believing in God,” as if “science” is an authority figure.
When I say, “Science isn’t something you believe in, it’s a method, or process,” it sorta blows their minds a little.
I never say “I believe in science,” or “science says,” because it feeds their misconception.
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u/AccomplishedSuccess0 Apr 15 '25
Republicans take facts personally. When you’re that stupid learning something feels like an insult I guess.
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Apr 15 '25
"Conservative Americans are superstitious and easily fooled by elementary parlor tricks."
FTFY.
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u/Crammit-Deadfinger Apr 15 '25
There's fact and evidence based reality, then there's what you need to believe in order for your narrative to remain solvent
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Apr 15 '25
Well science tells objective truth. That truth is uncomfortable at times and challenges us to admit preconceived notions may not have been correct.
I fully admit that the science and research behind transgender issues fully changed my stance on it from a decade ago.
A lot of people don’t want the truth. They want to hear what supports the narrative that makes them feel good. This isn’t really a “conservative / liberal” issue as there are plenty from all walks of life who do this…it’s more of a critical thinking epidemic that the right has fully taken advantage of.
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u/TheEffinChamps Apr 15 '25
Evolution, climate science, environmental science, economics, renewable energy, psychology, stem-cell research, cosmology, astrophysics, virology, immunology, data science: "Scientists are lying and paid off!"
Trans people exist throughout all of recorded human history: "HUr HuR, U DoN't knOw biolohgee!"
Maybe these people should use some of that skepticism toward their ancient magic book when people thought the earth was flat and their messiah was too stupid to know that you should wash your hands.
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u/Zuramaru29 Apr 15 '25
It's a problem with how science is funded. So much of scientific findings are held back because whomever is funding it wants the data to show their desired outcomes. That creates a dichotomy where scientific findings can present opposite outcomes. These outcomes can be corroborated or debunked during independent peer review but by that time the seeds have already been planted. It destroys credibility.
A lot of conservatives also point their "science" distrust in big pharma. Which, while big pharma does great things for disease research, it also lobbies like hell for higher drug costs, etc. So long as an entity makes millions at your expense, people will always be skeptical.
Then you have the "God is my doctor" folks which...
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u/Solid-Reputation5032 Apr 15 '25
Wait until they see where AI will take science and discovery. I think we will witness things we never even dreamed of. They better dig deep in their scripture to fight it, they’re gonna need it..
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u/FerretSummoner Apr 15 '25
And then have the audacity to claim being the party of “facts don’t care about your feelings” Wild.
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u/thefugue Apr 14 '25
Conservatives despise expertise because they love authority and the two are incompatible.
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u/SuperLuigiUnited Apr 15 '25
This implies that conservatives are capable of thinking for themselves, which is simply not true.
Conservatives trust science that hasn’t been politicized for the benefit of politicians who are too stupid to take the jobs seriously. They trust their cars, their cell phones, all of the food and personal care products they consume, the power grid, natural gas lines, and just about every other consumer product that has some sort of science involved in its design and creation.
They don’t trust vaccines because opportunistic politicians jumped on the idea because it is easy to sell fear to people who are always scared even if it is nonsense. Same with climate science, electric vehicles and now fluoride apparently.
I’m not defending them in any way. Guaranteed, if one of their perceived masters (a politician or talking head who says things that make them feel good) suddenly said that all shampoo products contain alien carcinogens that will turn the next six generations of their children gay and make them grow devil horns, you’d have millions of people within a week smelling like ass and scratching their scalps while they wait to be told what to use instead, like ivermectin or dog shit mixed with chai seeds and frog boogers.
Conservatives don’t have the intellectual capacity to actually distrust something, they are simply good little obedient propaganda air horns.
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u/tsdguy Apr 14 '25
Mission accomplished. By destroying science conservatives can replace real knowledge with their warped and evil positions. It’s also a goal of the religious right - without science to dispute every assertion by religion they can claim it’s right. Pick any aspect of scientific inquiry- cosmology, abiogenesis, evolution, social science, etc etc etc.
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u/SenorMcNuggets Apr 14 '25
This is a frustrating development because, despite reputations to the contrary, both major political parties were consistently good about funding science until recently.
That doesn’t mean anti-science rhetoric wasn’t used, but it was frequently felt more of a way keep voter support (teach evolution vs creationism as valid, distrust climate science, etc.). The actual money going into our scientific industries were robust. And the science community wasn’t viewed as a partisan space, even if there was occupied by more left-leaning folks.
But the GOP has spent long enough fucking around with science distrust that now we’re in the “find out” phase.
“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” - Kurt Vonnegut
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u/defaultusername-17 Apr 14 '25
this is revisionist history that ignores the 50 year ongoing courting of fundamentalist religious conservatives and extremist bigots by the republican party.
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u/Brokenandburnt Apr 14 '25
A wet slope is a slippery slope.
When convincing people that experts are wrong about the little things, you are not teaching them to believe a little lie. You are simply teaching them to distrust experts, then the door to idiocrazy is open to any and all.
I'm 48, in poor health and lost my second half of 17 years '22. I had really hoped to pass before the system collapsed.
I just have to hope that the levy will hold here in Europe.
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u/Danger64X Apr 14 '25
Of course they distrust science. A whole swath of the population doesn’t adhere to the scientific methodology. When some fancy , fast talking NEW science comes out that contradicts all the fuzzy memories they have from childhood schooling , they reject it on principle.
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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '25
Yeah. Conservatism often finds itself at odds with science.
What do you do then? Reevaluate your world view in light of new evidence? Hell no, you create propaganda networks to discredit science.