tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6811719312494990925.post-44068728807655260512006-10-13T13:43:00.000-07:002006-10-13T13:43:00.000-07:00I share your dismay at the Government's failure to respect good evidence and arguments, but I am not sure we should adopt your pessimistic suggestion about how to explain the government's ability to do that at little or no political cost.<br /><br />You write:"What underlies this is perhaps the equally astonishing fact that Americans at large are tremendously suspicious of science."<br /><br />But perhaps it is, instead, a suspicion that *for all they can tell* any "expert" report is actually the expression of ideologically spun information. If I can't tell the doctors from the snake oil salesmen, I am, quite sensibly, suspicious of both. I bet that, rightly or wrongly, most americans doubt they are in a position (or want to take the time to get into position) to tell the experts from the hacks, and, given that assumption, their apathy makes some sense.<br /><br />My suggestion is, of course, more chartiable to the "average american" and also seems to receive some support from the report, recently cited in the Atlantic, showing that there is growing distrust of news reports *from any and all sources*, among Democrats and Republicans like (of course for all I can tell, not having looked up the report yet, that report is actually ideologically spun data - luckily I have, and know I have, the skills and access to get and assess the report myself; I've been too busy to do so though)<br /><br />The anti-science animus may well exist, but I think we should also be suspicious of blaming "the idiots" for the lack of political repurcussions; thinking of it that way insults our fellows and is, frankly, suspiciously self-serving.<br /><br />I think that what Americans need are tools to penetrate, or undercut the motives for producing, the ideological haze, not a reminder about what makes science credible.<br /><br />That task would be more difficult to accomplish; it is difficult to even adequately and accurately comprehend, because, for example, it requires us to think through the connections between our capitalistic econcomy and our education, media, and marketing systems.Brad Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954619711341989755noreply@blogger.com