Posted on 08/13/2009 6:38:40 AM PDT by steve-b
Over the years I've been a harsh critic of elements in the larger conservative movement and by proxy the modern Republican Party who pay lip service to various forms of pseudoscience, creationism being a prime example. But here we look at the other side of the coin with an incomplete survey of some of the bizarre anti-science beliefs, medical quackery, pseudoscience, and full blown conspiracy theories with questionable roots in science, some of which are sadly gaining considerable traction due to recent political shifts. They're by no means held exclusively by the left, but nevertheless readers are far more likely to encounter them on progressive websites and liberal leaning celebrity talk shows and networks.
Anti-vaxxers believe that mercury compounds once widely used in childhood vaccines are the cause of childhood autism and other neurological disorders. It's an emotionally charged issue with something for everyone: evil multinational pharmaceutical corporations, the health of children at stake thousands of whom are diagnosed every year with this tragic condition, and concerned parents understandably desperate to find out the cause in hopes of developing an effective treatment.
Elemental mercury is indeed a potent heavy metal poison. Over time even small amounts can lead to serious neurological illness, mental problems, and death. But chemical compounds act very differently than their constituent elements. Hexavalent chromium is an industrial toxin and powerful carcinogen which formed the basis of the multimillionaire dollar settlement levied against Pacific Gas & Electric, immortalized in the blockbuster movie Erin Brockovich. Chromium picolinate is a harmless substance sold in health food stores as a dietary supplement. Scores of statistical scientific studies to date to failed to demonstrate any clear causative correlation between childhood vaccination and the onset of childhood autism. One of the only scientific studies that did suggest a tentative connection, long used by anti-vaxxers, has since been revealed to be at best abysmally shoddy science and at worst a hoax. The issue came to an explosive head when rumors surfaced the Obama administration was considering Robert Kennedy, Jr., to head up the EPA. Kennedy, for all his admirable work, has been a reliable and consistent spokesman for vaccine-autism connections. Science bloggers and traditional medical researchers from every party banded together to discouraged Kennedy's appointment and may have influenced the ultimate decision to appoint Lisa Jackson to head this important agency. But to this day, heartbroken parents, hype artists, and conspiracy theorists suspect foul play and remain unconvinced.
9-11 Conspiracies are by no means limited to the left in the US -- 9-11 conspiracies have gained even wider audiences among some residents in predominantly Muslim nations. The conspiracy theorists maintain that the tragic attacks on Sep 11, 2001, were either known in advance and ignored, or directly orchestrated by a vague menagerie of neoconservatives, Israelis, Saudis, or the UN and other, even less credible, shadowy, and in some cases fictional casts of characters. Despite the fact that these attacks were carried out on live television with thousands of meters of footage for analysts to review and thousands of tons of debris for forensic examination to pick over, some believers maintain the aircraft that hit the WTC were empty and under radio control, that Jewish Americans were warned to stay home that day, and that the buildings were brought down by controlled demolition after the planes impacted.
New Age quackery: although quackery predates modern medicine by millennia, these days one need look no further than the normally highly regarded Huffington Post or talk show maven Oprah Winfrey to see occasional examples of new age and old fashioned medical quackery presented as credible alternatives, usually with little or no opposing information from a legitimate medical expert. HuffPo has covered homeopathy, the idea that antibiotics cause cancer, and during the latest swine flu outbreak, one writer took it upon herself to prescribe a body cleansing regimen which, coincidentally, she had written a book about and plugged in the post. For her role, Winfrey has presented too much quackery and other forms of pseudsoscience to list. This diary on Daily Kos about a recent Newsweek article reviews just a few examples.
It should be noted that these groups and others like them have almost no influence over the Democratic Party and by extension public policy. But with recent electoral victories and the shift in power from the GOP to democrats, that could change. In today's Republican Party, social conservatives who adhere to Young Earth Creationism, climate change denial, myths about Obama's birth certificate, just to name a few, have become so numerous and well organized that otherwise well meaning and informed conservative politicians are forced to pay lip service to them. For now, their anti-cognates on the left are not nearly as well organized, numerous, or demanding. But given time, it's entirely possible a similar phenomenon could take hold in the progressive movement and filter into the highest levels of Congress with potentially dire consequences.
America has been called a Christian nation, the home of the brave, and the cradle of democracy. But we could be just as accurately be described as a technology nation, one critically dependent on the applications of science and engineering. Pseudoscience and crack pot conspiracies, if widely adopted as official policy, could set us back, cause great harm or misery, and perhaps even loss of life. They have no place in a nation whose future depends on the development and implementation of technology, and it doesn't matter from which section of the political spectrum the anti-science nonsense flows from.
Mention genetics to a group of lefties if you wish to see the primitive mind come to the fore.
Dear blooger (that's deliberate, a combination of blogger and booger):
Climate change 'denial' is actually sound science. The fact that you treat AGW skeptics as deniers tells me all I need to know about where you are coming from - the loser RINO wing of the party.
I disagree with Young Earth creationists and debate them on FR. However, THEY ARE NOT THE PROBLEM in this country today - LIBERAL FASCISM is. Young Earth creationists are not the ones pushing for cap-and-trade - AGW idiots like YOU are. So take your condesending claptrap and shove it where the (recently spotless) sun don't shine.
“these days one need look no further than the normally highly regarded Huffington Post or talk show maven Oprah Winfrey”
Stopped right there.
Should have stopped sooner.
From the article: normally highly regarded Huffington Post
So this writer holds the Huff Post in high regard - a position that shrieks that he's a flaming liberal - and loves to bash birthers and creationists and climate change 'deniers' - which as I recall you like to do as well, steve-b. Which simply confirms that you're a flaming liberal as well.
Reference to Examiner site indicates old article, dated June 11, 2009, not August 11, 2009 as posted. Comments accompanying the article are also dated June 2009.
Somehow the August 11, date shows up on posting.
Yeah, he lost me at “climate change denial.” Conservatives don’t disagree with the notion of “climate change,” I’m in full agreement that the climate is changing. It has been continuously for several billions of years. Consider that 70,000 years ago where I sit right now was under a mile thick sheet of ice. Obviously the local climate has changed more than somewhat and I’m grateful for it. I just don’t accept the idea that turning over control of our wealth and lives to unaccountable international bureaucracies can somehow preserve an ideal permanent climate status quo that never actually existed.
And as for your post on the “young earth creationists” v. AGW crowd, I could not have said it better myself. A friend at church is helping put on a day-long program called “No Doubt,” and wanted me to help out. I looked at the brochure and saw it’s a creationist propaganda session. I said no thanks. There is way too much objective evidence that does not permit belief in the concept. I believe God created the earth in six days...but that’s six of HIS days, not ours. I figure one of His days would be about 800 million of our years.
Here is my climate change denial......
Water vapor constitutes Earth’s most significant greenhouse gas, accounting for about 95% of Earth’s greenhouse effect (4). Interestingly, many ‘facts and figures’ regarding global warming completely ignore the powerful effects of water vapor in the greenhouse system, carelessly (perhaps, deliberately) overstating human impacts as much as 20-fold.
Water vapor is 99.999% of natural origin. Other atmospheric greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and miscellaneous other gases (CFC’s, etc.), are also mostly of natural origin (except for the latter, which is mostly anthropogenic).
Human activities contribute slightly to greenhouse gas concentrations through farming, manufacturing, power generation, and transportation. However, these emissions are so dwarfed in comparison to emissions from natural sources we can do nothing about, that even the most costly efforts to limit human emissions would have a very small— perhaps undetectable— effect on global climate.
http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/greenhouse_data.html
_______________________________________________________________
Water Vapor Confirmed As Major Player In Climate Change
ScienceDaily (Nov. 18, 2008) Water vapor is known to be Earth’s most abundant greenhouse gas, but the extent of its contribution to global warming has been debated. Using recent NASA satellite data, researchers have estimated more precisely than ever the heat-trapping effect of water in the air, validating the role of the gas as a critical component of climate change.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081117193013.htm
That’s the point — even this guy admits that lefties believe a bunch of nonsensical twaddle.
Here we look?
Does the writer know history? Crackpot was the norm at Harvard circa the end of the 19th century. Cold Spring Harbor, Sanger and the rest of it was left wing. So some on the right think God created everything at one time. Big deal. Doesn't compare to the damage those in favor of eugenics have done in the last 100 plus years.
I like how you didn't deny that you're a flaming liberal. Not that you really could with any plausibility.
Look! Over there! Another Palin bogus ethics charge for you to roll in like a dog on a fresh turd!
This guy is an expert at being wrong.
Junk science is evolution, global warming, and drugs. Period.
Everyone here but steve seems to be well aware of what steve is.
Wow, Steve-b...either you don’t read your own posts, or all my suspiciouns about you being a hard-leftist were completely justified.
Thanks for the ping!
Hi
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