Republican War on Science – Chris Mooney
August 24, 2011
I thought Chris Mooney’s book The Republican War on Science was required reading for anyone who supports a reality-based* approach to the topic of government and science. This is not to say that there aren’t Democrats with equally specious views on scientific issues, but the Republican Party seems to take an anti-scientific view point as, well, as an article of faith.
Here’s an update from Chris on the current presidential race and science.
The future health of the American economy will require a scientifically literate and technologically savvy work force. Just as there needs to be a clear separation of Church and State, there needs to a clear separation of Church and Education in our nation’s school.
You can argue that the Bible can teach you morality and ethics. I’d disagree due to all the rape, slaughter, incest and torture that are such a large part of the Old Testament, but that’s just my opinion. However, it’s certain you can’t learn atomic theory, fundamental biology, neuroscience, or how to create an effective nationwide wireless cell phone network from the Bible. That’s what should happen in publicly funded schools.
Because, believe me, if American students aren’t learning it, there’s a generation of Indian and Chinese students who are.
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* In an October 17, 2004, The New York Times Magazine article by writer Ron Suskind, Karl Rove, the presidential aide quoted below, explained his view of the Republican take on ‘reality.’
The aide said that guys like me were “in what we call the reality-based community,” which he defined as people who “believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.” … “That’s not the way the world really works anymore,” he continued. “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”
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