Has the scientific method lost all relevance to conservative Republicans in America? The question is not new. But now, according to this editorial from Switzerland’s News, a scientific study conducted by researchers at Yale University shows that not only doesn’t the U.S. right put much stock in what is known as ‘scientific fact,’ but more educated Republicans are just as resistant to the fruits of modern scientific research as their less-educated associates.
The editorial from Switzerland’s News says in part:
Chief investigator Dan Kahan interviewed some 1,540 randomly selected U.S. citizens. The amazing result is that facts on specific scientific topics play no role when it comes to the more conservative segments of American society.
Those who show such resistance to the facts, interestingly enough, are not with low educational and social status. No – the more educated a person is, the stronger and more irrational is their rejection of scientifically-proven and peer-reviewed facts (conspiracy theories involving thousands of scientists are frequently mentioned). One cheerleader of the trend is ultra-conservative presidential candidate Rick Santorum
One commentator described the phenomenon highlighted in the study as “smart idiots” – and this involves topics other than just climate change. Technological risk, when reducing it would require restricting individual freedom, is denied whenever it applies to conservative elites – even if those risks are proven. And while it flies in the face of intuition, this is true the higher and more comprehensive a person’s education is. The survey results are unambiguous.
These so-called top-down individualists in America are served almost exclusively by the pseudo-news channel FOX News, which acts as a kind of “religious preaching” channel, amplifying and reinforcing the ideologically-correct views of conservatives. That the study failed to include the fact that religious values are more-or-less generally held in high regard is unfortunate. But U.S. resistance to facts about evolution, geology, astronomy, etc. by religiously-influenced people is indeed legendary. So it is perhaps no coincidence that political conservatism and religiosity often go hand-in-hand. But I digress.
READ ON IN ENGLISH OR GERMAN AT WORLDMEETS.US, your most trusted translator and aggregator of foreign news and views about our nation.
