At federal, state and local levels, right-wingers and businesses are applying pressures to hurt honest science.
Fewer Americans now understand and respect science.
Here are some recent articles:
Americans’ trust in science is declining: Americans’ Trust in Scientists, Positive Views of Science Continue to Decline
Why Don’t Americans Believe in Science? https://www.thenation.com/article/society/anti-science-is-a-systematic-issueand-its-not-going-away/
The psychology behind right-wing authoritarians’ denial of science: https://www.alternet.org/2021/09/right-wing-science-denial/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=7868&recip_id=22838&list_id=2
Don’t Let Them Fool You: Disinformation Is Not an Accident. – Union of Concerned Scientists (ucsusa.org): https://blog.ucsusa.org/astrid-caldas/dont-let-them-fool-you-disinformation-is-not-an-accident?utm_campaign=email&utm_medium=email&utm_source=email&emci=dc1183fa-a9ad-eb11-85aa-0050f237abef&emdi=839e82ea-72b2-eb11-85aa-0050f237abef&ceid=702115
Politically motivated bullies want to “tear down the fabric of science.” https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/23/2194654/-Overnight-Science-News-Politically-motivated-bullies-want-to-tear-down-the-fabric-of-science?detail=emaildkg&pm_source=DKRE&pm_medium=email
State and Local Governments Across the Country Are Sidelining Science. To help prevent politicization of science in state agencies, states need to put in place laws and policies to safeguard the integrity of science used in policy-making. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/state-and-local-governments-across-country-are-sidelining-science
Safeguarding Science in State Agencies: Officials too often distort research for political gain. Legislatures and agencies can push back by establishing standards for evidence-based policymaking, protections for scientists, and executive branch watchdogs. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/safeguarding-science-state-agencies
Scientific Integrity Act Re-introduced in Congress to Protect Federal Science. https://blog.ucsusa.org/anita-desikan/scientific-integrity-act-re-introduced-in-congress-to-protect-federal-science/?emci=419a5c2c-8f7d-ee11-b004-00224832e1ba&emdi=3a897335-e27f-ee11-8925-00224832e811&ceid=2380919
Health physicists fear lawsuits more than nuclear accidents, so they cover up the facts of radiation dangers: https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2023/11/12/classified-the-secret-radiation-files/
Fossil Fuel Companies Donated $700 Million to U.S. Universities Over a Decade, Possibly Influencing Climate Research Agendas: https://www.ecowatch.com/fossil-fuel-companies-university-donations.html
Republican Mike Johnson (the new House Speaker) thinks a “Creationist” museum is “pointing people to the truth.” A replica of Noah’s ark with dinosaurs “is one way to bring people to this recognition … that what we read in the Bible are actual historical events,” Mike Johnson said. This article’s first two paragraphs say:
Before arriving in Washington less than a decade ago, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a deeply religious Christian, was a legal crusader associated with a fringe evangelical movement called “young Earth creationism,” based on a literal reading of the Bible’s Book of Genesis that posits the Earth is only several thousand years old.
In the mere hours since Johnson was elected speaker Wednesday, he hadn’t had to address his views on creationism and evolution. But his close ties to a leader of the creationist movement and his past legal work — on behalf of the Ark Encounter creationist theme park, where children can learn that dinosaurs were passengers on Noah’s Ark — seem to suggest that he’s also personally aligned with these beliefs.
Here is the article: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mike-johnson-young-earth-creationist_n_653adc81e4b0d69ae7068a0b?email_hash=d82661dbaf9d922be74896a49d247c55ffc55d54
