Friday, January 19, 2007

Scientists, thou must not speak the truth

Damn….I spoke too soon. It appears our conservatives are, in fact, just as stoopid as the US variety. Maybe even stoopider. The Australian, our one and only national newspaper (Murdoch-owned, of course) has moved further and further to the rancid-Right in recent times. This ‘repositioning’ is most pronounced in the daily screeching rant editorial.

Today’s is something special:

The closest thing to practical action [against climate change and nuclear proliferation] was suggested by astronomy and physics professor Lawrence M. Krauss, who, in a BAS release, stated that "in these dangerous times scientists have a responsibility to speak truth to power".


Which is the last thing scientists should be doing. Rather than complaining to politicians or hectoring the public, if the scientific community sees threats to humanity it should lock itself up in a lab and come up with solutions.

The last thing scientists should do is speak the truth to decision makers? WTF! What, will their delicate sensibilities be offended by this horrible reality stuff? Might this reality not conform to their precious ideologies?

Away with your truths, scientists, as conservatives don’t want to know about them. They don’t want anyone else to know about them either, be they decision makers or the wider public. Lock yourselves away and be never heard from again. And remember, when you have solutions to these problems, don’t tell good ‘ol Power, as that would involve being truthful and, as you know, the last thing scientists should do is speak truth to Power. Makes perfect sense, right?

At least a leading conservative has come out and unambiguously demonstrated what most of us in the reality-based community suspected all along; that conservatives are really are f#%king idiots.