GLOBAL WARMING IS A LIE. … VACCINES DON'T STOP CHILDHOOD DISEASES -- THEY CAUSE THEM. …
THE BIG BANG NEVER HAPPENED. … NOBODY CAN GET PREGNANT FROM BEING RAPED. …
EVOLUTION IS A FRAUD. … ZIKA VIRUS IS A SECRET WEAPON LAUNCHED BY IMMIGRANTS. …
AND THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT HOMOSEXUALITY IS NOW CURABLE WITH CONVERSION THERAPY.
Attacks like these on science have become routine in American politics. Some businesses spend heavily to discredit scientists engaged in certain kinds of research. Some politicians join in and advance themselves by undermining the public's trust in climatology, along with important areas of medicine, biology, and astronomy. The result is a national dumbing-down, pressed by legislatures, school boards, and commercial interests. We think of ourselves as a modern educated country. So why is this happening? Why are Americans so attracted to irrationality? Why do we enjoy seeing ourselves as anti-intellectual? And most important, how do some political interests benefit when we actively undermine scientific understandings of reality?