The truth and science
I count science among my favorite subjects.
My life has not been easy. So science is an oasis. Science is dispassionate. It strives for the truth. It is logical in a world that presents so much uncertainty.
I read blogs. I read articles about my interests in Vitamin D and autism. I keep up with medical innovation, and I read everything I can about toxic events especially when mercury and fluoride are involved. I have become quite knowledgeable over the years in these subjects.
Therefore I am perturbed when I see a lack of logic in people's thinking and writing, and I regret the lack of understanding some writers of scientific articles display. I am a scientist at heart, and I would have gone into research in medical or biological sciences if my youngest son had not been mentally and physically handicapped.
What I have noticed, however, is that in certain scientific publications on the Internet there is a lack of rigor when it comes to the approach to science. It is frightening how rude and unscientific the commentaries often turn out to be and how smug and arrogant certain people act just because they can display their opinions anonymously. I am shocked about the callousness with which certain people who call themselves scientists shout down the opinions of other.
This lack of decorum is especially noticeable when those writers are not particularly well-informed. It is shocking how uninformed highly paid professionals often are. I am shocked how journalists pretend to be qualified to write with eloquence about a subject that they have not studied, and I am truly surprised about their inability to let reason prevail.
The spreading of falsehoods has become epidemic. Lying has become as common as the common cold. Is there a cure? Probably not. I there a law against it? Not that I know. The amount of disinformation that is being spread could actually kill people. So my hope is that people check the facts whenever they read or hear anything in the media because there are people around who can't keep their hands from writing down things that have no grain of truth in them.
My life has not been easy. So science is an oasis. Science is dispassionate. It strives for the truth. It is logical in a world that presents so much uncertainty.
I read blogs. I read articles about my interests in Vitamin D and autism. I keep up with medical innovation, and I read everything I can about toxic events especially when mercury and fluoride are involved. I have become quite knowledgeable over the years in these subjects.
Therefore I am perturbed when I see a lack of logic in people's thinking and writing, and I regret the lack of understanding some writers of scientific articles display. I am a scientist at heart, and I would have gone into research in medical or biological sciences if my youngest son had not been mentally and physically handicapped.
What I have noticed, however, is that in certain scientific publications on the Internet there is a lack of rigor when it comes to the approach to science. It is frightening how rude and unscientific the commentaries often turn out to be and how smug and arrogant certain people act just because they can display their opinions anonymously. I am shocked about the callousness with which certain people who call themselves scientists shout down the opinions of other.
This lack of decorum is especially noticeable when those writers are not particularly well-informed. It is shocking how uninformed highly paid professionals often are. I am shocked how journalists pretend to be qualified to write with eloquence about a subject that they have not studied, and I am truly surprised about their inability to let reason prevail.
The spreading of falsehoods has become epidemic. Lying has become as common as the common cold. Is there a cure? Probably not. I there a law against it? Not that I know. The amount of disinformation that is being spread could actually kill people. So my hope is that people check the facts whenever they read or hear anything in the media because there are people around who can't keep their hands from writing down things that have no grain of truth in them.
posted by Birgit Calhoun at 11:05 PM
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