Chris Mooney at Friends Select

I went to see Chris Mooney, author of The Republican War on Science. He spoke for about thirty-five minutes about his book and I took me some notes. I saw him last week on The Daily Show and was intrigued and then coreleus from The All Spin Zone suggested attending this event at the Friends Select School and off I went.

We were able to see Mooney because he was in the area for the 'New Scopes Trial' going on now in Harrisburg. I'll recap a few things he touched on in his short lecture.

Why is the Bush administration's stance on science unique
Mooney said that this not the first administration [nor will it be the last] to push and prod science to fit their needs, but this particular administration's efforts have been particularly egregious.
1. There are just so many testimonies from previous officials in previous administrations, Democratic and Republican. Russell Train served as EPA Administrator under Nixon and Ford and he said that the stuff that W's cronies are pulling right now would never have happened under his watch.

2. In recent political history, there have been so many flare ups. During Reagan's administration, they pushed their Star Wars [SDI] program. Their agenda against science used to be localized, now, it is vast.

3. Comparing and contrasting with Clinton's administration, there are more charges and the scope of the allegations against W and Co. are much greater and bigger in magnitude. Now, more credible scientists are coming on board in opposition to the president than against Clinton's administration. Mooney cited forty-eight Nobel laureates and 120+ members of the National Academy of Sciences have rebuked W and Co. [those numbers may be slightly off, he was talking quickly].

4. Historical trends. Big Business/Industry has attacked science more and more under W. There has been an incredible growth rate of political think tanks creating contrarians experts that the Right can use to go up against real scientists.

He also spoke of how the neo-Con Christians have a slicker way of saying things. They used to say that science is wrong and that their faith in God is all that matters. Now, they're saying that they have their own science and that it is simply better. For evolution, they counter with Intelligent Design. For stem cells research, they say that they are pro adult stem cell research. For sex ed, they preach that condoms are bad and unsafe and want abstinence-only programs taught to youth. The Right ahs created their own "shadow science" with their small group of experts to go up against 2000+ scientists who have publicly spoken out against this administration.

To put all of this into context of what's going on now, he brought up two examples, the memo W's administration discussed through the EPA where they tried to change climate studies. And then they said that scientists could not make any edits to the changes. The Union of Concerned Scientists no longer consider the EPA report to be scienctifically based.

Mooney also noted that the Intelligent Design debate has been philosophical in nature. I.D. debators claim that science encourages atheism by stating that the supernatural is not real. Mooney asked: Who is this Designer? Who designed the Designer? Why didn't the Designer design everything right the first time?

So what can we do? Mooney said that scientists are going to have to do more than just sign statements. They have to become more involved, get into the trenches. Universities with large science wings must be more vocal. Major research universities must use throw their weight behind the effort to promote science. He said that the chancellor of the University of Kansas has already taken a vocal role. Mooney also spoke of legislative action. He mentioned how the Office of Technology Assessment [OTA] was killed under the Gingrich era Repugs. The OTA used to have bi-partisan Congressional backing. Now, there are experts here and there that individual blocs call upon for the answers they want pushed. They go to the individuals with answers already in hand instead of looking for them. He said that Congress must take measures to protect the whistle blowers and agencies overlooking everything.

Mooney was asked what he thought of the media's coverage of science or lack thereof. He said that he's taken a lot of flack for being so hard on journalists today. He said that journalists are not being hard enough and not seeking out answers, but merely glancing over stories. He said that journalists should not be constructing debates on settled issues like global warming / climate change - it IS happening and there's no need to question it anymore or debate it. The experts the Right use are, for the most part, not published in peer-review journals he added.

When asked to comment on the Roberts confirmation, he said that he thinks we will see the topic of evolution brought back into the Supreme Court. But, he does not think that the 1982 7-2 decision for evolution will be overturned soon. There will have to be a few more Scalila's for that to happen he said. he said that he doesn't know how Roberts would vote on the issue.

After Mooney was finished, coreleus, came up from the back and tapped me on the shoulder, I thought he'd be there. We chatted for a bit, he had just returned from that Mercedes drivin', socialist, subsidy-addicted potato farmer country called Germany. He had a book in hand, he had already read it. I told him how I was wondering how old Mooney is and he said that he thinks Mooney graduated from college in 1998 which would make him about twenty-eight. I wasn't surprised that he was under thirty, he could easily pass as a freshman in college. I said how happy I was that a person who is so young is taken seriously by so many people. People who have been practicing science for probably longer than Mooney's been alive. It gives me hope. Graybeards can't be running everything.

The Friends Select has a full schedule of their book events. I'll probably be at the October 24th Alan Lee event. Yes, I'm a LOTR geek. No, I do not speak any Elvish languages. Yes, I own the entire trilogy extended edition DVD set.

Comments

[sixer1]

I haven't read Chris Mooney's book yet. However, the best article I have read about ID was in the New Republic a few weeks. A very through article by Univ. of Chicago's Jerry Coyne. You can read the article at this address:

http://pondside.uchicago.edu/cluster/pdf/coyne/New_Republic_ID.pdf