Originally published at: Scientists study why people do not believe in scientific studies | Boing Boing
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While I think this is generally true of the public, I also think there are people who have access to all of the facts and information and understand what the scientific consensus is, yet they wilfully misrepresent those facts to the woefully unprepared public for personal gain.
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If you’re part of a societally disfavored group - skeptical assessment of what is often politically motivated “science” can be a necessary survival strategy.
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The thing is, the “maybe its me / perhaps I’m wrong” reaction happens in only one segment of the population. You know which that is.
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i have a theory which segment of the population that is, but perhaps i’m wrong.
A source of controversy, at least on one “segment”: a good scientist is one who holds nothing in absolute certainty, and less so the less data there is, and given that that is the very opposite of the notion of faith, that despite those who would like to imagine religious folks (those who have faith) occasionally making good scientists, i have yet to experience such a coupling. of course, i could just need more data [wink].
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They do their own research and are just asking questions. Duh.
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I agree to disagree with my-self all the time.
So I’m good, right?
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Same here. There are only two types of people: those who lump others into arbitrary binary groups, and those who don’t.
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Oh, I was, kind’a joking
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This is the binary thinking the article is talking about, we all do it.
Unfortunately we are only going to figure this out if the moderates on both sides can find common ground again. We all need to adjust… somewhere, somehow.
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I was, too. I’m definitely in the second group.
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There are not just two sides, and right now they do not all have moderates on them.
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Moderates aren’t on both sides. They’re on their side.
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I’d like a sequel to this comic where the kittens in the blender group argues incessantly - citing all of their “research” - about why kittens need to go in the blender and they don’t stop trying after the job is half done. Then they try to overthrow the government.
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Even the dumb swastika waving fascists on the nightly news are being exploited… especially those guys.
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Yep, some people are taking advantage of their cruel enthusiasm for hurting others to advance their own interests. But of course you have to find some way to make Nazis victims in all this too, because “both sides” is practically its own faith at this point. 
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eta: this was posted in reply to a now deleted comment. When that comment disappeared the context of my post changed considerably
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Framing this as an individual moral failing - a need for greater humility and less arrogance - feels like an ultimately conservative and ineffective framing that doesn’t create much possibility for action and fails to acknowledge the systemic contributors to this phenomenon.
The fact that our entire (in the US) political spectrum leadership has wholly jumped on the bandwagon of the sociological construction of an ‘end’ of the pandemic, despite the actual data, for example.
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