Some may file this under the "and water is wet" column. But the devil is in the details. We are not just talking about the people in this infamous Mississippi video.
Study: Trust in science among educated conservatives plunges
Conservatives, particularly those with college educations, have become dramatically more skeptical of science over the past four decades.
(snip)
Previous studies have shown that climate change, the widely-accepted theory that man-made carbon emissions are causing the world to grow warmer, is very unpopular among conservatives, and especially white conservative males. In 2008, half of all conservatives believed in climate change. By 2010, only a third did, compared to more than 70 percent of liberals, according to a Gallup poll.
http://news.yahoo.com/...
The saddest part of this study's findings may be that they are true of those even with the most education. The other sad part is that it is mostly white males who feel this way, and we all know it is still the white men who make most of the decisions in the western world.
The juiciest sentence may be this little gem buried toward the end where most ADHD glowing rectangle types may never see:
The dip in trust toward the scientific community didn't correlate to a decrease in trust for all political institutions, since conservatives showed increased trust in political institutions during the Bush presidency, but still found science suspicious.
(my bold)
So they grew increasingly trusting under Dubya, but when scientists who win the Nobel Prize tell them we better wake the fuck up and fight climate change? Umm...I think I should get a second opinion.
This type of news makes me want to walk into a Walmart and start randomly shaking and slapping people.
Or maybe scientists should start trying to invent a Wake-The-Fuck-Up ray with which we can zap willfully ignorant Republicans.
The children of tomorrow will look back on this era and wonder how, after centuries of scientific advancements that have given us so much, so many of us could deny its validity. Science hasn't faced such antipathy since the Inquisition.
11:19 AM PT: For those who would like a little action item, here is a FB page you can like as a way of expressing your disgust with these "edjumacated Conservatives":
"I fucking love science"
https://www.facebook.com/...