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Populism coupled with increasing assaults on scientific integrity have dramatically shifted the political landscape & contributed to geopolitical instability.

The policy ramifications are yet to be understood, but anti-intellectualism has threatened public health, stymied environmental progress, influenced funding priorities & sculpted the rhetoric of local, state & national politics.

New post: The Rise of Anti-intellectualism https://sheril.substack.com/p/the-rise-of-anti-intellectualism #science #politics

The Rise of Anti-Intellectualism

Facts aren't enough.
Sheril Kirshenbaum (Unelected Representative)
#politics #science
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Darnell Clayton :verified:
Darnell Clayton :verified:
• •
Yeah that is one of the first casualties of an authoritarian culture.

Authoritarians have always pushed for hatred of intellectuals, as an ignorant public is easier to control than an intelligent public.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

bluerootsradio
bluerootsradio
• •
Hopefully you'll soon be writing how the coalition government created when Democrats helped Republicans choose a sane Speaker, led to the isolation of the loudmouth self-destructive radical faction, and an attempt to resume functional government in the people's house.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

PJT North
PJT North
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I have seen this personally. It becomes easy to despair. Don’t.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

milie
milie
• •
we see this in Europe too. It was disconsidered at first as a fad on social niches, but the pandemic was a turning point to this perception. It is understood now as an actual trend. A growing one.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

CardiffClimate
CardiffClimate
• •
@pvonhellermannn Bruno Latour argues facts require values and exist in supportive networks of social interactions. You’re probably aware of this, but readers may find the following summary superb. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/25/magazine/bruno-latour-post-truth-philosopher-science.html
@pvonhellermannn
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Utsav Ratti
Utsav Ratti
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Thia is sad and nothing new. When GWB was president, I often remarked to anyone who would listen that his being elected not once but twice was a testament to the failure of public education in America (not failure of teachers, but failure of a chronically underinvested system).
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Coggel
Coggel
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I remember watching Dr. Strangelove as a teenager thinking: this bit with a general spouting conspiracy theories about fluoride in the water is a bit much. Now that character looks downright subdued.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Gordon W
Gordon W
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Thank you for assessing this trend and how it affects national policies. Anti-science still surprise me. Rural America seems so dependent on scientific based innovations to live and work. Improvements in healthcare, worker safety and environmental health have improved the quality of life. Yet the politics of rural areas trends toward the GOP anti-science anti-government. I recall how Ronald Reagan tapped into this. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5922215/

History of US Presidential Assaults on Modern Environmental Health Protection

The Trump administration has undertaken an assault on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an agency critical to environmental health. This assault has precedents in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.
PubMed Central (PMC)
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

David John Crook
David John Crook
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Very true in England. Poor education standards are a tool of the right so that they can govern by slogan. "Get Brexit Done". The response to #Covid has been dominated by a non-scientific approach, which is so tragic when we have outstanding Public Health professionals. Also the lack of a response to the #ClimateCrisis.
#covid #ClimateCrisis
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Rhinos Worry Me
Rhinos Worry Me
• •
"The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is...people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist."
- Hannah Arendt. The Origins of Totalitarianism. 1967

#Quote
#quote
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Sudhir
Sudhir
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@Sheril. It takes time 4 people significance of new scientific discoveries.
Take the example of Steam Engines. Initial loco steam carts were crude and noisy and appeared threatening to pedestrians and horse-driven carriages. Church also opposed it calling it Devil on the road. British Parliament had to pass Red Flag Act in 1865 requiring a man to walk 60 yards ahead the vehicle to warn others. Law was repealed in 1896!
In US a similar law was passed in State of Vermont in1894 repealed in 1896.
@Sheril Kirshenbaum
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Susanj
Susanj
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agree it’s that and also the assault on data integrity and context underpinning all. Data is transformed from independent facts to political statements fueling very politicized views of science.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Elizabeth
Elizabeth
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We can thank Reagan for kicking off the dumbing down of America. For the last 4 decades they have been undermining public education bc they believe it "indoctrinates" children to be evil liberals, to the point where now the Supreme Court says "christian" schools must be given public funding. They truly want us to be Gilead. And a big part of achieving that is to keep the people stupid while telling them their opinions are as valid as any experts. https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-supreme-court-backs-public-money-religious-schools-maine-case-2022-06-21/

U.S. Supreme Court backs public money for religious schools

The U.S. Supreme Court further reduced the separation of church and state in a ruling on Tuesday endorsing more public funding of religious entities as its conservative justices sided with two Christian families who challenged a Maine tuition assista…
Reuters
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

sparseMatrix ✅✅✅ 📻
sparseMatrix ✅✅✅ 📻
• •
It isn't that policy ramifications are not understood, quite the contrary: they are obvious. Policy wonks, however, want nothing to do with dealing with the problem.

#headsinthesand
#headsinthesand
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Phil Robertson
Phil Robertson
• •
Agree. And a large part of this problem is the general dumpster fire that is social media. 'They were so pre-occupied with whether they could, they never stopped to think whether they should!'

Putting all humans in touch with each other without meaningful oversight or guardrails is observably short-sighted. I believe this has contributed to millions of deaths + serious atrocities, up to & including genocide. Now with #musk , leaving #twitter is a no brainer.

https://robertsonp.substack.com/p/in-defense-of-the-twitter-quitter

In Defense of the Twitter Quitter

You don’t need to stay on Twitter and ‘fight’
Phil Robertson (Phil's Takes)
#Twitter #Musk
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

James Oi
James Oi
• •
populism will always appeal to the dumbest common denominators, magas, qanons, Christian nationalist, and their ilk
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Steve Cromwell
Steve Cromwell
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Asimov saw it too, and he would grieve to see how such an incredible resource of information as the Internet would be purposely turned to pollute people's minds with distrust and deceit.

“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Siderea, Sibylla Bostoniensis
Siderea, Sibylla Bostoniensis
• •
What do you mean by "assaults on scientific integrity"? I can think of a variety of possibilities, some of which I agree with, some of which I would consider the problem, themselves.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

ghostndragon
ghostndragon
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What role does the ubiquitous use of lead up until the 1990's have to play in this. There was a measurable reduction in average IQ. I imagine that other mental functions might have been affected, too.
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum

Dogzilla
Dogzilla
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The people get exactly the society that they deserve. If they allow leaders who are anti-intellectuals, whether in a democracy or under authoritarianism, then they have no one to blame. The people will either grab control of their own destiny, or they will suffer the consequences.

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