A shift of rhetoric. The signs of things to come.

Inspiration for Doubters of Darwin

Following the link above takes you to an article in the LA Times that covers the President's comments yesterday to a group of Texas newspaper reporters in which he gave tacit approval for teaching Intelligent Design in public schools.

I have a terrific problem with the softening of science that has gone on during this administration. This degradation of science has been endemic with the spinning of reports on global warming, fossil fuel emissions, the efficacy of abstinance, the ficticious link between birth controll pills and cancer and much more.

I cannot stress enough the importance of these changes in policies regarding scientific fact. By calling into question the basic fundamentals of science you allow for a "rebranding" of reality. The Bush administration is at best setting the United States back educationally with this move. At worst they are actively trying to gain control of all intelectual discourse.

One of the most important things for a despotic regieme to do is to stifle informed opposition. It has been done in many ways. One of the most extreme examples was Pol Pot who exterminated intellectuals and even went so far as to murder anyone with glasses as they were a symbol of intelligence. This is of course an extreme example, but the process of discrediting science and any form of intellectual discourse can lead to the same type of stifling of freedoms.

Having the ability to say "See, there are doubts about all of this so-called science" diminishes the importance of science in public debate. This has been happening throuout this administration. The Bush administration has been slowly and steadily changing the rhetoric of the debate over what have been, up to now, scientifically determined processes and policies. They are playing up the pathos and emotion, playing down the logic and direct observation. This mindset undermines efforts to alter behaviors that are seen as detrimental to health or environment. the administration is effectively reframing the debate or "rebranding" the debate to make science and reason a much smaller part of the entire public argument for or against certain technologies. The debate is being more and more driven by conservative christian religeous belief instead of actual data and observation. This is a frightening shift in the national conversation.

I have been finding myself more and more often outraged by the statements of the administration but I am only just now discovering the nature of those statements. They are not for nothing. They are being used to reframe the whole worldview of our country. By reframing the worldview the Bushies are contorting the "Truth" to fit their needs. Creating new reality. Removing generations of rationality in favor of religeous zealotry. They are installing a backdoor of doubt so that they can, in future, remove checks on technologies that can damage the environment or to ban things that can be used for what they consider "immoral" activities.

We, as thinking people need to be aware of the devisive use of this type of argument. The signs are that this type of rhetorical shift is accelerating and that we will need to push back against it as hard as we can.