AP had a recent headline warning that the numerous anti-science bills hitting America’s statehouses are stripping away public health protections that have taken over a century to pass. The headline triggered my recollection of the MAGA “freedom” folks who refused to get vaccines or wear masks during the pandemic. Subsequent research tells us they died in far greater numbers than those who listened to their doctors.
According to the AP, more than 420 anti-science bills have been introduced across the U.S. just this year, attacking longstanding public health protections. Primary targets have been vaccines, milk safety and fluoride. The publication notes that the bills are part of an “organized, politically savvy campaign to enshrine a conspiracy theory-driven agenda into law.”The proponents of these bills like to portray the MAHA movement as a grassroots uprising, but it turns out that it is being fueled by a “web of well-funded national groups led by people who’ve profited from sowing distrust of medicine and science.”
Data confirms that globally, vaccines have saved more than 150 million lives since 1974, that cavities have declined dramatically since community water fluoridation began, and that milk pasteurization has saved millions from foodborne illness, but data and logic–not to mention those “elitist” doctors and dentists and scientists–are dismissed by the gullible targets of those “well-founded” groups as evidence of some sort of global conspiracy.
History tells us that science denial–especially in the field of medicine– has been a constant, especially among fundamentalist religious believers. (When smallpox vaccines first came on the scene, religious figures who embraced the new science, like Cotton Mather, were accused of being “ungodly,” since smallpox was obviously God’s punishment for sin, and man had no business interfering with God’s judgment.)
Science denial isn’t limited to medical interventions, of course. The Trump administration and its MAGA base firmly deny the reality of climate change, despite what should be the evidence of their own eyes. (As I type these words into a computer–a product of technology that is based upon science–it is nearly 70 degrees outside. In NOVEMBER. Not to mention the increasing intensity of storms, rising ocean levels…). The administration has withdrawn from international efforts to ameliorate the greenhouse gases that science tells us are responsible, and as I reported yesterday, has bullied other nations in order to keep others from doing so.
When the administration announced it would refuse to send representatives to the United Nations’ climate conference in Brazil, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he would attend to represent the country–demonstrating that some American politicians understand what’s at stake. Newsom pointed to the insanity of America doubling down on hydrocarbons while the rest of the world is “sprinting ahead on low-carbon green growth. For me, it is about our economic competitiveness, period, full stop.”
Newsom is right that science denial harms the country’s economic competitiveness, but it’s a lot worse than that. It’s evidence of unwillingness to accept–and deal with–reality.
When people reject well-supported scientific consensus, whether for social, political, or emotional reasons, the damage isn’t limited to public health, although that may be where the damage is most visible. Denial of facts makes for harmful (and stupid) public policies and makes productive political debate impossible.
In a recent book, “Science Denial: Why it Happens and What to Do About it,” two psychology professors explored the subject. In an interview, both noted the enormous effect of social media on the phenomenon–science denial is immensely amplified by social media algorithms, spreading disinformation globally.
And of course, denialism is exacerbated by widespread scientific illiteracy. Most people have no idea what the term “scientific theory” means.
In normal conversation, we use the term theory to mean “an educated guess.” But in science, the word has a very different meaning; a scientific theory is anything but a guess. The scientific method involves summarizing a group of hypotheses that have been successfully and repeatedly tested. Once enough empirical evidence accumulates to support those hypotheses, a theory is developed that can explain that particular phenomenon. Scientific theories begin with and are based on careful examination of observed–and observable– facts. Furthermore–unlike religious dogma–scientific theories are always open to revision based upon new observations or newly discovered facts.
People who don’t understand the way the scientific method works or the extent to which it relies on demonstrable facts are easy prey for disinformation and conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, there are a lot of them–and a country governed by and populated with people who reject science is a country rapidly going in the wrong direction.
On scientific denialism, another aspect that frustrates me greatly is the “you weren’t there” argument. (It’s second to “it’s only a theory”, which you’ve covered.) It’s commonly deployed against evolution, human origins, and history in general. The scientific method involves collecting data, and _inferring_ its meaning. Rejecting inference in this way is like going to bed with no snow on the ground, waking to find snow covering your town, and being unable to _infer_ that it snowed overnight while you slept. (Note that there may even be other answers for what happened, but this type of denier will axiomatically be unable to come up with _any_ answer, and always defer to religious dogma.)
There are some who argue against science in these ways that are just ignorant. I can accept that; education _can_ help these people, should they choose to allow it. But there are also many who are simply dishonest, and they _really_ upset me.
Putting this in perspective, the National Library of Medicine estimates that there were about 232,000 unnecessary Covid deaths primarily due to anti-science misinformation. The most troubling aspect of this is that the misinformation did not come from fringe luddites but from our country’s political leadership in order to achieve some sort of political advantage. If anything highlights the moral and ethical depravity of our political system, this is possibly Exhibit A.
As a former science educator in Texas public schools, I can report first-hand the power wielded by the churches over school boards and curriculum. Even though the state legislature developed a comprehensive science curriculum for K-12 education, many school boards simply directed principals and teachers to ignore certain parts. I was fired from two teaching jobs because I blindly adhered to the curriculum guidelines regarding the understanding of the universe and the science of evolution.
People fear what they don’t understand, and what the charlatans do is figure out how to make a buck on those fears. But there’s more …
In a perverse way, humans who avoid or deny health care science are actually practicing natural selection. Humans are the only known species in all the history of living things on earth that actively works to prevent death from natural causes. Infectious diseases are one of those. We also insist that everyone has the right, god-given or otherwise, to reproduce in any number they so choose. Remember when China installed a program limiting families to 2 children? It failed, miserably.
So, in the final analysis, over-population by our own medical science and natural desires to keep making babies with “unselected” genes has in this pickle of over-consumption of planetary resources to feed ourselves. How are we doing with that? Well, ask the 1/4 of the humans on earth what food insecurity feels like. Ask the farmers along coastlines what they’ll be doing when the last dyke breaks holding back the rising seas from their fields. Last I read, rice is not a salt-water loving plant.
Denying science is a copout for the intellectually lazy. It’s easier to remain ignorant than to actually pay attention to facts, proofs and truths and understand what they mean. So while the 8+ billion of us scramble for the last cubic liter of good air, the last liter of clean water and the last gallon of uncontaminated milk, Jeff Bezos sends a billion dollar toy to Mars.
How Darwinian is that?
This all goes back to the polls about how many Americans trust the government to make beneficial policies for the people. It’s around 10%, which is the same number of people who trust the media. That is THEE PROBLEM.
And, why should we trust the government and universities? They haven’t given us much of a reason. If they’ll lie about big things, why should we believe them on the smaller items? It’s easier to choose to ignore the government, period. So, that’s what most people have done.
Karoline Leavitt has been lying every single day since she became press secretary, and the press journalists take that information and write it in the newspapers and on TV. Now that they’ve replaced most of the press pool with right-wing media, her lying has gone off the charts.
The former Marine snipers and ballistic experts who are breaking down the assassination of Charlie Kirk are much more believable than the FBI and Kash Patel.
We’ve learned the Oligarchy has influenced the FDA for eons. I don’t know if Keebler Johnson removed the bill inserted at the last minute by a Kentucky legislator that limits Hemp in their state. For the Kochs, who’ve invested heavily in lumber, Hemp is a significant threat. Why do you think we can’t use it today?
Big Pharma controls our health and has for eons. Why do you think they fight natural cures like Marijuana?
The list is long for each decision made at our local, regional, state, and federal offices. It’s the same for Universities when the government reduced funding, so they had to seek external funds. The Oligarchs found another avenue to control and manipulate. I remember Thomas Piketty when he discovered how “neoliberalism” was behind the most significant income and wealth inequality in our country. He left the US university where he worked and finished the book in France because he knew it would be edited or not permitted by his department head.
Once you conclude our establishment is corrupted, you’ll seek out alternatives and work around the fringes. MAGA has a “fringe” of its own, and it’s ignorance.
Reality exists independently of our perception of it. It always has and always will. Those who think they can change reality by lying about it are only changing perceptions and thereby crippling our brains. And, of course, our brains are our most important survival tool. Ignorance isn’t bliss, it is unnecessary death.
A person I know well teaches science at the university level. The restrictions and mandatory curriculum that the super-majority GOP General Assembly have put in place in public universities are threatening to critical thinking and applied scientific methods, to say the least.
Indiana University has removed a social science instructor for mentioning MAGA and Columbus Day as examples of white supremacy during a classroom lecture. The student involved didn’t go to the university to complain but to Sen. Banks, a out and proud white Christian nationalist. He put contacted the university administration. She was not allowed to have counsel in the meeting that followed and was summarily removed from her position.
https://www.idsnews.com/article/2025/11/indiana-university-lecturer-removed-intellectual-diversity-news
This is just one example of the forced transition of our pubic universities into job training facilities by the oligarchy that controls the money. No critical thinking, no questioning authority, blind obedience, and blissful ignorance are the rule of the day, all to the detriment of the individual, the community, the state and the country.
Todd,
As much as I love the fact that my Parkinson’s allows me access to Marijuana I don’t believe it has ever been a cure for disease. It, like so many medication, treats symptoms. A cure eliminates symptoms entirely.
….
One of the problems that occurred during COVID was that it was a new disease and even the experts didn’t know much about it. Tony Fauci was just trying to keep up with the latest information we had. As more people got sick or died from the disease, we had more opportunity to analyze that data. We learned more and that changed the recommendations. The right held him up as symbol of the double dealing deep stater. He was vilified by people like Ron DeSantis. He and his family were threatened.
So here we are today. Too many people just don’t understand how theories change with new information. The most significant thing to come out of the pandemic is the lack of faith in the scientific method, even if it did produce an effective vaccine in a very, very short time.
Here in the “free state of Florida” it was the beginning of the end of science. Thank you, Joseph Ladapo, MD(?). May she rest in peace!
A September 2024 decision by the U.S. District Court of Northern California cited risks of EPA-recommended level of fluoride in public water supplies of 0.7 mg/L. The Court directed EPA to re-evaluate the fluoride level. Two states, UT and FL, rescinded their states’ requirements that fluoride be added to public drinking water.
It is likely that parents in UT and FL read the Court’s 80-pp decision which cited a National Toxicology Program (NTP) report (https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/publications/monographs/mgraph08) on fluoride neurotoxicity, which demonstrated a correlation between fluoride level in the urine of pregnant mothers, and a lowering of their children’s’ IQs.
Though this decision would reverse 75 years of “accepted science,” close scrutiny has revealed that Edward Bernays and Oscar Ewing, who promoted a fluoride in drinking water mandate to municipal governments in the 1950s, may not have had the public health of Americans chiefly in mind, but were actually seeking a profitable means to dispose of hazardous industrial fluoride waste.
Trump is not of the natural world and has no motivation to learn about it or most of the lives of we the people, so he flies purposely blind to what is going on. His eyes are Steven Miller, and his constitution is Project 2025.
On one hand, it is a lesson in politics, which is the advertising game for those seeking publicly elected offices. It apparently came at the right time, and the DNC’s job in restoring Constitutional supremacy is clear. Still, they have to out-advertise the Trump/Miller/Theil/Musk machine, which depends on lies to maintain power, and Trump has no trouble at all lying about anything if the lie advances his power.
On the other hand, Project 2025 doesn’t serve government of, by, and for the people.
Humans adapting to our ever-changing environment needs clear information to make the best decisions for themselves. Since I don’t have backgrounds in some of the sciences I have to rely on experts. It’s good to do research from as reliable sources as possible and compare findings. I found some of pharmaceutical data skewed by interests in the market. A person doesn’t have to accept every current medical solution offered them. It’s an individual decision every time.
I think vaccines are a solid way to prevent /lessen effects of disease. I grew up when smallpox and polio were threats to health and know those diseases are serious. DPT is another serious disease protection. Flu shots can be helpful to ill or elderly who could be seriously compromised by flu, but to younger people it’s usually several days of not feeling well and they recover completely.
Water with fluoride is controversial. I’ve read that fluoride is a toxin that accumulates in body and there have been theories that it can contribute to thyroid disease. Reduction in cavities could also be related to education and better diet, brushing and flossing of teeth.
The scientific method includes evaluation of outcomes and sometimes we learn that correlation isn’t causation. It’s constant work to sort through information and where it’s coming from and for what reason.
“Reality exists independently of our perception of it.” Yes, thanks Sharon.
The right has long worked to diminish education in the U.S., while too many states and school boards have spent their energy on introducing biblical teachings into the system. One result, I believe, is the already easy way in which imbecilic ideas flourish here, across the nation. The right does not want people to understand how science works, how critical thinking and empirical knowledge might make their lives better; it just wants them to pay taxes and shut their mouths.
I have been seeing more, and more, “Jesus Is Coming” bumper stickers recently. Do the folks believing this know how many other times this prediction has failed to materialize? It wa expected to happen in the year 1000, and some have written that its absence helped, eventually, to bring about the Renaissance. Pastor Miller “knew” it would happen, along with the end of the world, on October 22nd, 1844. More recently there was the May 11, 2013(?) prediction that got many people to leave everything of their “normal” lives in anticipation thereof. Some, in France, climbed a mountain, so as to be closer to their “heaven” when the rapture came. There have been other such non-events, one in 1964, as well.
Scientific discoveries have created their own raptures, for the discoverers, and helped create the smallpox free, etc., world that most of us live in.
Trump is not the first president, in modern times, to either believe in the uselessness of science, or claim tp do so. When G.W.Bush was in office, there was an official list of climate related words that could not be spoken, or written, in gov’t parlance related to this.
Much of this latter issue is related to the fossil fuel industry, which helped bankroll Trump and is being paid back by him. He, and his admin., have reportedly blocked
the final votes on holding cruise ships and tankers to a less polluting way of operating, like a Mafia Don, as I read it. The “Free” state of Florida’s “Little Marco” made some threatening phone calls in this regard, it has been reported.
We’re only now viewing things so far out in space (thanks to modern telescopes) and billions of light years from Earth, it’s amazing what hasn’t been seen.
Not a shred of proof of a fatherly Caucasian working within his little workshop creating “things”.
Nor has there been any proof of a strip mall in space with a real-estate office managed by the aforementioned fatherly Caucasian.
Science is reality.
Excellent summary Professor. Thanks always.
I was listening to Andrew Weismann and thought of you because his points would have been yours. You’ve both educated me in my interest in science, law, civil and public service and common sense. I feel smarter after following you for at least a decade and confident in my understanding of it all.