We learn from Tracy Vence at The Scientist that evolutionary biologist Patricia Princehouse, interviewed, is organizing a March for Science in Cleveland:
Patricia Princehouse: I never expected to be an activist of any kind, but when the creationists tried to take over the public school science curricula in Ohio, I had to say something. At first, when we went to Columbus, I said I would only do the science part—I had nothing to say about the legal things or the politics. We went down there, and we said what [they were] teaching . . . was wrong. And, basically, they said, We don’t care. It’s what our constituents want. I was very naive. I was completely floored by this. Eventually I had to look into the other dimensions of this. We went back and we said, Well, it’s illegal. It’s not only bad science, it’s illegal. We were stunned when they came back with We don’t care. It’s what our constituents want.
For whatever reason, one senses that that is not the whole story.
TS: What’s your response to those who’ve expressed concerns that the march could politicize science?
PP: From the time that people started, for example, the National Center for Science Education back in the 1980s, scientists have been concerned, you know, Don’t annoy people; The people that are attacking science will go away. That has not worked. Instead, they have gotten the ear of the press, and the mainstream press will cover attacks on science like crazy, and give them all kinds of credibility that they don’t deserve. We need to address that the anti-science movement has made simply doing science political in some way.More.
It’s astonishing that someone can actually think, in the age of massive peer review scandals, rethinking evolution, and assorted other cataclysms, that all the problems are caused by “the anti-science movement.”
There is no anti-science movement. There are a lot of people who are fed up with government of, by, and for the dinosaurs.
But now, about those hats. What say we get Muppet laboratories to design them?
See also: Geologist on why a scientists’ march on Washington is a bad idea An increasingly typical (but usually unspoken) response to “I Marched!” is, “Who cares?” Why not save the jet fuel by staying home and helping educate the community? Especially if your big thing is the environment?
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