The Further Breaking of the World

In previous posts I have discussed the heightened tension between the world of the rational and the mainstream left and right.  Nothing has happened over the past years which has done anything but heighten my skeptical feelings on the issue.

Recently an interaction between Mrs. set.element and an old friend of mine made me more aware of the vast gulf between people with an understanding of Science, and those who do not.  The topic was Global Warming and involved an otherwise educated person who just didn't feel right about some of what she was reading about based on the criticism of a social scientist.

I can go on and on about my feelings on just how useful an analysis by a social theorist on complicated data analysis but the discussion was moved to the meta-analysis of the process thereby avoiding the messy process of actually understanding what you are talking about.

What bothered me even more than this was that the whole notion of framing the "debate".  Looking at the arguments there was no hard criticism of the process, just a casting of doubt on some vague points in the exact same way that our Corporate Overlords made thinking that smoking was bad was just a bunch of tree hugging nonsense.   Real Science does not tolerate much in the way of this bullshit.  I have discussed this again and again so will not bore anybody with that noise.

And where does the liberal media stand on this?  Our friends at NPR, who might at best be covered on the absurd notion of equivalence - that is for every bit of information which might be set forward brought to you by actual working scientists,  it is necessary to allow some screwball flat earth advocate to blather there dubious nonsence.

From the NPR Check blog:

"This [link to the Tuesday morning story] may help explain my antipathy towards Kestenbaum this AM. Of all the stories one could file from Copenhagen, he gives credence to hack skeptic Lomborg who has been thoroughly discredited. [link to a point by point refutation of Lomborg's "science."] What a doofus and a tool is the Kestenbum."

There is so much more to say on this topic, but there is so much work to do as well.  By the way, during the writing of this droning nonsense I hear the following on a commercial for some sort of exercise equipment:

...whose friction free track using the momentum of gravity...

I need a drink.