New Poll: No One Is Buying It

The People Have Spoken

After evolutionist James Shapiro claimed he was misquoted by certain members of the Texas state’s school board textbook review committee, even though he wasn’t misquoted; and that those members made a “completely false statement” about novelty being an unsolved problem for evolutionary theory, even though it was Shapiro who misrepresented novelty as well in hand; and that he was “the victim of skillful misquoting for an anti-science purpose,” even though expecting our public schools to teach accurate science is certainly not “anti-science” and it is evolution which consistently makes the anti-science claim that evolution is a fact; and that those members were “trying to confuse and mislead the public” and were “against freedom of speech in scientific research, honesty in public decision-making, and suitable modern education for the students of Texas,” even though it is evolution that consistently misrepresents science in textbooks and classrooms, and misinforms the public; and that the actions of those members is “counter to the ideals of liberty, democracy and opportunity on which this nation was founded,” even though it is evolutionists who blackball anyone who dares question evolutionary theory and keep lists of those people to ensure their careers are derailed and construct false histories of science to hide their McCarthyism; it is perhaps not too surprising that a new poll finds that Americans don’t really trust scientists.

According to the poll, almost three in five Americans trust the information from scientists only a little or not at all, and that skepticism rises to more than four in five Americans when the information comes from science journalists.

Furthermore, almost four in five Americans think that scientific studies are often or sometimes influenced by political ideology. Note that in this question the Huffington Post reveals its own internal bias as the “ideology” is specifically identified as political, not religious. The dominant influence in evolutionary thought is not even listed in the question.

I suppose it is good that most Americans are resolute and appropriately skeptical of the steady stream of distortions forced upon them. But it is unfortunate that such skepticism is needed in the first place.