Sooner or Later, Everyone Will be “Anti-Science”

This is growing wearisome;condemning those who may disagree with the science elite about certain policies as “anti-science.” Now, Prime Minister Tony Blair is doing it. Disagree with his view on GM foods: Anti-science! I have nothing against GM foods in principle, but is it anti-science to worry about their effect on the environment? Oppose nuclear power plants: Anti-Science! But the issue here is safety. Surely, one can have doubts about nuclear power and not be anti-science. Ditto, human cloning, an ethical issue, and global warming, which deals with scientific interpretations and proper policy correctives.

But this is the thing: Eventually, everyone will be denigrated as anti-science because whether it is nano-tech, cloning, global warming, genetic engineering, the amount of taxpayer funding for research, etc., at some point, everyone will disagree with at least one of the science intelligentsia’s political goals. And then, the epithet will lose whatever potency it may have.