New "War on Science" book

[Mendel]

I think science is, sadly, under attack from both sides of the political spectrum.
Yes, right-wing governments distrust or are actively working to dismantle scientific and academic institutions, because of perceived "wokeness", but there is also a kernel of truth in their reasoning.

I've always been instinctively liberal and left-of-centre, but just as the right has moved further right, so the left has moved further left, and academia seems especially susceptible to left-wing fads and fashions.

just so I'm clear, you're presenting "actively working to dismantle scientific institutions" as equivalent to "left-wing fads and fashions".

Science has always had "fads and fashions". When the government attempts to shut down entire fields for ideological reasons, that's different.

 

[FatPhil]

And on social media you seldom come across 'normal people'...

It often seems politics is so tribal nowadays that any policy, no matter how common-sense, will be vilified if it originates from "the other side". The notion that there are certain common goals that should be pursued for the good of society, regardless of partisan ideas, seems to have disappeared.

I don't think it's just the notion that's disappeared, I think the gamut of "common goals" has shrunk over time. Some of the things that one side genuinely believes is for the good of society - their noble aim - is considered as being to the detriment of society by the other side. And one doesn't have to resort to anything particularly extreme to find examples (anything you can imagine anyone describing unironically as "survival of the unfittest" would be a likely fit, for example).

 

[Trailblazer]

just so I'm clear, you're presenting "actively working to dismantle scientific institutions" as equivalent to "left-wing fads and fashions".

Science has always had "fads and fashions". When the government attempts to shut down entire fields for ideological reasons, that's different.

No I'm not saying they are equivalent. Just because one is worse doesn't mean they can't both be undesirable.

 

[deirdre]

Deirdre's the visual one in the room, I expect nothing less than an exquisite modelling clay piece.

modeling clay sucks . I would go for decoupage.

or if i wasn't in the mood to be crafty*, i would use your method of interpretive dance...when she gave me an F for not including a visual representation with my blurb, i would impress her with my mental twists and turns and plies as i argue that the written word is in fact a visual representation.

*see what i did there?