Of Political Science & Scientists

If you think that political science no longer refers exclusively to a course on government, you might be onto something. Tom Bethell, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science said of the misuse of the traditional scientific method, “The idea of consensus has replaced the idea of scientific theory.”

On June 22, authors of the Politically Incorrect series spoke at the Eagle Forum Collegiate conference about their political hot potatoes to conservative college students across the U.S. The speaker remembered the AIDS scare of the early 1980’s, “which brought about huge government funding, with headlines reading that one out of three people are at risk.”

Now that this information has been proven unsound, certain scientists have proceeded to exaggerate evidence of the disease in other areas of the world. “They have found AIDS in Africa, but they didn’t tell us about the new definition of AIDS,” Bethell said. “It is no longer required that you be HIV positive, but you must look simply emaciated or malnourished.”

The problem, as Bethell sees it, is that “It is difficult to conduct scientific studies with government funding.” His clarification of the relationship between scientific scare tactics and fiscal hardship heightened awareness and skepticism among the audience.

“Scientists need grants, and journalists need headlines,” observed Bethell, who is with the American Spectator. “Things that make the news are much more likely to get funded.”

Another pivotal scientific issue was the schism between scientists, theologians, and the public on the origin of life. “Creationism is separate from Intelligent Design,” Bethell asserts. Though the hypotheses of their respective adherents are similar, the contrasting ideological approaches must be understood and evaluated when addressing this issue.

“Creationists are separatists essentially,” Bethell stated. “They rely on the Bible.” While Intelligent Design scientists may not exclude Biblical information, their call to arms is that “You do not have the evidence for what you are claiming,” basically, to evolutionists, says Bethell.

“Darwinians will be the ones with the problem of necessarily excluding evidence,” Bethell maintains.

Though Bethell feels that, in many ways, the alarmism of global warming has moved past the point of scientific validity, he addressed the matter nonetheless. In contrast to the solemn nobility of global warming as the current leading issue in politically correct science, the author referenced a study entitled: “Politically Incorrect: Is the Sun Causing Global Warming?” By Henrik Svensmark, the director of the Center for Sun-Climate Research in Copenhagen, the central inquiry is directed toward general warming of the earth as it compares to the warming of Neptune, and the dwindling icecaps of Mars.

Consistent with the satirical and candid atmosphere surrounding the politically incorrect question-and-answer conversation, Francisco Gonzalez of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute posed the second most pressing scientific question facing Americans today: “Are the bees really disappearing?”

Mary Kapp is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a program run jointly by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.