I'm a few months behind on my Wired magazines, but last night while doing laundry I read a great article.
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/10/ff_waronscience
The piece outlines how celebrities like Jenny McCarthy have succeeded in getting parents to stop vaccinating their kids because they believe vaccines cause autism when the scientific evidence shows the opposite. I didn't just see it as a piece about the paranoia surrounding vaccine scares, but rather the fear mongering and lack of risk analysis that has done so much to this country over the last few years. Here are a few examples:
Airline Security: I've heard plenty of people prattling on about how the underwear bomber could have been caught at the airport. But the truth is, he wasn't successful because other passengers responded. In a post-911 world, no one on a plane is going to sit idly by. The reactionary thinking by TSA only assuages the fears of the weak-minded and gives travelers a false sense of security. But I'm still all about the full body scanners.
Global Warming: Just like vaccines, scientists have a consensus on this issue. Global warming exists, and we caused it. Those arguing against things like cap and trade legislation usually have money at stake in oil companies. There have been massive PR campaigns to convince people that there isn't a scientific consensus, but there is.
I found one quote very compelling from the Wired article:
In conclusion, sometimes we in the media need to be careful when we provide "balance" to a story in which the facts are clear. It's also necessary for consumers of the media to be critical and rational when examining evidence. While I was perusing my BS in Speech Communication I learned about Aristotelian fundamentals that have been around since before the rise of Rome. Every argument needs Ethos (credibility of the speaker and quoted experts), Logos (The evidence), and Pathos (an emotional appeal). If the story scares you, it's likely to include a lot of Pathos, without much of anything else. Americans need to learn how to be rational and critical instead of scared sheep.
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/10/ff_waronscience
The piece outlines how celebrities like Jenny McCarthy have succeeded in getting parents to stop vaccinating their kids because they believe vaccines cause autism when the scientific evidence shows the opposite. I didn't just see it as a piece about the paranoia surrounding vaccine scares, but rather the fear mongering and lack of risk analysis that has done so much to this country over the last few years. Here are a few examples:
Airline Security: I've heard plenty of people prattling on about how the underwear bomber could have been caught at the airport. But the truth is, he wasn't successful because other passengers responded. In a post-911 world, no one on a plane is going to sit idly by. The reactionary thinking by TSA only assuages the fears of the weak-minded and gives travelers a false sense of security. But I'm still all about the full body scanners.
Global Warming: Just like vaccines, scientists have a consensus on this issue. Global warming exists, and we caused it. Those arguing against things like cap and trade legislation usually have money at stake in oil companies. There have been massive PR campaigns to convince people that there isn't a scientific consensus, but there is.
I found one quote very compelling from the Wired article:
The rejection of hard-won knowledge is by no means a new phenomenon. In 1905, French mathematician and scientist Henri Poincaré said that the willingness to embrace pseudo-science flourished because people “know how cruel the truth often is, and we wonder whether illusion is not more consoling.” Decades later, the astronomer Carl Sagan reached a similar conclusion: Science loses ground to pseudo-science because the latter seems to offer more comfort. “A great many of these belief systems address real human needs that are not being met by our society,” Sagan wrote of certain Americans’ embrace of reincarnation, channeling, and extraterrestrials. “There are unsatisfied medical needs, spiritual needs, and needs for communion with the rest of the human community.And when looking at the reader responses I found another great quote:Looking back over human history, rationality has been the anomaly. Being rational takes work, education, and a sober determination to avoid making hasty inferences, even when they appear to make perfect sense."
From Pieter, respondent #433 to the Wired story about vaccine panic: “About the poo-flinging you’re undoubtedly a victim of, there’s an African proverb: ‘When you throw a rock into the bush and hear a lot of noise, you’ve hit something.’http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/10/readers-respond-to-an-epidemic-of-fear-part-1/
In conclusion, sometimes we in the media need to be careful when we provide "balance" to a story in which the facts are clear. It's also necessary for consumers of the media to be critical and rational when examining evidence. While I was perusing my BS in Speech Communication I learned about Aristotelian fundamentals that have been around since before the rise of Rome. Every argument needs Ethos (credibility of the speaker and quoted experts), Logos (The evidence), and Pathos (an emotional appeal). If the story scares you, it's likely to include a lot of Pathos, without much of anything else. Americans need to learn how to be rational and critical instead of scared sheep.
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