7.18.07. 12.30pm.
she blinded me with science!
in my class on educational research just now we were talking about the scientific method, and our professor pointed out that the scientific method implied an entire worldview, not just an approach to a problem. it implies that reality is measurable and observable and consistent, and that the truth can be reached through an iterative, thoughtful dialectic.
and i, of course, started thinking politics, and how both sides of the political spectrum seem to straddle both sides of this issue, but in very different ways. liberals tend to have a worldview that acknowledges complexity and multiple explanations and subjectivity. we're the masters of the "let's not step on anyone else's way of doing things." this qualitative approach would seem to go against the scientific method, except for the fact that the scientific method is not the right tool for answering all questions. in my experience, liberals are all about the scientific method when it applies, but are ready to abandon it if there's a more complex approach that's more accurate. (hello, jarrod's bias.)
on the other side is our current administration. (i won't implicate conservatives in general.) they hate the scientific method. hate it lots, and are more than happy to surpress any scientific findings if they conflict with their political opinions. to take just the most recent horrifying example, the former u.s. surgeon general said he was prevented from talking about, you know, important parts of public health. on the other hand, this disregard for the scientific method does not come along with what one might expect to be a corresponding acknowledgement of the importance of multiplicity of opinions and stories. no, it's "our way or the highway" all the way. there is only one right approach, and it has nothing to do with rationality or approach or dialectic, and has everything to do with, in many senses of the word, faith.
i don't hate this administration simply because i disagree with their policies. i hate them because their process is the opposite of everything important and good about ideas and conversation and democracy. they are the opposite of patriotic; they are, to me, everything that america is not.
in other words, the bush administration can suck it.