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The party on the right is now parting on the left
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Over the years I’ve been a harsh critic of elements in the larger conservative movement and by proxy the modern Republican Party who pay lip service to various forms of pseudoscience, creationism being a prime example. But here we look at the other side of the coin with an incomplete survey of some of the bizarre anti-science beliefs, medical quackery, pseudoscience, and full blown conspiracy theories with questionable roots in science, some of which are sadly gaining considerable traction due to recent political shifts. They’re by no means held exclusively by the left, but nevertheless readers are far more likely to encounter them on progressive websites and liberal leaning celebrity talk shows and networks.
Anti-vaxxers believe that mercury compounds once widely used in childhood vaccines are the cause of childhood autism and other neurological disorders. It’s an emotionally charged issue with something for everyone: evil multinational pharmaceutical corporations, the health of children at stake thousands of whom are diagnosed every year with this tragic condition, and concerned parents understandably desperate to find out the cause in hopes of developing an effective treatment.
Elemental mercury is indeed a potent heavy metal poison. Over time even small amounts can lead to serious neurological illness, mental problems, and death. But chemical compounds act very differently than their constituent elements. Hexavalent chromium is an industrial toxin and powerful carcinogen which formed the basis of the multimillionaire dollar settlement levied against Pacific Gas & Electric, immortalized in the blockbuster movie Erin Brockovich. Chromium picolinate is a harmless substance sold in health food stores as a dietary supplement. Scores of statistical scientific studies to date to failed to demonstrate any clear causative correlation between childhood vaccination and the onset of childhood autism. One of the only scientific studies that did suggest a tentative connection, long used by anti-vaxxers, has since been revealed to be at best abysmally shoddy science and at worst a hoax. The issue came to an explosive head when rumors surfaced the Obama administration was considering Robert Kennedy, Jr., to head up the EPA. Kennedy, for all his admirable work, has been a reliable and consistent spokesman for vaccine-autism connections. Science bloggers and traditional medical researchers from every party banded together to discouraged Kennedy’s appointment and may have influenced the ultimate decision to appoint Lisa Jackson to head this important agency. But to this day, heartbroken parents, hype artists, and conspiracy theorists suspect foul play and remain unconvinced.
9-11 Conspiracies are by no means limited to the left in the US -- 9-11 conspiracies have gained even wider audiences among some residents in predominantly Muslim nations. The conspiracy theorists maintain that the tragic attacks on Sep 11, 2001, were either known in advance and ignored, or directly orchestrated by a vague menagerie of neoconservatives, Israelis, Saudis, or the UN and other, even less credible, shadowy, and in some cases fictional casts of characters. Despite the fact that these attacks were carried out on live television with thousands of meters of footage for analysts to review and thousands of tons of debris for forensic examination to pick over, some believers maintain the aircraft that hit the WTC were empty and under radio control, that Jewish Americans were warned to stay home that day, and that the buildings were brought down by controlled demolition after the planes impacted.
New Age quackery: although quackery predates modern medicine by millennia, these days one need look no further than the normally highly regarded Huffington Post or talk show maven Oprah Winfrey to see occasional examples of new age and old fashioned medical quackery presented as credible alternatives, usually with little or no opposing information from a legitimate medical expert. HuffPo has covered homeopathy, the idea that antibiotics cause cancer, and during the latest swine flu outbreak, one writer took it upon herself to prescribe a body cleansing regimen which, coincidentally, she had written a book about and plugged in the post. For her role, Winfrey has presented too much quackery and other forms of pseudsoscience to list. This diary on Daily Kos about a recent Newsweek article reviews just a few examples.
It should be noted that these groups and others like them have almost no influence over the Democratic Party and by extension public policy. But with recent electoral victories and the shift in power from the GOP to democrats, that could change. In today’s Republican Party, social conservatives who adhere to Young Earth Creationism, climate change denial, myths about Obama’s birth certificate, just to name a few, have become so numerous and well organized that otherwise well meaning and informed conservative politicians are forced to pay lip service to them. For now, their anti-cognates on the left are not nearly as well organized, numerous, or demanding. But given time, it’s entirely possible a similar phenomenon could take hold in the progressive movement and filter into the highest levels of Congress with potentially dire consequences.
America has been called a Christian nation, the home of the brave, and the cradle of democracy. But we could be just as accurately be described as a technology nation, one critically dependent on the applications of science and engineering. Pseudoscience and crack pot conspiracies, if widely adopted as official policy, could set us back, cause great harm or misery, and perhaps even loss of life. They have no place in a nation whose future depends on the development and implementation of technology, and it doesn’t matter from which section of the political spectrum the anti-science nonsense flows from.
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