←back to thread

Scientific American's departing editor and the politicization of science

(reason.com)
473 points Bostonian | 3 comments | 18 Nov 24 22:04 UTC | HN request time: 0.47s | source
Show context
thrance ◴[19 Nov 24 12:04 UTC] No.42182529[source]▶
But denial of evolution is linked to white supremacy. A rejection of the biological links between white people and colored people helps to justify discrimination based on skin color. And non-believers in evolution often share other backwards views.

As for the the bell curve, I'd encourage you to read her article first, befire forming an opinion from disingenuous caricature of what was said in it. She doesn't deny the usefulness of the concept, just points to some harmful and pseudoscientific ways it is/was used. Think phrenology for example.

Reason is a heavily biased right-wing website, as you can see on the articles on the front page. This doesn't necessarily invalidate everything coming from them, but take it with a grain of salt at least, and go form your own opinion based on her articles, instead of the mockery they wrote to make a point about "the woke political agenda controlling academia".

replies(3): >>42183136 #>>42183193 #>>42185624 #
1. Levitz ◴[19 Nov 24 17:02 UTC] No.42185624[source]▶
And the invention of the keyboard is linked to online bullying.

There is a point in which the relation is so far-fetched and non-causal that it doesn't make any sense to mention it, and the link between evolution denial and white supremacy absolutely crosses that line.

White supremacy is also linked to the sun rising up each morning, detergent and open borders. None of them relevant.

replies(2): >>42186664 #>>42189075 #
2. thrance ◴[19 Nov 24 18:32 UTC] No.42186664[source]▶
I'll give you the link I gave the other: https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fpspi0000391

This is a large meta-study finding a link between white supremacy and disbelief in evolution.

The link isn't hard to see either, white supremacists are primarily found in qanon and other right wing conspiracy bubbles. They are more susceptible to believe in bullshit than tolerant people, like creationism.

3. pvaldes ◴[19 Nov 24 23:13 UTC] No.42189075[source]▶
Both can be causes of an underlying problem, not necessarily origin and consequence.

Is not a surprise that stupid people is generally stupid in more than one field. Somebody believing white supremacy has a previous mental condition that makes him/her blind to obvious contradictions in that speech. Thus, will be probably less capable to grasp complex concepts like evolution (or will choose to ignore it by a different motivation, like greed).