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Reading about the climate change debate is like looking through some
sort of stained glass window. I guarantee you that they wanted to
show that AGW skeptics are less scientifically literate than the AGW
proponents. When that failed, they blamed it on their politics.
They are more scientifically literate, but their cultural cognition
is causing them to latch on to only those facts that fit their
beliefs. It couldn't possibly be that the AGW proponents are doing
the same thing, it has to be only the skeptics that are throwing
away valid scientific arguments to meet their world view. It
couldn't be that skeptics have valid scientific criticisms, because
they are going against the consensus and the consensus *has* to be
right. If the skeptics show their skepticism even after "97 of 100
climate scientists agree that man is causing climate change", then
they are simply denying what everyone knows is true despite their
greater scientific literacy. Especially if they mouth off about how
unscientific polls of climate scientists actually are.<br>
<br>
The idea that man is causing the majority of the warming has become
the new story of the Garden of Eden. Mankind used to live in a
blissful state, at one with nature, until we threw away our purity
in the name of corporate greed and burned all the oil. Only
repenting that sin will lead back to a state of grace. It certainly
can't be that this narrative is in any way shaping the political
climate (no pun intended) of this debate, which in turn is shaping
what gets funded and what gets studied. Potential natural climate
cause? Oh, we'll get to that when we're done trying to wrestle tree
ring data into showing that it's warmer now than it's ever been, or
trying to figure out how to classify climate change skepticism as a
disease.<br>
<br>
Paul<br>
<br>
On 05/29/2012 01:29 PM, Ron Force wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:1338323366.1012.YahooMailNeo@web46113.mail.sp1.yahoo.com"
type="cite">
<div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times
new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt">
<h2 class="date-header">May 29, 2012</h2>
<h3 class="entry-header">Study rules out stupidity as a cause of
disbelief in climate science</h3>
<blockquote>
<div>And the Yale research published today reveals that if
Americans knew more basic science and were more proficient
in technical reasoning it would still result in a gap
between public and scientific consensus.</div>
<div>Indeed, as members of the public become more science
literate and numerate, the study found, individuals
belonging to opposing cultural groups become even more
divided on the risks that climate change poses.</div>
<div>Funded by the National Science Foundation, the study was
conducted by researchers associated with the Cultural
Cognition Project at Yale Law School and involved a
nationally representative sample of 1500 U.S. adults.</div>
<div>"The aim of the study was to test two hypotheses," said
Dan Kahan, Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Law and
Professor of Psychology at Yale Law School and a member of
the study team. "The first attributes political controversy
over climate change to the public's limited ability to
comprehend science, and the second, to opposing sets of
cultural values. The findings supported the second
hypothesis and not the first," he said.</div>
<div>"Cultural cognition" is the term used to describe the
process by which individuals' group values shape their
perceptions of societal risks. It refers to the unconscious
tendency of people to fit evidence of risk to positions that
predominate in groups to which they belong. </div>
<div>The results of the study were consistent with previous
studies that show that individuals with more egalitarian
values disagree sharply with individuals who have more
individualistic ones on the risks associated with nuclear
power, gun possession, and the HPV vaccine for school girls.</div>
</blockquote>
<div><small>via <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/44455">www.enn.com</a></small></div>
</div>
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