Did GOP denial of science set the state for Donald Trump?

[LongTomH]

There are a lot of reasons for the rise of Donald Trump: a dysfunctional, "if-it-bleeds-it-leads" media,and a generally pissed off electorate that feels it has been ignored and betrayed by the establishments of both parties. Astronomer Phil Plait, of Bad Astronomy fame, feels that GOP opposition to science and critical thinking played a major role: The GOP's Denial of Science Primed Them For the Illogic of Donald Trump:

We are awash in that miasma, where people can say almost anything, no matter how ridiculous, and not be confronted, not be challenged. Many of these purveyors of poppycock wind up surrounding themselves with throngs of people willing and eager to suspend their disbelief and support the foolishness. Cults certainly can form in such an atmosphere … and when the person spouting the nonsense is a politician, that’s when things get very sticky indeed.

And now here we are, with Donald Trump the nearly inevitable champion of the Republican Party.

This is no coincidence. An interesting if infuriating article in New Republic very clearly lays out how the GOP has spent decades paving the road for Trump by attacking the science that goes against their prejudicial ideology. I strongly urge you to read it, but one section jumped out at me in particular:

There’s another factor at work here: The anti-intellectualism that has been a mainstay of the conservative movement for decades also makes its members easy marks. After all, if you are taught to believe that the reigning scientific consensuses on evolution and climate change are lies, then you will lack the elementary logical skills that will set your alarm bells ringing when you hear a flim-flam artist like Trump. The Republican “war on science” is also a war on the intellectual habits needed to detect lies.

At the end of the article, Phil gives a list of his posts on critical thinking.

[longship]

1. I love me some BadAstronomer!

Phil Plait is absolutely incredible.

Make sure you visit his Blog.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy.html

[kimbutgar]

2. I watched the new independence day movie yesterday

20 years after the alien invasion they harnessed the scientific technology to help the world. Earth's citizens United together and stopped wars.

I thought after seeing it how science is being dismissed by the rightwingers and christofascists. If we embraced science it could open up so many new job opportunities in the world. But now we are stifled by the rightwingers.

[stopbush]

4. Science denial is just the logical extention of blind religious belief.

Religion is make believe, yet it is allowed by society to have equal footing with objective truth. Opinion is equal to fact - if one believes hard enough, it must be true, and woe to anyone who questions such faith.

Critical thinking is not appreciated when it intrudes on our fantasies.