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Opinion

Science victim of political agendas

Hasan Rizvi
Opinion Columnist 

The effects of climate change are upon us. The year 2005 was the second warmest year on record. Sea ice is melting rapidly and contributes to a rising sea level. The Arctic's apex predator, the polar bear, will ironically become prey to the warming climate and cease to exist in its natural habitat within the next 100 years. 

As scary as this may sound, we are told there is no need to panic just yet because many people say the warming climatic trend can be blamed on a natural phenomenon that is totally unrelated to human activity. Mind you, many of these same people claim that the balderdash known as intelligent design belongs in the curriculum of a science class, and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't hesitate to start assigning Social Security numbers to one-week-old zygotes if they had the chance. 

Why would you want to trust the majority of climatologists when a radio talk show host, who's popped a few too many OxyContins during his commercial break, tells you that the "environmentalist wacko" movement, which peddles the "myth" of global warming, is nothing more than a cabal made up of socialists and communists intent on destroying the American economy?

On a more serious note, the blatant disregard for legitimate science and the shameless promotion of junk science by individuals and organizations seeking to further their political and theological agendas is a very dangerous manifestation that is becoming all too common.

George Deutsch, a Bush political appointee at NASA, prohibited NPR from interviewing James Hansen, NASA's top scientist on global warming, because Deutsch's job was "to make the president look good." In October of 2005, Deutsch ordered Flint Wild, a NASA contractor working on a Web site about Albert Einstein for middle-school children, to append the word "theory" at every mention of "big bang."

Deutsch explained, "The theory that the universe was created by a ‘big bang' is just that -- a theory. It is not proven fact; it is opinion. Yes, the scientific community by and large may share this opinion, but that doesn't make it correct. It is not NASA's place, nor should it be, to make a declaration such as this about the existence of the universe that discounts intelligent design by a creator -- the other half of the argument." 

Deutsch seems to be oblivious to the fact the big-bang theory itself does not address the issue of whether God exists and of the meaning of the word "theory." A theory, as defined by dictionary.com, is a systematically organized body of knowledge applicable in a relatively wide variety of circumstances, especially a system of assumptions, accepted principles and rules of procedure devised to analyze, predict or otherwise explain the nature or behavior of a specified set of phenomena. 

No one in his right mind would deny that the big-bang theory is a theory. Because of his ignorance, Deutsch thought he was somehow refuting big bang by adding the word theory. He was later fired when it came to light that he had lied about having a college degree. 

The movement to promote intelligent design as something that is as scientifically valid as the theory of evolution is one of the more asinine things to come from the 700 Club crowd. The dogma of intelligent design is not testable and is not scientifically valid. 

I'm sure many of you recall the Terri Schiavo fiasco in Florida. Many of the arguments made for keeping Schiavo on the feeding tube were based upon lies and ignorance. According to physicians appointed by the court, Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state, although many of the ill informed have yet to acknowledge this fact. She had virtually zero chance of regaining consciousness and therefore, Schiavo's legal guardian, her husband, decided to remove her feeding tube. 

Michael Schiavo was castigated as though he was the second coming of Josef Mengele. Misinformation was spread such as claims that Schiavo was uttering phrases and that her eyes followed people who entered her room. The naive believed such allegations to be true even though people who are in a persistent vegetative state are subject to behaviors that can easily be misconstrued as conscious acts. Schiavo's autopsy, which refuted all of the claims made by opponents of the removal of Schiavo's feeding tube, showed Schiavo's brain was half the size it would normally have been. The autopsy went on to confirm that Schiavo was blind and unable to feel or think.

These examples of the misrepresentation of science are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the war on science. The deviant groups who hide behind the shield of science (when in actuality science contradicts their maniacal agendas) must be exposed for who they really are to the greater public, so their attempts to indoctrinate us in ignorance will fail.

Rizvi, an opinion columnist for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached at hrizvi@uh.edu.