Borepatch tells the tale of a “Climate Change Denier” Professor who was fired without explanation. He says, after reminding us all about how the progressives went on about the “ebil ReTHUGlican War on Science™,”
“I’d be willing to see your actions prove me wrong. This is your moment. Go ahead, dazzle me.”
It reminded me of something my roommate, who was a grad student in geophysics, told me one of his professors told him. The professor, sadly shaking his head, explained that if you were applying for a grant, say, to study the mating rituals of squirrels, if you could work in some angle like “The effects of climate change on the mating rituals of squirrels,” you would be much much more likely to get your grant approved. Didn’t matter if you cared about global warming, or if you actually thought it had anything to do with what you were studying.
The result of all this, for me, anyway, is that I no longer trust any scientific studies. Why should I? Why should I trust the fossil record? Why should I believe them when they tell me that I’ll live longer if I get 8 hours of sleep every night? Why should I? When the scientific establishment has proven to me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they have a major deficit of basic integrity, why should I trust them at all?