Today I received an e-mail from a magazine Miller-McCune, they are printing a comment I made on an article called 'The Doubt Makers'.
Here's the link to both http://www.miller-mccune.com/article/348
The article is rather long and really not worth the read unless you are trying to understand conspiracy theorists from the far political left, so here is the comment I made:
POSTED BY: Mark Galbraith, May 21, 2008, 02:23 PM
"This article is insidious. It makes some assumptions that are simply untrue, namely that: scientists and reporters can establish objective truth; that this established truth is not subject to personal perspective or flawed data/data interpretation; that only one side of any argument has an agenda; and that consensus among experts means the truth has been found.
The problem is that all of these assumptions are untrue. The truth as we know it, as we search it out, is simply our best understanding and interpretation of the finite data we gather in a particular limited context. This truth is neither absolute nor pure, whether in relation to climate change, theories of evolution, gravity, black holes or any other scientific subject; the truth as we know it is just our best guess.
In science change is the only constant that can be held absolutely true. The second we come to consensus that any scientific subject is settled is the second we loose all hope of finding truth. Agendas are universal. Whether they are conscious or unconscious every person, every group of people, every organization, every government, every business, every media outlet, every entertainment venue, and every expert has an agenda. The agenda of this author seems clear in the message of the article: only the bad guys have an agenda, you can trust the media, scientists all agree and you should too…if you don’t you’re a bad guy!
Lastly, consensus among experts means the truth has been found…bologna! Truth is not a democracy! Truth is not limited by our understanding or perception of it or by the agreement of the few or the many that we have found and established it. We cannot define the truth, we can only search for and identify the pieces we find, and try to fit them into the great puzzle that in the end is put together according to our view of the world. Any true scientist will admit that science isn’t interested in the truth, science is only interested in finding the answers that prove a hypothesis, that reinforce a theory, that explain a law, so the grant money won’t dry up…back to the agenda. May be it’s time we get back to equal time and let people find their own answers; after all it’s not just reporters and scientists that are sifting to find them."
