Site icon The Punching Bag Post

The Left Trumps Science with Politics

&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">One of the mantras we hear from those on the left is that we should follow science&period;&nbsp&semi; You may recall how many times Dr&period; Anthony Fauci proclaimed that during the Covid Pandemic – even as the scientists proffered differently – and often diametrically opposing – opinions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">We may also recall how the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;science” associated with the use of masks was arbitrary and never consistent because the advice was based on politics – not science&period;&nbsp&semi; We were told that we should wear masks indoors and outdoors – then only indoors&period;&nbsp&semi; We were told that masks were only beneficial for the person with Covid in preventing spread – then that they protect the uninfected&period;&nbsp&semi; We were told to mask up at the same time&comma; we were told that the masks in common use were ineffective&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Those on the left like to counsel us to follow science even as they do not&period;&nbsp&semi; For example …<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"wp-block-heading" id&equals;"h-boys-and-girls">Boys and girls<&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">The terms male and female – man and woman – have very specific scientific biological and genetic meanings&period;&nbsp&semi; It has to do with organs&comma; DNA&comma; and reproductive roles&period;&nbsp&semi; That is science&period;&nbsp&semi; It is not a matter of opinion&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">One can dress like a person of the opposite sex – and even have plastic surgery performed on the organs – and take hormones to assume some physical attributes of the opposite sex&period;&nbsp&semi; They can prefer to function in society as a person of the opposite sex&period;&nbsp&semi; But that does not change the science&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">The so-called transgender men participating in women’s sports are still biological men&period;&nbsp&semi; Biology gives them an unfair advantage over biological women&period;&nbsp&semi; We brush aside science for adherence to a misguided doctrine of political correctness&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Since I lean toward libertarian conservativism&comma; I can respect those who wish to live in alternative lifestyles&period;&nbsp&semi; Same sex relationships&comma; crossdressing&comma; and even transgender medical treatments are individual choices&period;&nbsp&semi; I have supported gay civil rights – including gay marriage&period;&nbsp&semi; But I stick with science&period;&nbsp&semi; None of those chosen lifestyles alters the gender of the person&period;&nbsp&semi; I also understand the difference between tolerance toward those living alternative lifestyles does not necessarily mean automatic approval of promoting or normalizing those lifestyles – especially among the youngest children&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">It is based on that fundamental truth that I believe language should also follow science in most cases&period;&nbsp&semi; I say most cases because I am willing to use &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;him” or &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;her” for folks who have the surgery and take the hormone treatments – even though the DNA is still the primary marker for gender&period;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Other than that one exception&comma; I prefer to keep the pronouns tied to science&period;&nbsp&semi; Society should not bend to those who simply demand to be addressed by pronouns defining the opposite sex&period;&nbsp&semi; In science&comma; there is no such thing as a non-binary person – claiming to be neither male nor female&period;&nbsp&semi; Yet&comma; we find more and more applications and forms providing for an arbitrary non-scientific designation&period; Students and teachers have been disciplined for not using the pronouns arbitrarily selected by others&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">I tend to keep with the biological reality when addressing crossdressers and drag queens&period;&nbsp&semi; They are fully biologically and genetically men or women – the males or the females of the species&period;&nbsp&semi; The fact that they get satisfaction of some sort by dressing and taking on mannerisms of the opposite gender does not change the reality – the scientific facts&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Where there are traditional situations in which we separate the men from the women&comma; people belong in the group with common DNA and genitalia&period;&nbsp&semi; Penises belong in the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;men’s room&comma;” and vaginas in the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;women’s room&period;”&nbsp&semi; Same with the locker rooms or on those sports teams specifically designated for men or women&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"wp-block-heading">The developing human being<&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Abortion advocates and activists kick science aside for a political view of human life&period;&nbsp&semi; For obvious reasons&comma; they declare the life in the womb to be inhuman&period;&nbsp&semi; One of my regular critics expressed the pro-abortion view when he wrote&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Ending that which never lived is not killing anything&period; Flushing a zygote is not murder&period; It’s ending something that never was&comma; might never be&comma; might be&comma; no one really knows&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Of course&comma; that is all intellectual nonsense – and contrary to science&period;&nbsp&semi; The fertilized cell IS a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;living thing&period;”&nbsp&semi; In fact&comma; it is the earliest stages of a developing human being&period;&nbsp&semi; The developing human being IS NOT something that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;never was&period;”&nbsp&semi; It is something that IS&period;&nbsp&semi; In some cases&comma; that developing human being &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;might never be&comma;” but in the vast majority of cases&comma; it will become a real person&period;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">From conception&comma; that developing human being has all the human traits and characteristics that will become more obvious during the maturation process – hair and eye color&comma; height&comma; bone structure … oh yeah … and gender&period;&nbsp&semi; That is the science of it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Suggesting that the developing human being is not life – just a piece of flesh akin to a tumor or a wart – is contrary to the established facts of biology and genetics&period;&nbsp&semi; The pro-abortion community rejects science in favor of a political definition of life and humanness&period;&nbsp&semi; They then apply an arbitrary political &lpar;legislative&rpar; determination as to when that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;non-life” becomes a person with rights and the protections of a civil society&period;&nbsp&semi; And even then they cannot even agree on when that transition takes place during the gestation period – two months … six months … up to the moment of birth&quest;&nbsp&semi; That is because they ignore science&period;&nbsp&semi; Since answers that question&period;&nbsp&semi; Human life begins at conception&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"wp-block-heading">Climate change<&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Climate change reveals a different issue of science versus politics&period;&nbsp&semi; Most scientists agree that the earth is warming – even though the left accuses those on the right of denying that science&period;&nbsp&semi; Where politics and science separate are in terms of the causes of global warming and what can be done about it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">For the left&comma; man-made pollution is the primary cause of global warming&period;&nbsp&semi; But … that is not what the science tells us&period;&nbsp&semi; Human activity contributes only about three percent of all the greenhouse gases that flow into the atmosphere&period; The rest comes naturally from the land and the sea&period; &lpar;That fact surprises most folks&period;&rpar;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">The second issue is what can we do about it&quest;&nbsp&semi; If you listen to the politicians&comma; you might believe that we can solve the problem by reducing our reliance on fossil fuels&period;&nbsp&semi; What science tells us is that the total elimination of fossil fuels will have only a marginal impact on greenhouse gas emissions and global warming&period;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">To make any impact – according to the scientists – we would have to return to living in pre-industrial conditions&period;&nbsp&semi; We simply cannot cut back enough to make much of a difference – and that would be an unacceptable reduction in our lifestyle&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Also&comma; according to climatologists&comma; the earth is coming out of a normal warming cycle&period;&nbsp&semi; It may be retarded by man-made emissions&comma; but nature is not likely to be denied forever&period;&nbsp&semi; Many reputable scientists believe that the Earth is on the cusp of a cooling cycle – and they have a lot of data to support their opinions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">A major reason for the man-made pollution is the earth’s population&period; To shelter&comma; feed and clothe the eight billion people on earth means the creation of greenhouse gases&period;&nbsp&semi; It is unavoidable&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Having said all that&comma; I have no complaint about shifting to renewable so-called clean energy&period;&nbsp&semi; But things like the Green New Deal are not based on science&comma; but on politics – the game of picking winners and losers and spreading taxpayer money to political allies&period;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"wp-block-heading">Life on other planets<&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">The existence of life on other plants is yet to be discovered&period;&nbsp&semi; But science tells us that the potential is extremely high based on what we know about the ingredients necessary to create life … the existence of those ingredients throughout the universe we can currently perceive … and the statistical probabilities&period;&nbsp&semi; Yet&comma; there is a persistent belief that interplanetary aliens have visited earth – and may still be among us&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">There is nothing in the scientific record that supports those theories&period;&nbsp&semi; In that case&comma; both folklore and politics are trumping science&period;&nbsp&semi; I personally believe in the probability of life of some form on other planets – even advanced intelligent life &&num;8212&semi; but there is no science to prove that spacemen traveled to earth to build the pyramids or crashed at Roswell&period;&nbsp&semi; &lpar;And why are there no tales of space women&quest;&rpar;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"wp-block-heading">Summary<&sol;h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Politics trumping science is not new&period;&nbsp&semi; You only need to recall the ancient debates when science said the earth was round&comma; and the political leaders said it was flat&period;&nbsp&semi; Or when it was believed that the earth was the center of the universe even as the scientists of the times were proving otherwise&period;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Yes … there can be disagreements among scientists as they postulate futuristic theories&period;&nbsp&semi; However&comma; some stuff is pretty well accepted&period;&nbsp&semi; The earth is round … it is not the center of the universe … men and women are men and women … that thing in the womb is a living&comma; developing human being … the earth will do what it does according to the laws of geo and astrophysics&comma; which are not responsive to legislation … and visitors from other planets are only in movies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">I prefer to stick with science&period;&nbsp&semi; You will be correct more times than not&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">So&comma; there &OpenCurlyQuote;tis&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Exit mobile version