Anti-science views in the left

[buritobr]

Usually, the biggest threats to the science come from the right. Many conservatives dislike the Theory of Evolution because this theory contradicts religions. Many conservatives are global warming deniers because conservative parties are supported by the oil industry. Most of the anti vaccination movement come from religious fundamentalists. Many "small government" conservatives dislike public funding on research.

But there are some anti-science views in the left too.
The belief that genetically modified food is dangerous for the health is not endorsed by the scientists. The belief that the human beings are herbivores by nature, supported by many vegans, is not endorsed by the scientists. Not all vegans are lefties, but many of them are. Although most of the anti-vaccination movement comes from the religious right, there are some anti-vaccianation anarchist hippies too. Concerning the anti-vaccination movement, Neil Degrasse Tyson has already said that both left and right have anti-science views.
We hear many people in the left saying that male opinions on feminism are not valid. This belief opposes to a racionalist society, in which we have to evaluate the arguments and not the people who are supporting the arguments.
Post-modern leftists influenced by Derrida, Foucault and Deleuze usually have some anti-science views.

[PoliticalShelter]

Democrats are more likely to believe in astrology than Republicans.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

this is one of the times the 'both sides do it' meme is, by-and-large, justified.

[DC Al Fine]

this is one of the times the 'both sides do it' meme is, by-and-large, justified.

Yup. It's a function of science conflicting with politics rather than anything inherent to an entire ideology. See also lefties on rent control and righties on the top marginal tax rate.

[darklordoftech]

The big difference is that the Democratic Party is willing to say no to the anti-science left while the GOP indulges the anti-science right.

[dead0man]

The big difference is that the Democratic Party is willing to say no to the anti-science left while the GOP indulges the anti-science right.

The left in Europe isn't quite as smart....they don't actually like the environment as much, but they love to act like they do so much more than stupid Americans.

<and to hurry this along to the part where people argue GMOs actually are bad for you>

Europe heavily regulates GMOs

Organic farming uses more, worse pesticides and uses more land

[7,052,770]

Seems like anti-circumcision hysteria is more common on the Left.

[AtorBoltox]

Concerning, but not even close to being on the same scale

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

Pretty much only left-wing parents raise their children gender-neutral.

[TheLeftwardTide]

Anti-GMO is one thing I can think of, although the issue is much more nuanced than one may think.
cough cough dead0man

That said, the anti-GMO movement on the left is somewhat overstated, I mean, Bill Nye was originally against GMOs but came around and admitted fault (and this was a while ago, too).

The anti-vax movement also once held ground with some of the nuts on the left, but this issue is now more associated with the right; Donald Trump is an anti-vaxxer, while there are no power-holding left-wing politicians that are anti-vaxxers.

The ultra-authoritarian far left, i.e. Mao and Stalin, were quite anti-science.

Despite all of this, I would say that anti-science views are, objectively speaking, much less common on the left than on the right.

[darklordoftech]

Seems like anti-circumcision hysteria is more common on the Left.

That's generally a matter of morals and not of science.

[DC Al Fine]

Anti-GMO is one thing I can think of, although the issue is much more nuanced than one may think.
cough cough dead0man

That said, the anti-GMO movement on the left is somewhat overstated, I mean, Bill Nye was originally against GMOs but came around and admitted fault (and this was a while ago, too).

The anti-vax movement also once held ground with some of the nuts on the left, but this issue is now more associated with the right; Donald Trump is an anti-vaxxer, while there are no power-holding left-wing politicians that are anti-vaxxers.

The ultra-authoritarian far left, i.e. Mao and Stalin, were quite anti-science.

Despite all of this, I would say that anti-science views are, objectively speaking, much less common on the left than on the right.

Ah yes, who can forget that the non-vaccination rate is highest in those Trumpist bastions; Oregon and Vermont.

[dead0man]

those facts certainly have a left wing bias

[Statilius the Epicurean]

This issue is basically a "both sides" meme deployed to deflect right-wing ignorance over climate change.

Anti-GMO is one thing I can think of, although the issue is much more nuanced than one may think.
cough cough dead0man

That said, the anti-GMO movement on the left is somewhat overstated, I mean, Bill Nye was originally against GMOs but came around and admitted fault (and this was a while ago, too).

The anti-vax movement also once held ground with some of the nuts on the left, but this issue is now more associated with the right; Donald Trump is an anti-vaxxer, while there are no power-holding left-wing politicians that are anti-vaxxers.

The ultra-authoritarian far left, i.e. Mao and Stalin, were quite anti-science.

Despite all of this, I would say that anti-science views are, objectively speaking, much less common on the left than on the right.

Ah yes, who can forget that the non-vaccination rate is highest in those Trumpist bastions; Oregon and Vermont.

Uhh Donald Trump himself said he was an anti-vaxxer in a nationally-televised GOP debate, as did several other Republican candidates...

[dead0man]

This issue is basically a "both sides" meme deployed to deflect right-wing ignorance over climate change.

this followed by this

You must be logged in to read this quote.

is very funny.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

This issue is basically a "both sides" meme deployed to deflect right-wing ignorance over climate change.

this followed by this

You must be logged in to read this quote.

is very funny.

What is very funny about it? I'm not saying "both sides do it", I'm saying "only one side does it".

[dead0man]

Well, like many on the left concerning GMOs, you're wrong.  We've proven here that both sides DO do it.  GMOs are stupidly regulated throughout Europe.  Lefties are much more likely to use Astrology.  That map in the thing you quoted. 

I mean, you can ignore facts you don't like if you want, but that kind of proves the point doesn't it?

[Statilius the Epicurean]

My posts were a response to the political beliefs of anti-vaccination people, not other issues (btw, I was also unaware that only leftists live in Maine and Idaho...).

On GMOs, notwithstanding the dubious idea that Europe is automatically to the left of the United States, the EU's restriction on GMOs are basically for the purpose of agricultural protectionism by stealth. As for "Lefties are much more likely to use Astrology", the one poll cited shows liberal Democrats as believing much less in astrology than conservative Democrats or any independents! Perhaps the takeaway is that a large section of the Republican party, highly religious Christian conservatives, skew against astrology as they have other deeply-held astrological beliefs to attend to.

[dead0man]

So, not only are you saying that Europe isn't to the left of the US, you're also saying Europeans aren't really dumb enough to distrust GMOs, it's a just a lie they tell each other to pass economic policies they'd be too embarrassed to pass otherwise?  That's weird.

[Mr. Morden]

This issue is basically a "both sides" meme deployed to deflect right-wing ignorance over climate change.

Anti-GMO is one thing I can think of, although the issue is much more nuanced than one may think.
cough cough dead0man

That said, the anti-GMO movement on the left is somewhat overstated, I mean, Bill Nye was originally against GMOs but came around and admitted fault (and this was a while ago, too).

The anti-vax movement also once held ground with some of the nuts on the left, but this issue is now more associated with the right; Donald Trump is an anti-vaxxer, while there are no power-holding left-wing politicians that are anti-vaxxers.

The ultra-authoritarian far left, i.e. Mao and Stalin, were quite anti-science.

Despite all of this, I would say that anti-science views are, objectively speaking, much less common on the left than on the right.

Ah yes, who can forget that the non-vaccination rate is highest in those Trumpist bastions; Oregon and Vermont.

Uhh Donald Trump himself said he was an anti-vaxxer in a nationally-televised GOP debate, as did several other Republican candidates...

Is there a disconnect between regular voters in the party and party elites then?  Republican elites are more likely to voice anti-vax views than Dem. elites, but the group of people who believe it enough to actually not vaccinate their kids are more likely to be Dems?

[buritobr]

Democrats are more likely to believe in astrology than Republicans.

I have a lot of left-wing friends who believe in astrology

[Associate Justice PiT]

This issue is basically a "both sides" meme deployed to deflect right-wing ignorance over climate change.

Anti-GMO is one thing I can think of, although the issue is much more nuanced than one may think.
cough cough dead0man

That said, the anti-GMO movement on the left is somewhat overstated, I mean, Bill Nye was originally against GMOs but came around and admitted fault (and this was a while ago, too).

The anti-vax movement also once held ground with some of the nuts on the left, but this issue is now more associated with the right; Donald Trump is an anti-vaxxer, while there are no power-holding left-wing politicians that are anti-vaxxers.

The ultra-authoritarian far left, i.e. Mao and Stalin, were quite anti-science.

Despite all of this, I would say that anti-science views are, objectively speaking, much less common on the left than on the right.

Ah yes, who can forget that the non-vaccination rate is highest in those Trumpist bastions; Oregon and Vermont.

Uhh Donald Trump himself said he was an anti-vaxxer in a nationally-televised GOP debate, as did several other Republican candidates...

Is there a disconnect between regular voters in the party and party elites then?  Republican elites are more likely to voice anti-vax views than Dem. elites, but the group of people who believe it enough to actually not vaccinate their kids are more likely to be Dems?

     I think the 2016 election confirms that the answer to that question is yes.

     Relevant to the topic, the Dem base includes quite a few natural-obsessed granola types, especially in places like Oregon. Moreover, these people are likely to buy into anti-vaxxer, anti-nuclear, and anti-GMO ideology. This sort of hippie bent is mostly unrepresented in the Democratic political establishment, which leads to some people looking at political leaders and concluding that Democrats do not have a problem with this type of science denial. It's a good thing that Nancy Pelosi isn't preaching against vaccines, but the assumption you hear voiced in this thread that that means everything is peachy would be a mistake.

[Figueira]

Believing that consuming GMOs is hazardous to human health is anti-science, I suppose.

But most anti-GMO sentiment that I've seen relates to environmental concerns, which, as far as I can tell, are justified, as much as the "Both sides!" crowd wants to shut down the issue.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

The ultra-authoritarian far left, i.e. Mao and Stalin, were quite anti-science .

It's quite complex.. One of the odd attributes about orthodox Marxism is that it presents itself as a scientific theory: it's an outgrowth of values established in the Enlightenment that there should be rationalist and natural explanations of all phenomena. Marx (actually it may have been Engels iirc) was one of the first to apply such ideas to sociology (the fact that their theories are nowadays largely discredited is by the by here). The Marx-Engels duo criticisised contemporary utopian socialists (and liberal theorists) as being unscientific or metaphysical, not basing their theories on grounded materialist analysis. They (a fact endlessly repeated by creationists) saw themselves as doing for human history what Darwin had done to natural history with his theory of natural selection..

As it turns out, scientists and technicians were huge fans of communism back in the day, before and after they began running countries due to its "scientific" veneer (especially compared to, say, the Qing dynasty which took pride in viewing science as a sort of trivial and largely utilitarian matter). And because state socialism often took place in developing countries, often communism came to mean "modernism" a course which required ample amounts of scientists and engineers. The Soviet education system prioritised scientific development, and purges were less common in science departments than in the humanities and arts depts.

That said: there were some oddities. As the personality cults grew, there was a lot more suppression of quite random scientific theories; and it ran into the increasing elephant in the room: that "dialectical materialism" is a pretty flaw-ridden theory, and the idealogues beliefs that it should be extended to all academic circles reached some pretty bizarre depths. Notably, Stalin in his personality cult mode had a bizarre relationship with an agriculture scientist who fervently disagreed with Mendelian genetics (being a neo-Lamarckism devotee), who managed to get his theory to become the official theory taught in Soviet education, and suppress Mendelian theories of inheritence because his theory was more in line with dialectical memeterialism with the result that biology was always much weaker in the USSR than the favoured sciences.

So my conclusion on science and the Soviet Union is that the Soviets were very interested in the idea of science, and banishing mysticism, superstition, romanticism etc; but fundamentally were held back by the inherent contradictions (Marxist term there) of claiming to believe in the scientific method but being unable to question the bedrock theory.

[darklordoftech]

The ultra-authoritarian far left, i.e. Mao and Stalin, were quite anti-science.

Ultra-authoritarians of all sorts tend to be very selective when it comes to facts. For example, if "science" supported eugenics, Hitler would embrace it, but if science rejected eugenics, Hitler would say that the study was funded by Jews.