AnthroHealth
Something
New Under the Sun:
Adapting to Change in the 21st Century
AnthroHealth News
November 2006
Volume 5, Issue 11
Greetings!!
November 7 is Election Day here in the United States. This is a critically important election. The current government power structure has been extremely anti-science even to the point of rewriting scientific reports, firing scientists who disagree with the party line, and restructuring some scientific departments out of existence.
These actions indicate a fear of scientists and the scientific method. Why do they fear? Scientists want data, and lots of it, to support assertions. If someone makes claims with little or no supporting data, scientists will reject the claims and/or demand more data. If, on the other hand, a scientist has done thorough research, and has a great deal of supporting data that has survived the peer-review process, then he/she has a right to expect the research to be given serious attention. When the results are ignored, distorted, or altered, fear of the results must be considered a motive.
It seems that the biggest fears relate to biology. First and foremost is the fear of natural selection and evolution. Among the reasons given are that evolution leads to immoral behavior and to the destruction of society. In reality, the big fear is that if the populace really understood evolution, then the Bible, their major tool of thought control and repression, would be replaced by actual knowledge. A reasoning, thinking populace was considered critical by our founding fathers for creating and maintaining a free and democratic nation. A reasoning, thinking populace is the last thing that autocratic leaders want. Given that, the attack on evolution, the foundation of modern biology, is not surprising.
Currently, the second fear is evident in the anti-science campaign involving stem cell research. The twisted logic that reveres a microscopic blob of cells or a minute embryo, barely distinguishable from that of a pig or a chicken, more than the life of a grown woman or man serves to both cheapen and control those adult lives. Autocrats require total control over their (non-thinking) subjects. What better method of control than to force them to waste their resources and energies fighting to protect the tiny products of conception while thousands of adults die pointless deaths? Again, a better understanding of biology and natural selection would show that most products of conception (from 50 – 75%) are naturally destroyed in the first three months of pregnancy. Even if we wanted all those blastocysts and embryos to come to term, they would not/could not.
The dawn of modern science was The Age of Enlightenment. The absence of science was The Dark Ages. It is not an exaggeration to say that this election is a choice between enlightenment and reason on the one hand and autocracy and oppression on the other. Fear blocks reason. Knowledge allows us to understand and transcend our fears.
AnthroHealth Tip of the Month: Exercise your power to determine who should govern the United States. Vote on November 7. Your personal health and the health of the nation depend on who is running the government. Make your voice heard.
Copyright
© 2001-2009 Kathleen E. Fuller, PhD. All rights reserved.
