Can Science Beat the Denial Machine?
It makes a lot of sense–just look at climate change, for instance. It doesn’t matter much that 95% of climate scientists agree that humans are causing global warming. Because between the results of a peer-reviewed, roundly accepted study and the public lurks a gauntlet of special interests intent on distorting the findings. And they have at their disposal a bevy of “news sources” (Fox News, Drudge Report, et al) with which to disseminate misinformation. Each such outlet revels in the opportunity to defend the status quo to the millions of readers and viewers who seek such news sources out to have their fears of change pacified. So despite the fact that new studies are constantly released showing more evidence for continued climate change, it doesn’t take much for a conservative think tank or organization that’s funded by oil or coal companies (like Cato or the Competitive Enterprise Institute) to feed misinformation or a bunk study to the appropriate outlets to muddle the potential im
