An Unfortunate Truth

we all know that two plus two equals

four

we know this so well that if i came up

and told you it was actually five you

would think

he’s crazy what would it take to

convince you otherwise

perhaps a renowned physicist could

create a mathematical analysis that

proves two plus two equals five

if such an analysis were created then

broadcast by major news sources

you may begin to question your own sense

of what’s true you may begin to feel

like the crazy one

in psychology this is a phenomenon known

as gaslighting

the american psychological association

defines gaslighting as manipulation so

severe it makes one question their own

experiences and understanding of reality

while this term is most popular in pop

psychology i argue that we are currently

living in an era of gaslighting science

whether it is climate change denial

allegations of mass voter fraud or

covid skepticism the presence of

pseudoscience and irrational beliefs are

evident

and actively lead to unnecessary

suffering and

death in order to combat the further

spread of pseudoscience and distrust of

science in this country

it’s important to learn about its

historical roots we need to educate

ourselves about how it impacts us

personally

on a worldwide scale and finally we need

to learn for ourselves

the true nature of scientific thought

while several industries have played

their hands in public manipulation such

as

cigarette companies fighting surgeon

general’s warnings today let’s highlight

exxon and the larger stakes of unchecked

climate change

exxon actually funded several studies

indicating a relationship between

climate change and our widespread

burning of coal oil and gas

this these studies were obviously

threats to their existence as a company

and industry

so once they saw the scientific

consensus piling up they began to take

action the company’s goal was not to

disprove their own findings

rather to discredit scientific

information

exxon’s ceo at the time lee raymond said

at the 1997 world petroleum congress

the case for so-called global warming is

far from airtight

there’s a lot we really don’t know about

how climate will change in the 21st

century and beyond

so before we make choices about global

climate policies we need an open debate

on the science

and analysis of the risks and a careful

consideration of the costs and benefits

he then publicized this misinformation

even to politicians

suggesting there was no consensus among

researchers meanwhile a majority of the

studies his own company funded

from 1977 through 2014 lined up with the

rest of the research

that fossil fuels did contribute to

climate change

this statement was false raymond knew it

and so did the politicians funded by his

lobbyists

the tactics used by exxon and other

fossil fuel giants have been devastating

the combination of their public

statements and financial endorsements of

politicians

at up to over 5 billion dollars since

the year 2000

and have decreased public belief in

climate change a 2016 pew research poll

found that only 48

of the us population believes climate

change is due to our own actions

the fossil fuel industry successfully

used their money to mislead the public

us in order to maintain their own

profits while continuing to destroy the

environment

right under our noses there is some

light at the end of the tunnel

a 2020 pew poll found that now roughly

two-thirds of us in the u.s

see climate change as a major issue and

want the federal government to do more

to address it

the difficulty is scientists estimate

that the cost for damages of climate

change could be in the magnitude of

trillions of dollars

not to mention the amount of lives lost

due to heat waves rising sea levels or

forest fires ravaging california

it would also require switching

completely to renewable energy sources

as soon as possible however passing

crucial legislation through congress

at this point seems unlikely due to

fossil fuel companies continued use of

misinformation

and lobby money with politicians we

continue to be divided

on the facts the dangers of science

denial had become especially clear in

the midst of the pandemic

a 30 year old texas man attended a

coveted party and said to his nurse

i think i made a mistake i thought this

was a hoax but it’s not

he died days later the fact is we in the

united states have the greatest number

of confirmed coveted cases in the world

even over countries with three times our

population

this is no coincidence the constant

efforts to gaslight

science consciously used by corporations

and political leaders

have made truth something that can be

changed

and we now face nearly 510 000

dead americans a number that rises as i

speak to you today

there’s perhaps no better example of the

dangers of misinformation than the

attack on our capital on january 6th

this year you’ve all seen plenty of

images and videos

of the group of several thousand

breaking into our highest political

building

in an attempt to change the results of

our election

here’s just one these individuals were

moved to violence by conspiracy theories

fictions of voter fraud and ideas that

simply

are not true okay

how do we fix this at the root of the

issue

is we do not have a firm grasp on the

basics of science and so have been led

to distrust its findings

the astronomer the late carl sagan has

said science is more than just a body of

knowledge it is a way of thinking

at its core science is a way we can

discover the truth

through skepticism one major feature of

scientific analysis is that it is

self-correcting and we saw this feature

at the beginning of the pandemic

while it may have looked as if

scientists were constantly changing

their minds whether to wear a mask or

not or

how serious is coven 19 anyway in

reality their minds had not been made up

a consensus had not been agreed upon yet

this is the cutting edge of science the

point of the scientific process

each piece of information were from

individual studies

that data would be used in combination

with all the rest and discussed among

other researchers in order to create

better explanations

nowadays scientists agree about the

severity of coven 19

but only after those original studies

were peer-reviewed and analyzed by

multiple different independent

researchers can we really say scientists

have

made up their minds in the case of

climate change their minds are made up

currently 18 scientific associations

agree that climate change is caused by

our own behaviors and habits

while in science skepticism and

questioning are always welcome

it would require truly groundbreaking

evidence to uproot the existing

conclusions

formed from decades of research

the best part is we can use science in

our daily lives

from conspiracy theories to astrology

alternative medicines or

even ghosts we can be skeptics about

what we witness or believe

we can educate ourselves about our own

biases such as searching for information

that confirms our opinions

what we need to do is compare our

experiences with others

and brainstorm the many possible

explanations for what occurs in our

world

instead of accepting the first one that

comes to mind

and most importantly we can learn to be

patient realizing that science is not as

easy as we would like

it is a grueling process of testing

retesting and peer review

that takes time miscalculations and

corrections

but after all that its conclusions can

be trusted

we must accept that science’s findings

are not immediate

not stumbled upon by chance and not

accepted on a whim

and we owe it to ourselves as human

beings

what we saw on january 6th was only a

glimpse

of what we may yet become yet we are

still capable

of such magnitudes of love compassion

creativity and

ingenuity we don’t discuss smallpox

today even though it killed billions

we wiped it out in the 80s we’ve saved

billions more

through modern medicine vaccines

sophisticated surgeries and medications

of all kinds

the progress we have made through

science is astounding

and we can look out to a limitless

future but we need to start now

we are at a turning point for the human

race

we face either all of the possibilities

of science

or a new dark age of superstition and

suffering

as with covid this disease

is strangling the us we’ve seen

some of what climate change can do the

full force is just on the horizon

yet we can’t even agree that two plus

two

equals four

you