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