We all value our own opinions, however haphazardly they are formed. Most of us defer to someone we know who has training in a field, and has a right to have an opinion in that field based on years of education and experience. I have an undergraduate degree in economics and political science. I have experience in accounting and policy research. I was in the military.
I hesitate to comment on global warming or nuclear issues, as I don't have experience in those areas, and anything I say would be an uninformed comment.
But there are many people who defer to their own haphazardly formed opinions, which is called "common sense" in the everyday parlance. It is not always common sense. My grandmother told me it was common sense that sex caused babies, and one could not expect otherwise. She died shortly after I announced that I was pregnant for the third time, so I never got a chance to disabuse her of the notion that I believed that nonsense. ( I had no subsequent children.)
When it comes to science, there has been a disdain for science in the US and even in Canada in the last few years. It comes with the Conservative dogma. That dogma has waned in the United States with the decline of Bush and the catastrophic market and economic crash that ensued because of the decline of regulation. Science was pooh-poohed in favour of dogma, with other catastrophic repercussions around the world, especially in countries in Africa, Asia and South America. Again, birth control is an example, as well as the use of condoms to reduce AIDS transmission.
Science must always be used to combat ignorance and superstition. Mr. Obama has served notice that science is on the upswing as the basis for decision making again. Where dogma once prevailed, as in the mantra of deregulation, the science of limited regulation will once again prevail.
We're coming back from the dark ages again.
Mr. Obama
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