Although nearly all domain experts agree that carbon dioxide emissions are altering the world’s climate, segments of the public remain unconvinced by the scientific evidence. Internet blogs have become a platform for denial of climate change, and bloggers have taken a prominent role in questioning climate science. We report a survey of climate-blog visitors to identify the variables underlying acceptance and rejection of climate science. Our findings parallel those of previous work and show that endorsement of free-market economics predicted rejection of climate science. Endorsement of free markets also predicted the rejection of other established scientific findings, such as the facts that HIV causes AIDS and that smoking causes lung cancer. We additionally show that, above and beyond endorsement of free markets, endorsement of a cluster of conspiracy theories (e.g., that the Federal Bureau of Investigation killed Martin Luther King, Jr.) predicted rejection of climate science as well as other scientific findings. Our results provide empirical support for previous suggestions that conspiratorial thinking contributes to the rejection of science. Acceptance of science, by contrast, was strongly associated with the perception of a consensus among scientists.
The survey has it's methodological weaknesses, but still interesting. Pity you can't taunt any right wingers, libertarians or conspiracy theorists with it, since it's science, and that doesn't count by default for those guys.
It needs signing in for the full text. It's a little fuzzy for me: is it saying, in a nutshell, that free marketeers are more likely to be conspiracy retards?
Dr. Trainwreck wrote:It needs signing in for the full text. It's a little fuzzy for me: is it saying, in a nutshell, that free marketeers are more likely to be conspiracy retards?
I can't sign in to read that full, but I've never seen any scientific work to state that. On the other hand, Linkydink Mother Jones reports on a poll showing not only higher base-conspiracy theory belief in the right wing, but also this belief INCREASES with political knowledge, when it should fall.
Manic Progressive: A liberal who violently swings from anger at politicos to despondency over them.
Out Of Context theatre: Ron Paul has repeatedly said he's not a racist. - Destructinator XIII on why Ron Paul isn't racist.
Dr. Trainwreck wrote:It needs signing in for the full text. It's a little fuzzy for me: is it saying, in a nutshell, that free marketeers are more likely to be conspiracy retards?
That does make a kind of sense, although maybe not for the reason that immediately springs to mind. Free marketers and right-wingers have a widespread distrust of the government, but they're also innate capitalists. So, if someone gets the idea that they can make a quick buck selling conspiracy theorist materials, away we go. Of course They BelieveTm.
The survey was about climate change deniers who read blogs. They found a correlation between climate change denial and denial of other science findings. In this group they also found a correlation between pro-market believes and the denial of science. Since this was a biased group that only represents a certain segment, one can't derive conclusions to people who believe in free markets in general.
My theory: the really fanatic market enthusiasts show a certain "me vs. world" attitude. They seem to believe that they outstanding characters, who are hold back by the evil government. And that mindset is easily translated into conspiracy theories, or may be a subset of it.
Dr. Trainwreck wrote:It needs signing in for the full text. It's a little fuzzy for me: is it saying, in a nutshell, that free marketeers are more likely to be conspiracy retards?
I can't sign in to read that full, but I've never seen any scientific work to state that. On the other hand, Linkydink Mother Jones reports on a poll showing not only higher base-conspiracy theory belief in the right wing, but also this belief INCREASES with political knowledge, when it should fall.
That one I knew. I think the first is because reactionaries of all kinds are usually found in the right, and the second is because "political knowledge" is shorthand for "I go through a closed loop of stuff that agree with me".
