Story: Is Social Science Politically Biased?
Michael Shermer has just outed himself as a conservative ideolog. In a recent essay posted online by Scientific American, Shermer tries to make the claim that social science itself is biased against political conservatives. His attempt contains the bullshit claims that liberals have "a lack of moral compass that leads to an inability to make clear ethical choices, a pathological fear of clarity that leads to indecisiveness, a naive belief that all people are equally talented, and a blind adherence in the teeth of contradictory evidence from behavior genetics that culture and environment exclusively determine one's lot in life."
He would probably claim that this is a statement of stereotypes rather than his own mindset, but that would be false. He seems to be trying to get away with making these claims without having to take responsibility for holding these ideas himself. If he wanted to distance himself from these groundless stereotypes, he would have included language that directly states they are invalid ideas. But he didn't. He's being as slimy as a politician, not a style a scientist should emulate.
Michael Shermer has just outed himself as a conservative ideolog. In a recent essay posted online by Scientific American, Shermer tries to make the claim that social science itself is biased against political conservatives. His attempt contains the bullshit claims that liberals have "a lack of moral compass that leads to an inability to make clear ethical choices, a pathological fear of clarity that leads to indecisiveness, a naive belief that all people are equally talented, and a blind adherence in the teeth of contradictory evidence from behavior genetics that culture and environment exclusively determine one's lot in life."
He would probably claim that this is a statement of stereotypes rather than his own mindset, but that would be false. He seems to be trying to get away with making these claims without having to take responsibility for holding these ideas himself. If he wanted to distance himself from these groundless stereotypes, he would have included language that directly states they are invalid ideas. But he didn't. He's being as slimy as a politician, not a style a scientist should emulate.
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