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The Rise of Lysenkoism on the Right

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Chris Mooney pulls out the following figure:


The figure basically says it all. The upgraded picture is swiped from Kevin Drum.

UPDATE: A reader asks me to explain the word "Lysenkoism." Lysenko was a Soviet pseudo-biologist who rejected the ideas of Mendelian genetics in favor of some cockamamie baloney about acquired characteristics. Lysenko's doctrine, supported by Stalin, became enforced party doctrine, and Soviet biology was set back a generation. The Wikipedia summary is remarkably apt:
Lysenkoism is used colloquially to describe the manipulation or distortion of the scientific process as a way to reach a predetermined conclusion as dictated by an ideological bias, often related to social or political objectives.
Conservative beliefs on evolution and climate change (among others) quite obviously fit this description.
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  1. JoshApril 1, 2012 at 7:07 PM

    Aryan Physics also works quite nicely as a description.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Physik

    ReplyDelete

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