They're Very Smart, These Scientists

Here is a video and partial transcript of yesterday's episode of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Noelle Nikpour, Republican Strategist, is interviewed by Aasif Mandvi.

Nikpour: "Scientists are scamming the American people right and left for their own financial gain."

(Mandvi asks for Data? Evidence?)

Nikpour: "I think every American, if they really thought about it, would have a gut feeling that some of these numbers that the scientists are putting out are not right.
"Scientists are the only people qualified to comment on scientific theories. This is what raises doubt with not only Republicans, but Americans."

(Mandvi comes up with a preposterous example regarding surgeons, which Nikpour agrees with). He says, "They're very smart, these scientists." Nikpour says, "That's what I'm saying!"

Mandvi goes to a science fair and talks to kids, spoofing that science is corrupting them and they will end up addicted to grant money for their next science fix. He finishes by saying, "Whether science is peddling quantum physics or evolution, the corruption of our children happens every day right under our noses."

Nikpour: "It's very confusing for a child to be only taught evolution, to go home to a household where their parents say, "Well, wait a minute, God created the Earth."
Mandvi: "What is the point of teaching children facts if it's just going to confuse them?"
Nikpour: "It confuses the children when they go home. We as Americans, we are paying tax dollars for our children to be educated. We need to offer them every theory that's out there. It's all about choice. It's all about freedom."
Mandvi: "I mean it should be up to the American people to decide what's true."
Nikpour: "Absolutely! Doesn't it make common sense?"

Some thoughts:

• Science is often counter-intuitive. You can't rely on common sense in science. You have to experiment and observe to find hard evidence.
• You don't get to decide what is reality. It is not subjective. Just because you want the Earth to be the center of the Universe doesn't make it so. If you believe that, you are delusional. Reality doesn't bend to your will.
• Science is not a secret society where you have to learn a special handshake. It's open and relies on peer review to keep things honest and as accurate as humanly possible. 
• Science is self-correcting.
• Nikpour uses typical talking points in lockstep with Republican propaganda. Nothing interesting (or factual)
• She has a complete lack of understanding of the concept of theory and how it is used in the vernacular and in science:
• Theory and hypothesis are used in non-technical contexts to mean an untested idea or opinion. 
• A theory is a coherent group of tested general propositions, commonly regarded as correct, that can be used as principles of explanation and prediction for a class of phenomena: Einstein's theory of relativity.
• A theory in technical use is a more or less verified or established explanation accounting for known facts or phenomena: the theory of relativity. 
• A hypothesis is an assumption used in an argument without its being endorsed; a supposition; an unproved theory; a conjecture
• Public education is supposed to be in the best interest of the child, teaching them facts that will help them be productive members of society. It's not for teaching personal opinions and beliefs.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Weathering Fights - Science - What's It Up To?
www.thedailyshow.com