Defenders Of The Evolutionary ‘Consensus’ Could Benefit From More Fact Checking
Original ArticleOne of the dangers of enforcing “consensus science” is a lack of competition. Just as in business, when competitors aren’t allowed, the quality of the product suffers. Anyone who has dealt with a local cable company understands this truth.
In science, this same principle can translate into a failure to adequately fact-check arguments. When defenders of the consensus try to squelch and ignore those who disagree with them, their arguments often become sloppy.
For example, writing at The Daily Beast in April, evolution advocate Karl Giberson posted a photo of a human baby with a rat-like tail claiming it showed our animal ancestry. The picture was altered — a classic case of finding some image on the Internet that initially seemed to be a rhetorical windfall, but turned out to be a fake.