{"id":24752,"date":"2011-09-15T07:28:10","date_gmt":"2011-09-15T11:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=24752"},"modified":"2011-09-15T07:28:10","modified_gmt":"2011-09-15T11:28:10","slug":"rick-perry-mistaken-galileo-was-a-liberal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/rick-perry-mistaken-galileo-was-a-liberal\/","title":{"rendered":"Rick Perry Mistaken, Galileo Was a Liberal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Love this piece by Chris Mooney of Desmog Blog on Rick Perry’s ridiculous assumption that climate science deniers are like Galileo<\/a>\u00a0(I’ve written similar replies in the comments of our posts several times over the years), so reposting it in full here:<\/em><\/p>\n

Ever since the Republican presidential debate last week, science watchers have been shaking their heads over Rick Perry\u2019s ridiculous invocation of Galileo Galilei to defend his denialist position on climate\u00a0change.<\/p>\n

\u201cGalileo got outvoted for a spell,\u201d\u00a0Perry said<\/a>\u2014presumably meaning to suggest that climate \u201cskeptics,\u201d too, will have their day in the sun (the sun that, thanks to Galileo, we know lies at the center of the solar\u00a0system).<\/p>\n

Not only is this\u00a0junk history<\/a>\u00a0on Perry\u2019s part. A more accurate analogy would liken\u00a0today\u2019s climate researchers<\/em>to Galileo\u2014delivering an inconvenient truth that some right wing ideologues (then and now) just can\u2019t handle\u2014and Perry to the\u00a0Inquisition.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s face it: In the context of his times, Galileo was a\u00a0liberal<\/em>. He was a fearless explorer of new knowledge, as well as a puckish challenger of assumed wisdom. He famously argued that\u00a0science and religion don\u2019t have to be in conflict<\/a>\u2014so long as religionists don\u2019t insist on reading Scripture literally (as so many of Perry\u2019s anti-evolutionist supporters today\u00a0do).<\/p>\n

So to find a conservative Texas governor, backed by the religious right, invoking this canonical questioner of authority is really\u00a0precious.<\/p>\n

But forget historical accuracy for a moment. Climate \u201cskeptics\u201d have long been invoking Galileo as their mascot, and the interesting question is\u00a0why.<\/p>\n

At least as popularly remembered (what actually happened is\u00a0far more complex<\/a>), the Galileo story is about the ideological suppression of a lone scientist who has discovered a deep\u00a0truth.<\/p>\n

So if you find yourself in a scientific controversy, on\u00a0either\u00a0<\/em>side\u2014and you have enough hubris\u2014Galileo may be an appealing reference point for you. After all, you feel that\u00a0you<\/em>have the truth, and the other side is ignoring or quashing your point of\u00a0view.<\/p>\n

And suddenly\u2014tah dah\u2014you\u2019re\u00a0Galileo.<\/p>\n

The misuse and abuse of Galileo\u2019s story, in other words, is a case study in how people reason about history\u2014just as they do with science<\/a>\u2014in a biased, motivated way, seeking to cast themselves as the good guys, the victors, and their foes as the\u00a0opposite.<\/p>\n

And once you see things in this way, you realize there\u2019s a very close analogy in our politics to the Perry-Galileo flap. Climate \u201cskeptics\u201d invoking Galileo is really quite a lot like right wingers calling themselves the \u201cTea\u00a0Party.\u201d<\/p>\n

The great architects of the United States\u2014Jefferson, Franklin, Madison\u2014were men of reason and the Enlightenment, just as Galileo was a man of the Scientific Revolution. They were freethinkers and, in Jefferson\u2019s and Franklin\u2019s case,\u00a0scientists\u00a0<\/em>and inventors. And they didn\u2019t want religion shoved down anybody\u2019s\u00a0throat.<\/p>\n

And yet we now find a movement in America that\u00a0wants\u00a0more\u00a0<\/em>religion in politics<\/a>, and that rejects science on climate change and evolution alike, trying to claim the mantle of the country\u2019s\u00a0founding.<\/p>\n

Rick Perry\u2019s invocation of Galileo, then, is much more than merely ridiculous. It gives us quite the window on the right wing mind, and demonstrates just how much it has managed to turn reality\u00a0upside-down.<\/p>\n

Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength\u2026and Galileo and Rick Perry ride off together into the Texas\u00a0sunset.<\/p>\n

Image Credit:\u00a0\"Attribution\"<\/a>\u00a0Some rights reserved<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0tonynetone<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Love this piece by Chris Mooney of Desmog Blog on Rick Perry’s ridiculous assumption that climate science deniers are like Galileo (I’ve written similar replies in the comments of our posts several times over the years), so reposting it in full 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