I find it interesting that people of both sides of a debate will often present an opinion with such conviction that you would think that they had just written their PhD dissertation on the subject. Both sides will ridicule the other for an opinion that has no research based validity with an argument that is of no validity itself. I find myself reading a lot of these posts that will make claims of some sort with no references......this is however not the problem in my eyes. To merely make a statement is our right, but for an individual to make a rebutal to that statement with nothing more than insults or referenceless information is just an insinuation of a poor argument. Now for us lay people, I think this is understandable, as we can not know everything........I do it myself, so too does everyone else. My problem though is that when it matters most, non researched and ungrounded arguments are somehow drafted into law. It is amazing to me that many European countries are light years ahead of us in terms of the rights and freedoms of its people, they are far more socially responsible than we are, and they manage to accomodate a much happier and more functional society.........and meanwhile here in North America, while countless people around the world are starving, the environment is being raped, and unjustified wars are being waged, the people of North America are fighting about boys kissing boys, crying about whether or not evolution is destroying the moral fabric of society, and wasting countless hours of our lives discussing Brangelina and Tom and Kates baby.
It is time that we take a more progressive stance on political issues and demand that before we jump to any conclusions regarding anything, there must be objective research to back it up, and before any freedom is taken away from someone, there much be a very good reason for doing so, also back by some form of research.
Our society is too easily swayed my emotionally charged issues to make rational decisions about them, and to further the problem, our leaders make no effort to properly resolve the issue by putting it to the people most qualified to help guide us............those people being scientists and researchers.
To sum up this rather long rant, our policies should not be set by the whims of politicians or voters, but by grounded research and science.
It is time that we take a more progressive stance on political issues and demand that before we jump to any conclusions regarding anything, there must be objective research to back it up, and before any freedom is taken away from someone, there much be a very good reason for doing so, also back by some form of research.
Our society is too easily swayed my emotionally charged issues to make rational decisions about them, and to further the problem, our leaders make no effort to properly resolve the issue by putting it to the people most qualified to help guide us............those people being scientists and researchers.
To sum up this rather long rant, our policies should not be set by the whims of politicians or voters, but by grounded research and science.
