Our government is stifling scientific perspectives that may challenge their policies and goals. What's worse, they are discouraging the education and research that may lead to challenges to the government's stance on scientific issues like global warming and evolution.
NASA climate scientist James E. Hansen told the New York Times and Washington Post that he had experienced difficulties with NASA in releasing his information about recent climate change to the public. He also stated the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was making it difficult for scientists studying global warming to pursue their research.
If the government refuses to place mandates on carbon emissions that are shown to contribute to the global warming effect, it seems it is also in their interest to reduce the amount of data regarding the global warming effect.
Heaven forbid there might be increased awareness of the damage we may be doing to our environment. Then, people might want to see the government try to do something about it. That just won't do for the Bush administration.
However, this is just the tip of the melting iceberg. Imagine if your government was controlling the news you heard for years without your knowledge.
The New York Times reported in February that NASA administrator Michael Griffin ordered the amount of news regarding glaciers, climate and pollution be limited before the 2004 election. In addition, a news conference on readings regarding ozone and air pollution should also be postponed until after the presidential election.
Unfortunately, it is reminiscent of a time civilization has not seen since the end of the Italian Renaissance. This was a time when the Roman Catholic Church began to mandate what scientists were allowed to conclude and publish from their research, regardless of data and observations.
In 1633, Galileo was put on trial for arguing that Copernicus was correct in stating that the planets and sun did not revolve around the Earth. There were many holes in the many theories of how the Earth and planets rotated. Try as they might, scientists could not reconcile their observations with a solar system that had Earth in its center.
Because the Catholic Church taught that the Earth was stationary and the center of our universe, theories that suggested otherwise were regarded as against the word of God.
Today, ruling bodies have learned the best way to maintain decent public relations and overall support for policy is to stop the information before it ever hits the public ear.
This way, we are happy in our blind ignorance and no scientists have to be put on trial for accidentally suggesting an alternate view. The government can guide us in what to worry about. Ultimately, they can alter whom we vote for based on the issues that we interpret to be most important in the news.
Arguably, I guess there is nothing in the Bill of Rights saying that we have the right to the pursuit of knowledge or that federal agencies cannot manipulate the news we hear or read.
But until we have it in writing and maybe even after that, make use of your natural college student skepticism and question what you aren't hearing about.
Anjali can be reached to share your concerns, skepticisms, and criticisms at anjali.patel@asu.edu.
