To all science-people (thanks for the heads-up, Steve!): Time variation of a fundamental dimensionless constant is a must-read example of… something. It’s certainly eye-opening.
To all non-science-people:
To all anti-science people (should any stumble upon this): Let me spell it out for you - the previous link was meant as satire. Though, given the cut-and-paste style of pseudoskepticism (illustrated wonderfully by Kate at ClimateSight and Nexus Six), it’d be interesting to try something similar and see if someone bites.
Postmodernist Conservatism
Everyone knows the basic frames behind liberal-conservative stereotyping: the liberal positions are full of wishy-washy flipflopping and the conservative ones are hypocritical. I’d always assumed that this was an exaggeration on a kernel of truth (due, for instance, to message discipline - if a liberal group values freedom of expression then conflicting opinions will appear in the group, while a conservative group values existing authorities leading to an image of infallibility, so admission of a mistake becomes impossible), combined with a healthy dose of political opportunism on both sides (just interpreted in different ways), but now, I’m not so sure.
A few days ago, I saw an interview between Rachel Maddow and J. D. Hayworth, a conservative former Representative currently challenging John McCain from the right. During that interview, something happened that crystallized a thought in my mind, which may actually explain the entirety of the ideological communication gap. Here’s the followup to the video, highlighting the exchange in question at 3:10:
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