Lysenkoism

From dKosopedia

Category: Lexical items

Lysenkoism takes its name from Trofim Denisovich Lysenko, one of Stalin's favorite "scientists" .

The term today usually refers to attempts to subvert science to support an ideology: things that challenge an ideology are dismissed as bad or fraudulent science, while pseudo-science is promulgated in its service and defense. It is a very disparaging term.

Examples of religiously motivated lysenkoism include creationists and advocates of "intelligent design" who attempt to bring pseudo-scientific data to the discussion, and who deny the truth of genuine hard scientific facts.

Political lysenkoism is subverting or denying real science to further a political agenda. In recent decades the right wing of the Republican Party has become progressively more lysenkoist, hostile to anything that contradicts their agenda, while elevating junk science and outright fradulent science to the level of policy. An example is the US government's view that "science" demonstrates that marijuana has no medical uses. Another example is the Republican dismissal of the reality of global warming. Even President George W. Bush has been accused of this, his wooly-headed religious views and overall disinterest in anything academic or intellectual, combining with his right-wing prejudices, creating a situation where he hears only what he wants to hear, and ignores anything that contradicts his prejudices.

Private enterprise can also engage in lysenkoism, as where data and statistics are massaged, or supressed, or even made up out of whole cloth to give an entirely false impression. This includes products and services for which false or misleading scientific claims are made.

External links

Lysenkoism Wikipedia article