Wednesday, November 29, 2017

A quick quote from Eugene Robinson


In the continuing comedy of errors that is the Trump Presidential Administration, there has been one clear pattern of consistency:  disdain for mainstream science.  Of course, there is also a disdain for fact and indeed reality itself, but that's a topic for many others to handle.  (And they have, and likely will continue to do so.)

But I spied a small yet profoundly troubling part of Eugene Robinson's recent column, entitled "We will all pay a price for Trump's nihilism*", and that quote reads like this:
"The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, by contrast, has no master. In its 41-year history — it was founded during the Gerald Ford administration — the office established to advise presidents on scientific matters has never gone so long without a leader. From 135 staffers under Obama, it has been slashed to 45."
That's shocking.  OK, cut a few positions to help with the budget, but this level smacks of book-burning repugnance for actual knowledge.  Wouldn't it be nice to have a few experts around to provide good advice?

Clearly not where the Trump administration is concerned.

* nihilism -- in case you don't know what it means, and I had to look it up myself:

1. total rejection of established laws and institutions.
2. anarchy, terrorism, or other revolutionary activity.
3. total and absolute destructiveness, especially toward the world at large and including oneself

Sounds about right to me.

No comments: