How to Corrupt Science

You would think that science is the one place we can overcome the tendency to divide the world into different sexes. You would imagine that a scientific fact is a scientific fact, regardless of whether the scientist is a man or a woman.

Of course, we are not dealing with particle physics or string theory here. We are dealing with what is gingerly called social or psychological science. 

William Briggs was drawn to consider the issue when he read a Twitter comment, by one Thanatos Savehn (via Maggie’s Farm):

I’ve noted many Science articles claiming that empathy is surely the cure for our ills, so I looked into it. I wonder if a significance test might shed some light on whether there’s an association between the frequency of girlboss scientists and the frequency of empathy papers?

So, empathy is a buzzword, denoting a female scientist. As I have noted in these pages, a pregnant woman’s empathy circuits are enhanced, thus preparing her for caring for an infant. 

Briggs discovered that the word has become ubiquitous over the past several years, corresponding to the increased number of female scientists. It shows how science is being feminized. 

Another word that signals the presence of a feminine sensibility is: feelings. How many men do you know who tell you that they want to share feelings or that they care about how you really feel? Now, the more women become scientists, the more their so-called scientific studies emphasize the importance of feelings.

Needless to say, the opposite of feelings is fact, not to mention rationality. The more you insist that human beings are not rational animals, but are emotional creatures who are defined by their feelings, the closer you are to a feminine mindset.

And then there are certain woke phrases, phrases that have crept into science and that one hopes will soon creep out of science.

Among them, “sex assigned at birth,” “pregnant men” and “chestfeeding.”

Of course, this is a sign of corruption. It tells us that objectivity is being compromised in favor of ideology. It attempts to change reality by forcing enough people to define it differently. 

And then there is another favorite buzzword: empower. You hear it constantly, from men and women, from the woke and the not-so-woke.

It’s no longer about doing science or even uncovering the secrets of the universe. It’s about normalizing a certain ideology. Now that the electorate has repudiated said ideology, we will soon see whether science follows suit.

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