Scientists are not here to make people feel stupid, but to advance knowledge to others. Some are good at it communicating it while others tend to be less-than-personable. That's okay, since they spend years studying to understand their field and, if you really think about it, most people are bad at communicating anyway (I'm working on it, people). That's why there are people who, while not possessing a PhD or even a bachelor's degree in any particular field of science, do have the ability to boil down research and help people to understand it. They are able to read scientific papers, which I admit are not exciting to me, and turn them into language that non-scientific people can understand. Unfortunately, there's another group that want to help people "understand". There are people out there who claim to have knowledge about "dangerous chemicals" and "safe alternatives" for everything from Pumpkin Spice Lattes to Cancer Treatment. They don't, but they claim they do, and they will sell it to you, by using "common sense" to sell it. Remember what I said above, "common sense has little use in science." Of course, these people are good at making convincing arguments to the gullible by making them "feel" smarter. People are now having their biases confirmed by an entire community of bunk-believers. But they're using science to tell this to people. Science gives us vaccines, antibiotics, cleaner burning fuels, iPhones, laptop computers, and the internet. To accept some of this, but not others is hypocritical. There are not different scientific methods. for different fields of science. There is one method and it has proven successful. Yes, a scientific journal published a bu****it paper about a link between vaccines and autism, but then they retracted it and the medical community stripped the offending person of his ability to practice medicine. Of course, the damage was done, and now the mop-up work continues. So many people bought into that bit of misinformation that we are now seeing a measles epidemic centered around Orange County, California. Sorry for the long-winded rant, but I'm tired of the anti-science rhetoric that can be so dangerous to people. It is also detrimental to the education of children and even adults. Science is about understanding the natural world. Evidence is gathered and analyzed and conclusions drawn from it in order to advance our knowledge. That's it.
