Abuse of Science in Politics

North Carolina provides a recent example of science-based policy. The science itself was a study of voting habits among the population of the state. In 2013, North Carolina passed new voting restrictions. To inform those restrictions, the legislature commissioned a study on voting habits by race, and then wrote into law a series of restrictions that specifically targeted African Americans. (Last month, a Federal Court struck down these restrictions, claiming that “the new provisions target African Americans with almost surgical precision.”)

This was a science-informed policy: the legislature sought data, and then wrote laws based upon that data. The evidence, to those who voted for it, was fine. But what North Carolina discovered wasn’t any new avenue for freedom, but a better tool for repression. As the American constitution is set up, courts provide protections for minority groups against the will of the masses directed through legislatures. Weight of evidence alone isn’t enough to guarantee a win in a case.

Notes:

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 Neil DeGrasse Tyson Doubles Down on Rationalia
Electronic/World Wide Web>Internet Article:  Atherton, Kelsey D. (20160808), Neil DeGrasse Tyson Doubles Down on Rationalia, Popular Science, Retrieved on 2016-09-02
  • Source Material [www.popsci.com]
  • Folksonomies: science governance


    Triples

    02 SEP 2016

     Rationalia VS the Abuse of Science

    Neil DeGrasse Tyson's Rationalia > Contrast > Abuse of Science in Politics
     
    Folksonomies: science governance
    Folksonomies: science governance