I used to think liberals were more logical than conservatives
I used to think that conservatives were just stupidly illogical. They deny things like global warming and evolution and parade out a couple “scientists” that disagree with the vast majority of those who have studied the evidence. They try to argue that things like evolution are more of a feeling than what science is – a method of discovering truth through verifiable, repeatable tests.
Unfortunately, I’m starting to see that liberals can be just as silly and unscientific – just on different things. One of my friends recently said that I should be eating fresh produce (fruits and veg) rather than canned or frozen saying that canned and frozen produce lost most of its nutrients. While I agree that one must watch out for the sodium in many canned foods, I believed that frozen foods were just as good. Wanting to convince me, she sent me an article to prove it to me. In it, she cited the line saying, “Most nutritionists and dietitians would agree that fresh fruits and vegetables are nutritionally ideal.” It’s true that the article says that, unfortunately the evidence in the article says that conclusion is simply wrong.
The article cites evidence from three groups (the United States Department of Agriculture, the International Food Information Council, and the University of Illinois) that all say that canned and frozen produce has equal or greater nutritional value when compared to fresh. So, the authors marshal evidence showing that canned and frozen are just as good as fresh and then include a line saying that clearly fresh is the best.
That conclusion is incongruous with the evidence. The article cited no evidence that fresh was better. So just because some writer decided it was a good line makes it true? Just because the writer felt like fresh should be better, no amount of evidence should prove otherwise?
Sound familiar? It’s because it’s the exact same thing conservatives have been doing with things like evolution. No matter how much evidence we gather showing that the earth is way older than 5,000 years, they ignore it – because it contradicts how they wish things were.
I know that this friend likes the idea of farming and agriculture and frozen/canned foods have the stench of big business and modernity rather than a nice agrarian society, but that doesn’t change evidence. Christians like the idea of a creator, but that doesn’t change the evidence behind evolution.
You can’t pick and choose where you want to be logical and scientific.