# In the history of the SDMB has anyone ever been wrong about more things than adaher? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 31, 2013, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639 "2013-08-31T04:55:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639/121 "2013-09-03T21:45:16Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > It’s true. The Democratic Party, as lefties often complain, is not a left-wing party, because there are more moderates in the party than liberals. Liberalism is very unpopular. I guess liberals can comfort themselves that being right is what makes them so unpopular, but I could be that delusional too if I wanted to be. [Pew Political Typology 2011.](http://www.people-press.org/2011/05/04/beyond-red-vs-blue-the-political-typology/) “Solid Liberals” make up 14% of the general population, “Staunch Conservatives” only 9%. (“Left-wing” shows not at all, except perhaps as a subset of “Solid Liberals,” but “Libertarian” is now a separate typology category.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639/122 "2013-09-03T21:47:47Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > I thought we were to hear about some major liberal idea that can be conclusively proven to be false. In most cases, I daresay, that would come down to a non-factual question of value judgment anyway. There are countless areas where people of conflicting ideologies can agree entirely on the facts but put contrary constructions on them all day long. ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639/123 "2013-09-03T21:48:37Z")
I think Magiver gives adaher a serious run for his money. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639/124 "2013-09-03T22:10:41Z")
I read **adaher** ’s posts channeling John Hodgman. Adds a lot to the experience. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639/125 "2013-09-03T23:30:47Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > It’s true. The Democratic Party, as lefties often complain, is not a left-wing party, because there are more moderates in the party than liberals. Liberalism is very unpopular. I guess liberals can comfort themselves that being right is what makes them so unpopular, but I could be that delusional too if I wanted to be. That’s funny, because [righties](http://commieblaster.com/RINO/) say the same thing about the Republican Party. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639/126 "2013-09-03T23:36:56Z")
True believers I guess, dead enders. Contrary to popular belief here, I’m not one of those. I’m more self-aware then I let on. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639/127 "2013-09-03T23:39:14Z")
That isn’t from “popular belief”, it’s from the evidence. If you really do know better, it would help you tremendously to act like it. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639/128 "2013-09-03T23:40:47Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > True believers I guess, dead enders. Contrary to popular belief here, I’m not one of those. I’m more self-aware then I let on. Then you are admitting that you are a troll… Not my problem if your act gets you in trouble with management. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639/129 "2013-09-03T23:41:31Z")
There’s a difference between thinking you’re only paying attention to the evidence and actually doing it. Liberals get in trouble because of their arrogance in thinking they are the ones with science on their side. So long as the science is PC, of course, and says that government should intervene in domestic affairs. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639/130 "2013-09-03T23:44:24Z")
What “science” do you think contravenes the liberal outlook? And, since the assumption cannot be granted that you know what it even means, what do you think the word “science” means? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639/131 "2013-09-03T23:48:31Z")
I don’t think any science disproves the liberal outlook, I just think that very little science proves it either. I’d say that like conservatives, liberals are more informed by their values than by science. Which is as it should be, provided it doesn’t directly contradict hard science. Liberals have been known in the past to misjudge the proper role of science. Not that long ago, many people of the left persuasion thought that society could be ordered through the use of experts applying the latest scientific knowledge. That’s scientific hubris. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639/132 "2013-09-03T23:51:54Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > … at least until better Tea Party advocates come along… You do realize that Jesus is not coming back either, right? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639/133 "2013-09-03T23:55:46Z")
Neither is FDR or LBJ. Or anyone like them. Those days are gone forever. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639/134 "2013-09-04T00:07:52Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > If this argument was already settled, the ideologies wouldn’t still be so successful whereas many others have fallen on history’s ash heap, like socialism and monarchism. “History’s ash heap” is what you call the world outside the United States, is it? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639/135 "2013-09-04T00:08:07Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I just have a personal beef with Barack Obama for tearing down a good man… Who? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639/136 "2013-09-04T00:14:10Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > There’s a difference between thinking you’re only paying attention to the evidence and actually doing it. Liberals get in trouble because of their arrogance in thinking they are the ones with science on their side. So long as the science is PC, of course, and says that government should intervene in domestic affairs. Sorry, but a few big items in science are foolishly dismissed by conservatives. More than once I made the point that I consider this the result of bad timing. Under an environmentalist president like Teddy Roosevelt I think with the issue of global warming the Republicans would had supported doing a lot to solve the issue while the Democrats would had been the ones on the wrong side. But this is today, and bad timing or not, most Conservatives are wrong not only on AGW but also on Evolution. And academics that only worried before, usually from conservative creationists and Intelligent designers from destroying science curriculums and teaching, now have to worry from the also mostly conservative climate change deniers. So much so that _ **non-partisan** _ organizations that mostly concentrated on defending evolution in academia from creationists had to add also the defense of the teaching of global warming. [http://ncse.com/about/history](http://ncse.com/about/history) > [@](#): > > The best guarantee of good education is public understanding of the issues. NCSE continues to work constructively to promote public awareness of the importance of science education, and the importance of evolution and climate change in science education. Meanwhile, even though the past few decades have seen several court decisions confirming that religiously inspired “scientific creationism” and its cousin “Intelligent Design” may not be advocated instead of or alongside evolution, pressure to teach so-called “alternatives to evolution” continues. Much of NCSE’s work still involves supporting citizens who oppose anti-evolution at the state and local level. > > In 2012, in response to complaints from teachers that they were coming under fire for teaching global warming and other climate change concepts, NCSE decided to support the teaching of climate change in addition to evolution. Both evolution and climate change are well-accepted by scientists as being based on sound research, but the percentages of members of the public accepting these sciences is sharply lower. There are organizations dedicated to decreasing the acceptance and teaching of evolution and/or climate change: another parallel. NCSE has had decades of experience helping teachers cope with political and other pressures against the teaching of evolution; we believe this experience is transferable to the problems involving the teaching of climate change. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639/137 "2013-09-04T00:14:46Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I don’t think any science disproves the liberal outlook, I just think that very little science proves it either. Sez the guy who believes polls are skewed. 😉 > [@](#): > > liberals are more informed by their values than by science. Creationism, climate change denial, “racial realism” … what are the liberal equivalents, do you think? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639/138 "2013-09-04T00:22:36Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I’m more self-aware then I let on. You’d have to be. [rimshot] ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639/139 "2013-09-04T00:23:55Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > There’s a difference between thinking you’re only paying attention to the evidence and actually doing it. Liberals get in trouble because of their arrogance in thinking they are the ones with science on their side. So long as the science is PC, of course, and says that government should intervene in domestic affairs. Science never says “should.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639/140 "2013-09-04T00:26:57Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Liberals have been known in the past to misjudge the proper role of science. Not that long ago, many people of the left persuasion thought that society could be ordered through the use of experts applying the latest scientific knowledge. That’s scientific hubris. The notion of completely re-ordering society may have faded, but there are still plenty of scientists, economists, sociologists and technocrats giving advice to politicians, and the wiser governments are the ones who listen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-history-of-the-sdmb-has-anyone-ever-been-wrong-about-more-things-than-adaher/667639.md?page=8)