# So apparently, science denialists will never admit they're wrong **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 19, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669 "2013-08-19T22:19:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [August 20, 2013, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669/21 "2013-08-20T01:33:54Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > That would be quite an expensive and challenging enterprise. To “take over” an academic, scientific or professional discipline would require 1) finding hundreds of ideologically loyal young recruits who are also both talented and interested in the field in question, and 2) putting them all through the relevant grad schools, and 3) pushing their careers along after that, 4) all without the whole thing coming out at some point. Indeed, deniers never seem to grasp the tall order they get into. Speaking of number 3, another property of deniers is related to that: The “experts” from the denier side that one sees popping out in the media are either non-experts, ideologues, or retired ones that many times are not involved in the field that they are criticizing. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669/22 "2013-08-20T01:38:52Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > So arguing the facts with him, or global warming denialists, or people who don’t believe in evolution, or that the Holocaust happened or whatever is a pointless endeavor. You can’t use facts to argue somebody out of a position they didn’t use facts to get into. Sadly true. If these people were willing to form rational conclusions based on evidence, they wouldn’t have fallen for this nonsense in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669/23 "2013-08-20T01:51:41Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > There is a clear correlation between the US’s acceptance of homosexuality and the impacts of global climate change. I’m pretty sure this is proof that God dislikes the gays. Oh, no, He loves 'em. They get Him . . . hot. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669/24 "2013-08-20T01:54:58Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > . . . how the APA was hijacked by homosexuals in the 70s. . . . I once had a nice chat with a psychiatrist who took an interesting (?) middle view of it. This would have been in the middle 1980’s. He said that many psychiatrists still held that homosexuality was a form of mental illness, but by no longer labelling it as mental illness, it helped to allow homosexuals to live more normal lives, without the additional burden of the stigma. It does make a mild sort of sense. If, simply by stopping calling people “sick,” their suffering is diminished, then it is an act of therapy – and human kindness – to remove the label. Of course, the vast body of subsequent work that has been done shows that the premise is wrong, and that being gay is not a form of mental illness. But at the time, some members of the APA may have reasoned the way my shrink reasoned. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669/25 "2013-08-20T01:56:23Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > There is a clear correlation between the US’s acceptance of homosexuality and the impacts of global climate change. I’m pretty sure this is proof that God dislikes the gays. So much so that He regularly hits Pat Robertson’s house with a hurricane! > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > That would be quite an expensive and challenging enterprise. To “take over” an academic, scientific or professional discipline would require 1) finding hundreds of ideologically loyal young recruits who are also both talented and interested in the field in question, and 2) putting them all through the relevant grad schools, and 3) pushing their careers along after that, 4) all without the whole thing coming out at some point. What the hell are you talking about? Why do it that way when you can just call up the Iljewminazi up and convince them to make it happen? Two phone calls and a sit-down dinner, tops. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669/26 "2013-08-20T02:55:13Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > What the hell are you talking about? Why do it that way when you can just call up the Iljewminazi up and convince them to make it happen? Two phone calls and a sit-down dinner, tops. Yeah, but it’s still expensive . . . Come to think of it, why bother with getting new recruits into a discipline? Just perform the proper rites and take over the souls of the ones in it now. Much cheaper, you just need a few babies’ blood and some incense. ---
**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:** [August 20, 2013, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669/27 "2013-08-20T03:13:48Z")
So, after seeing the deniers in action here, I have to say that I agree with OP, they will never admit that they’re wrong. What is important IMHO is to report to others that could read their pamphlets in Facebook is to make a quick debunking note and a link to more info, it may be useless for the relative, but in my experience other relatives and friends do learn about how loopy the relative is and peer pressure from friends and family does work a little. Be very diplomatic and brief though. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669/28 "2013-08-20T03:15:54Z")
Bloody hell, there are still Flat Earthers! (Gotta hand it to them for persistence, if nothing else…) ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669/29 "2013-08-20T08:22:49Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > So, after seeing the deniers in action here, I have to say that I agree with OP, they will never admit that they’re wrong. > > What is important IMHO is to report to others that could read their pamphlets in Facebook is to make a quick debunking note and a link to more info, it may be useless for the relative, but in my experience other relatives and friends do learn about how loopy the relative is and peer pressure from friends and family does work a little. Be very diplomatic and brief though. And I do, believe me. It’s just… Ugh. These people piss me off. Most recent stupid statement: “You mean YOU SAY the evidence is against me. And why is that ? LOL. Because YOUR GUY says so.” The irony he misses, of course, is that I’m telling him that Social Science Research, the journal that published the study, retracted it - so, to be precise, it’s not my guy telling him he’s wrong… It’s his guy. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669/30 "2013-08-20T08:40:29Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > At least he didn’t shrug off all contrary evidence as being bought and paid for by Big Homo. They should join up with those other guys and become Big Homo Pharma. I’m sure it would play in the sticks. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669/31 "2013-08-20T09:00:15Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > What is important IMHO is to report to others that could read their pamphlets in Facebook is to make a quick debunking note and a link to more info, it may be useless for the relative, but in my experience other relatives and friends do learn about how loopy the relative is and peer pressure from friends and family does work a little. Be very diplomatic and brief though. I am inexorably reminded of this [facebook exchange](http://picsthatdontsuck.com/img/religion-fail.jpg)… ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669/32 "2013-08-20T11:57:26Z")
Discussion devolved into him calling me a sick pervert, so I blocked him. Good riddance. Where do people like this get off? Not just stupid and aggressively ignorant, but _cowardly_ - as if admitting that you’re wrong makes your position weaker. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669/33 "2013-08-20T12:36:08Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Discussion devolved into him calling me a sick pervert, so I blocked him. Good riddance. Where do people like this get off? Not just stupid and aggressively ignorant, but _cowardly_ - as if admitting that you’re wrong makes your position weaker. Worse - if he admits he’s wrong, then the gays win! :eek: (Whatever that means . . . the sky falls, the sun implodes, it rains mimosas every morning, I don’t know.) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669/34 "2013-08-20T12:55:09Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I once had a nice chat with a psychiatrist who took an interesting (?) middle view of it. This would have been in the middle 1980’s. He said that many psychiatrists still held that homosexuality was a form of mental illness, but by no longer labelling it as mental illness, it helped to allow homosexuals to live more normal lives, without the additional burden of the stigma. > > It does make a mild sort of sense. If, simply by stopping calling people “sick,” their suffering is diminished, then it is an act of therapy – and human kindness – to remove the label. Yeah, but then, the question becomes, what makes it a mental illness? If taking away the label can reduce so much suffering, did we ever need the label to begin with? If anyone can lead a happy and productive life without harming anyone else, they by definition do not have a mental illness. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669/35 "2013-08-20T14:28:31Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Yeah, but it’s still expensive . . . Come to think of it, why bother with getting new recruits into a discipline? Just perform the proper rites and take over the souls of the ones in it now. Much cheaper, you just need a few babies’ blood and some incense. Well, when we were getting Sharia Law accepted as the law of the United States, it cost about $3,200 (iljewminazi like expensive restaurants and drink like fish). Oh, plus tip ($20), so really pretty cost effective. Have you checked the spot price on baby’s blood lately? Outrageous! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669/36 "2013-08-20T14:37:01Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > I am inexorably reminded of this [facebook exchange](http://picsthatdontsuck.com/img/religion-fail.jpg)… That’s what the guy gets for posting to Facebook on a Sunday. The let HOMOS be on that thing, you know. That’s no place for a Christian to be on God’s Day… ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669/37 "2013-08-20T14:43:37Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > Worse - if he admits he’s wrong, then the gays win! :eek: > > (Whatever that means . . . the sky falls, the sun implodes,\*\* it rains mimosas every morning,\*\* I don’t know.) Why – that sounds better than pennies from heaven. I’d certainly hold my umbrella upside down for _that_. Wait, are these mimosas the champagne-and-orange juice cocktail, or the flower? I do NOT need an umbrella full of flowers. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669/38 "2013-08-20T14:53:26Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > … it rains mimosas every morning, I don’t know.) _It’s raining men! Hallelujah, it’s raining men!_ ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669/39 "2013-08-20T14:56:35Z")
What the hell is happening to this thread? Did it catch teh gays? ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669/40 "2013-08-20T15:12:02Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > So much so that He regularly hits Pat Robertson’s house with a hurricane! No, no, no. That’s just common sense. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-apparently-science-denialists-will-never-admit-theyre-wrong/666669.md?page=3)