Dan Rather defends science against Jon Stewart: You're sending a "dangerous" message

TheWrap

While Stewart praised scientists during last week's Wuhan lab leak rant on The Late Show, he also said “they are going to kill us all.” "I cannot overemphasize how dangerous this line of thinking is," Rather wrote on his blog over the weekend. "It is true that some scientists have done some bad things in the name of research — such as the Tuskegee experiments. Scientists have been wrong. Science and technology have been tools that supported colonialism and oppression. Science does not release us from our moral responsibilities. All of this is the case because science is a human endeavor and scientists are human, subject to the same frailties and base instincts as any member of our species. But science is also a way of thinking, where we challenge our own dogmas and beliefs, where we change our minds and approach when the data show we were wrong. Stewart is playing into the trope of the mad scientist at a time when we need science more than ever to solve our more pressing problems — most notably climate change. The idea that science is the biggest threat to the planet is terribly irresponsible. It gives free license to all those who say, 'forget what we have learned, forget knowledge, forget seeing reality.' And I fear this reasoning - or should I say 'unreasoning' — has not only consumed the modern Republican party but is in danger of consuming an even broader swath of the American and global public."