I came across this book after reading two books on the science of climate change. I, therefore, was familiar with the denial movement's efforts to quash the science in that case. Merchants of Doubt showed me just how this phenomenon was not just an issue with climate science but with many other facets of science. Oreskes and Conway summed it up nicely saying, "Doubt is crucial to science - in the version we call curiosity or healthy skepticism, it drives science forward - but it also makes science vulnerable to misrepresentation, because it is easy to take uncertainties out of context and create the impression that everything is unresolved." This is their culmination of five years of research.
The authors begin, by explaining the doubt that was sowed by the tobacco industry. I think we are all familiar with the manner in which the industry tried to persuade the public that smoking and second hand smoke were not dangerous. This continued on with the Strategic Defense Initiative during the Regan administration where a coordinated attack was made on the concept of a nuclear winter as proposed by Carl Sagan and others. This marked a period where "the right-wing turn against science had begun." The attack on nuclear winter was a prelude to the fights that were to come. Continuing to the subject of acid rain, the authors noted a familiar pattern emerging, and that was that scientific facts were published in peer review scientific journals - where few non-scientists would see them - while all the claims that acid rain was not a problem pushed by the deniers ended up in the mainstream media for all to see.
The next topic was the fight over the ozone hole. The authors explained in detail the counter narrative proposed by the ozone hole deniers despite all the scientific evidence to the contrary - that the ozone depletion was a natural variation "that was being cynically exploited by a corrupt, self-interested, and extremist scientific community to get more money for their research." Really? - no, of course not. This was to be the narrative to be used by the global warming deniers as well. During the 1980s, "an anti-environmentalism had taken root in a network of conservative and libertarian think tanks in Washington," such as the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Marshall Institute, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. These institutes derived their support from businessmen, corporations, and conservative foundations. What the deniers were afraid of was anything that impeded the free markets and the capitalist system, or that caused the government to produce any kind of regulation that might affect business interests according to Fred Singer, a prominent individual in the denier movement.
I particularly liked the section on global warming, having just read two books previously on this "seemingly" controversial subject. The authors show that there is, in fact, no controversy; the climate scientists are correct in their assessments - yes, really! It was the small number of key people, such as Seitz, Jastrow, Nierenberg, and Singer who engaged in a campaign of misinformation, and these people, along with others, can "have large, negative impacts, especially if they are organized, determined, and have access to power." These men had the power by virtue of positions as physicists during the cold war era. This movement has turned into a stealthy financed, powerful, conglomerate of various organizations bent on attacking the science in order to achieve various political and industry goals.
And now we turn our attention to Rachel Carson and her book Silent Spring. This book was written in 1962. I have heard the harsh criticism - bordering on contempt - against her by various right-wing media outlets, and I wondered what in the world this woman did over fifty years ago, and why is this decades old debate being reopened. The authors brilliantly cleared up my questions. You might know that Carson brought attention to the indiscriminate use of pesticides in the environment. Eventually, about ten years later, a ban was implemented by Richard Nixon. This turned out to be an example of regulation done well, based on several national level science assessments that confirmed the dangers of the persistent chemical DDT. Well, as the authors point out, "free marketers realized that if you could convince people that an example of successful government regulation wasn't, in fact, successful - that it was actually a mistake - you could strengthen the argument against regulation in general." Also noted is that the environmental movement was shifting from an aesthetic environmentalism towards one more oriented in favor of legal regulation. Ah, now we know why this matter is in the news, and why the attack on Carson. Carson's input was fundamental to this reorientation. If Carson could be proved wrong, then perhaps this reorientation could be shown to be based on a fallacy, and the anti-regulatory powers that be could be vindicated. I don't want to leave out that the authors make a very compelling case showing why DDT failed and why it did not lead to "millions of deaths" as claimed by people such as Steve Milloy (founder of The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition for Philip Morris) and J. Gordon Edwards (entomologist at San Jose State University) - a phrase that is now repeated by right-wing media outlets. This was a riveting chapter. It read like an intriguing suspense novel!
I found the next chapter on free speech and free markets to be just as riveting. Many of these deniers believe in something that has been called "free market fundamentalism." This basically says the free markets are the only way to run an economic system that will not ultimately destroy our freedoms. However, the authors note that this belief system is uncannily similar to its bête noir - Marxism. They say that like Marxism, laissez-faire economics claimed to be scientific, based upon immutable laws of nature, and also like Marxism, it has not stood the test of experience. If it were a scientific theory, it would have long ago been rejected." They conclude that this fundamentalism is just an article of faith. But it is this "faith" that has resulted in these "fundamentalists" coming to the unbelievable notion that environmentalism is the next great threat to freedom, that it is a slippery path to socialism, that environmentalists are closet socialists, that people in the United Nations are connected to the International Socialist Party and they are the ones in the UN environmental program. I read this and said to myself: Wow, really! It appears that the Cold War Warriors (Jastrow, Seitz, Nierenberg, and others) needed a new threat and found it in environmentalism. But as a more in depth analysis shows, it is all about government regulation; anything that promotes more regulation, even if necessary, is anathema to these people, and, I might add, to the businesses that fund them. The sad part is the nature of the attacks on scientists doing good science. Some have become reluctant to make strong claims or err on the side of conservatism because of fear of attack. It seems that intimidation works. I could go on, but you'll just have to read the book to get the full story.
I highly recommend this book. It does an excellent job of clearing the fog of misinformation that seems so pervasive today. If you have any lingering doubts on any of these subjects or if you wonder what the truth of the matter is in each case, please read the book.
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Alexander Sokol
Well researched and very important
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 7, 2013
