MOUTHING OFF: Recent debates, like this one from August, have revealed some peculiar ideas about science.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
In recent months, politicians cranking up their campaigns for the 2012 presidential elections have made some science claims that might be called interesting at best. Whether it's Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) comparing himself with Galileo or U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R–Minn.) claiming, against all scientific evidence, that the HPV vaccine causes mental retardation, it's clear that some leaders' grasps on science are tenuous at best.* Of course, this summer was hardly the first season during which politicians and celebrities have flubbed at science. In fact, it happens all the time.
We decided to take a look back at some of the biggest science goofs made by public figures in the past 10 years. Some of these were submitted by Scientific American readers, who wrote in with their favorites. Others came from Sense about Science's yearly report on celebrity science gaffes. The rest came from simply searching the Internet, and, let's just say, they weren't hard to find. Did your favorite make this list? Feel free to let us know about the latest vacuous statement tossed off as scientific fact that you've heard or read in the news in the past month by e-mailing us at submit@sciam.com. Please include a URL or other source that documents the statement.
Sally Kern, Oklahoma State Rep. (R), presenting some skewed social statistics:
"Studies show that no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than, you know, a few decades. So it's the death knell of this country."—March 11, 2008
"While terrorism has killed more than 3,000 people in the continental United States in the last 15 years, homosexual behavior has killed more than 100,000. It's a danger to life. It is a danger to health."—October 8, 2008
"We have a high percentage of blacks in prison, and that's tragic, but are they in prison because they are black or because they don't want to study as hard in school? I've taught school, and I saw a lot of people of color who didn't study hard because they said the government would take care of them."—April 27, 2011
Rep. Hank Johnson, (D–Ga.), explaining why he was concerned for the U.S. territory of Guam if a new Marine contingent was sent to the island:
"My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize."—March 25, 2010
Fox News host Bill O'Reilly recently speaking with David Silverman, president of American Atheists:
"I'll tell you why [religion is] not a scam, in my opinion," he told Silverman. "Tide goes in, tide goes out. Never a miscommunication. You can't explain that. You can't explain why the tide goes in."—January 4th 2011
An article in O, The Oprah Magazine on a healer who calls himself "John of God" is overflowing with bad science. Susan Casey, the editor of O and author of the story, wrote:
"Despite widespread skepticism, evidence shows that energy healing not only exists but can be deeply powerful. Traditional Eastern treatments like acupuncture and Reiki act to strengthen the body's life force, known as chi or prana. Prayer as a conduit for healing is a long-held religious ritual, along with the laying on of hands."—December 2010 issue of O.
Model Heather Mills, promoting her newly opened vegan restaurant, told The Guardian just how unhealthy she thinks meat is:
"[Meat] sits in your colon for 40 years and putrefies, and eventually gives you the illness you die of. And that is a fact."—July 19, 2009
To the dismay of metallurgists all over the world, Rosie O'Donnell claimed that the 9/11 attacks had to have been an inside job, because heat simply cannot melt metal.
"I do believe that it's the first time in history that fire has ever melted steel."—March 29, 2007
To prove that it's not just U.S. celebrities and politicians who trip up, here's then–prime minister of Canada, Jean Chrétien, trying to explain what proof is:
"A proof is a proof. What kind of proof? It's a proof. A proof is proof. And when you have a good proof, it's because it is proven."—September 5, 2002
Last but not least, cage fighter Alex Reid has some interesting ideas about sex and sports:
"It's actually very good for a man to have unprotected sex as long as he doesn’t ejaculate. Because I believe that all that semen has a lot of nutrition. A tablespoon of semen has your equivalent of steak, eggs, lemons and oranges. I am reabsorbing it into my body and it makes me go, 'Raaaaahh!'."—April 8, 2010
*Correction (10/12/11): This sentence was edited after posting. It originally misidentified Michele Bachmann as a Senator.
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28 Comments
Add CommentDisappointing. Several of these, while quite doofy, aren't science at all, so hard to call them bad science. It's more like a list of public statements the author really disagrees with.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJust because a scientist (or science writer) disagrees with something doesn't make it bad science, or, for that matter, wrong or stupid.
There must be tons of far better examples of public science gaffes by politicians and celebrities.
I don't think it has to do with the author disagreeing with the claims made by these public figures. It's more about these figures affirming those statements as facts which are neither supported by scientific facts or observable evidences. And quite frankly most of those things I learned in elementary school (tidal waves... come on!)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisre: Jean Chrétien
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou have left out the context in which this quote was uttered. It was in reply to a reporter asking what would be sufficient proof of WMD to allow Canadian troops to take part in the second Iraq invasion (Shock and Awe etc.) We're actually still waiting on the proof.
The author is confusing intelligence with education.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou forgot the Al Gore invented the internet.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRe Rosie O, we all know she's an idiot so no suprise there.
For further examples, give a call to James Randi, aka The Amazing Randi.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMichelle Bachmann is not a Senator, thank goodness. She is a member of the House of Representatives from Minnesota.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThese are absolutely wonderful. They're deeply saddening, but wonderful nonetheless. Americans are great, and as for Jean Chrétien, QED.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisae7ox, Gore never claimed to have invented the internet. He claimed to have created the internet, and the record shows that he has as good a claim as anyone. If you want a more detailed explanation head over to snopes.com and look up their page about it. http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI wonder what kind of environment these guys grew up in? During more than 90-years of accumulating red meat in his intestines, my grandfather would fart and tell us kids there was a puppy under the couch. Naturally, a two year old kid might have a look but by the time you're three, you get the joke.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe scientific community is welcome to join me in my quest for new wisdom. But first, we need to get busy and chisel a new engine for Rosie O'Donnell's car. Never mind all that casting and welding.
Michelle Bachmann and her followers need to hear that vaccines give you the disease. No need to explain the details Louis Pasteur's germ theory. It's much more fun to see how far they run without the background information.
We should be proud that Rick Perry has finally assumed the role of Galileo in modern society. No doubt the church is preparing a trial for heresy as I write these words of commendation. House arrest is bound to ensue as Perry defends science against the tyrannical power of Dark Age religion. He stands a good chance of being burnt at the stake for defending the truth.
Homosexuals destroying the country is nothing new. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson had a field day blaming homosexuals for the attacks on September 11, 2001...or rather they blamed God. I guess their assistants forgot to pass them their crib notes. Logic might lead us to believe that an omnipotent God would have good enough aim to spare all the heterosexuals who worked in the World Trade Center. Given God's history of random shotgun attacks and bombings on America, I'm not sure that putting gays back in the closet is going to help us much.
My advice to David Silverman would be to moon Bill O'Reilly next time they meet. See which way the tide goes after that.
We're in the middle of an election season. When aren't we these days? I estimate that the stream of nonsense flowing from the mouths of politicians and celebrities is not likely to diminish. This could be a regular feature and more fun than a barrel of non-evolved humans.
Have to agree with abbot about Chretien. The 'proof' comment does not just need to be read in context, but it also helps if you hear it, and if you understand Chretien better. He doesn't suffer fools easily, and when reporters ask questions that he perceives to be silly he can get quite flippant, which he did in that case. English is not his first language, but he uses it well.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisabsolutely hysterical! thanks for making my night!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUm... Al Gore never made that claim. I saw the actual interview and he was asked what his biggest achievement as a Senator was (Or what he was proudest of) and he said that what he was proudest of was championing funding for arpa-net (Which he actually did, thank you very much). That funding really did eventually result in the internet, but he didn't make that claim. This is why the authors are asking for Citations to prove the statements were actually made.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"...Bachmann...claiming, against all scientific evidence, that the HPV vaccine causes mental retardation..."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTo be clear, Bachmann didn't make the claim, she relayed a story some woman told her after a debate. I guess it's still a good example of her inability to distinguish between the weight of a random anecdote as opposed to evidence gathered in a controlled clinical trial. But I think, at best, she implied that the HPV vaccine, along with known and insidious adverse events such as soreness at the injection site also causes mental retardation in otherwise healthy young christian women.
For the actual comment, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cru2KsV5UxA starting around the 2:15 mark.
Also, personally, if my straight-A daughter mysteriously developed mental retardation immediately after Rick Perry's gang hog-tied her with bondage gear and injected her with the HPV vaccine, I would also be running up to random political candidates to tell them all about her poor grades. I would also write a letter to Andy Rooney, because he addresses real issues, for real Americans unlike this Scientific American rag.
Reading all this makes me go "Raaaaaaahhh!"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh, and ae7ox - that's a Limbaugh-invented myth. Gore never claimed to have invented the Internet. He did, however, and correctly, state that he led the legislative effort that made DARPANET public, which laid the foundation for today's Internet.
T
Seems like "Al Gore says he invented the Internet" is another one of these statements without any real proof.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Fire can't melt steel." Come on, that just takes the cake. Maybe the author should have just done a line-up of Rosie O'Donnell jokes.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat comment is also missing context. I'm certain she's referring to the conspiracy theory about the WTC being a controlled demo.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe argument is that the plane crash couldn't have created enough heat to melt the steel girders or otherwise cause the towers to collapse in the manner in which video shows they collapsed.
Perhaps a misguided view, but I think the article is being dishonest in representing it as evidence that Rosie O'Donnel believes steel cannot be melted with earth-fire.
Can you post a video or audio link to Gore saying this?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow many years of extreme weather events will it take for folks to take an interest in science education?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm reminded of the adage that 47% of all statistics quoted are made-up on the spot.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisptschneider, the correct number 53% on Tuesdays.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFriday surveys, which are affected by being post hump-day, show the relevant number to 97%.
I'm never wrong on Eskimo Surveys.
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Truly mind-boggling displays of misinformation. It is highly unlikely that the electorate will revolt at being pandered to as ignorami. Got to laugh to keep from crying.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe cage fighter who said that a man should not climax, but "reabsorb" his semen instead, must have been channeling General Jack Ripper, from "Dr. Strangelove". The good general tells Peter Sellers that he realized that his fatigue after making love was a result of the "commie conspiracy" to put fluoride in water. Since then, he tells Sellers, whenever he is with a woman, "I deny them my essence."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou are saying if you disagree with a known fact, then it's not really a fact, and your not stupid.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFacts don't function like that, but CheapCheaps do.
It's like a foolish car ad on cable, the more you see it, the less you respect the company.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat's true. I saw the interview too.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSome people need a "Wack on the Side of the Head" a few times to think more clearly, others are hopeless.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Wack on the Side of the Head" is a commonsense book to think better.
(by Microsoft, the 60's maybe)