Why skeptics should embrace political advocacy — and how they can do it
January 16, 2012
In my nearly three years working in the skeptic community, I have
learned many important things. I’ve been taught how science works, and
how to spot pseudoscience. I’ve discovered how we fool ourselves into
believing we’ve seen ghosts, aliens, and other scary monsters that
likely don’t exist. And I’ve found out how psychics, mediums and others
prey upon other humans for monetary gain. I’ve also realized that
skeptics, like most human beings, love their community. Conferences, pub
meetings, blogs, and podcasts: these represent comfortable places
where most members are relatively sane and rational, and inquiry into
almost any subject is welcomed.
Yet, often ignored or forgotten
in the fray of social discussion on science denialism and hucksterism,
and community building, is that skepticism also deserves a voice in
public policy debates. Secularists have recognized this, and founded
organizations like Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Freedom from Religion Foundation, and the Secular Coalition in order to pair with more socially focused groups. So far, skeptics have not.
In my view, skepticism, like secular thinking, should not be limited to
the social. It should also be engaged in the political. This essay
will attempt to outline why I believe this, and propose both issues and
methods that would help skeptics get more involved in the political
process.
There are several reasons why many skeptics are not as
engaged in political advocacy as much as I think they ought to be. Here
are three of the most common:
1. Politics concerns values, which are not amenable to empirical inquiry or rational discussion.
2. Politics demands political party affiliation.
3. Politics is irrational and messy. The system is broken.
As a result of these objections — and, to be sure, skimpy funding —
there are few dedicated skeptical lobby groups, or skeptic organizations
that lobby on traditionally skeptic issues.
And, without an organized skeptical-political movement, there are few skeptics who get involved in the political process.
I think the three objections above are mistaken, and that they have negative consequences. Here are my brief rebuttals:
1. Skepticism might mostly be about applying science to problems
concerning, say, pseudoscience and health, but science itself does rely
upon values. These values include, at the least: methodological
naturalism, evidence and testability, and logical coherence.
Furthermore, while values might not be amenable to empirical study, they
are and should be subject to another thing skeptics value: rational
examination. This is not to say reason is all-powerful. But reason can
help us evaluate our values and help us assess whether we have properly
thought them out. It is also not to say that skepticism should
critically examine all values. Rather, my point is that skeptics should
not avoid debates just because in some way they include talk of values.
2. Admittedly, much of politics is battles between political parties
and factions, such as Republicans, Democrats, Greens, and independents.
Yet one need not fit into, or adopt, any of the aforementioned parties
to be engaged in the political process.
Indeed, I believe
skepticism is by definition non-partisan, and therefore it is
unnecessary to consider which political party to lean toward. This is
because skepticism is a method, not a position. As such, I think
skeptics will be most successful politically if they can manage to
focus on applying the method to specific political problems within the
domain of skepticism, several of which I will propose below.
3. Politics is certainly often irrational and messy, but it is not necessarily
irrational and messy. There are always chances to inject a sliver of
rationality into an irrational system. The question is whether you think
this is worthwhile.
Moreover, while our political system might
appear to be broken, one of the few ways to actually effect change —
and perhaps even fix the system — is to work within it. I value
conversations on how to make change outside of the current system, or
to create a better one. But while having that conversation, we should
realize change is being made within the current system. We can either
let it happen without resistance, or we can put our chips on the table
and work to defend our worldview.
Two questions now remain: which political issues should skeptics concern themselves with? And how should they get involved?
A couple of issues immediately come to mind: evolution in public
schools and climate change. Leaving these important but well-worn
issues aside for a moment, I propose there are at least three other
topics that skeptics could readily concern themselves with:
—
Defunding and/or dismantling the National Center for Complementary and
Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). Since 1992, NCCAM (previously the Office
of Alternative Medicine) has been awarded $2 billion for research, and
currently has an annual budget of $134 million. Yet nearly twenty years
of study have shown that most alternative medicine “cures” work no
better than placebos. As David Gorski writes
on Science-Based Medicine, NCCAM should be defunded or abolished, and
any valuable parts should be folded into the National Institutes for
Health (NIH).
— Health coverage for alternative medicine
practices that have been proven ineffective. Again, most well-known
alternative medicine practices have been shown to be unsuccessful as
medical cures. Yet lawmakers continue to push for their coverage under
health care plans. From Derek Araujo last year:
“Congressional allies of the so-called ‘complementary and alternative
medicine’ industry successfully introduced language in health care
reform legislation requiring insurers to cover any state-licensed health
care providers — including, of course, complementary and alternative
medicine practitioners. Language prohibiting ‘discrimination’ against
any state-licensed practitioners survived in the Affordable Care Act
President Obama signed into law on March 23, 2010.”
— Government-mandated vaccines and religious exemptions. In all 50 U.S. states, children are required to be properly immunized
before attending school. However, in addition to medical exemptions
offered in each state, 48 states allow for religious exemptions, while
20 states allow for personal belief exemptions for daycare and school (source). Unfortunately, this has recently become a more popular trend, leading to greater danger of a serious outbreaks.
These three issues all: stem from historically skeptical subjects;
concern some talk of values, but mostly are about science; do not demand
party affiliation; and might actually be winnable.
How can skeptics go about getting involved in these issues?
The first step is to merely pay attention and get informed. Take a
second and click over to any number of web sites and blogs that carry
position papers, reports, and news analysis. Some suggestions: the
Center for Inquiry’s (CFI) Office of Public Policy, National Center for Science Education (NCSE), the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), the National Council Against Health Fraud, Science-Based Medicine, QuackWatch, and even SkepChick.
The second, and perhaps more important step, is to actually make your
voice heard. Even without dedicated skeptic lobby organizations, armed
with information, you can and should write and call your lawmakers. Sign
up to receive action alerts from organizations such as CFI-OPP, NCSE, and USC,
and you’ll soon start receiving emails that will allow you to easily
message your representatives on issues relating to science and
skepticism. It takes only a couple of minutes for you to fill out an
action alert and send it along to a lawmaker, who is — contra to what
many think — almost certainly paying attention (perhaps not to the
unique content in each message, but certainly to the number of messages
they receive). Or, if you feel so compelled, write a letter to your
representative (though be aware that due to restrictive security
measures, there’s a good chance your letter will be delayed several months,
or might never even reach its intended audience). Or pick up a phone
and let your representative know you care about a certain issue and are
paying attention to his or her actions.
More broadly, attend
local hearings and public forums and voice your opinion. Share action
alerts and other links to Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and whatever
other social networks you use. Write letters to the editor. Comment on
blog posts and online news articles. Do whatever you can to spread the
message.
You might think that all of this is relatively
inconsequential, but that is not true. Politicians essentially care
about two things: money and votes. We might not have the money, but we
do represent votes. The more that elected officials hear from us —
whether by action alert, letter, phone call, or other means — the more
they will have to consider our points of view. And the more that others
see that you are engaged, the more likely they will be to get involved
and engaged as well. Which means that politicians might have to
consider our viewpoints sooner than they thought.
Perhaps more
importantly, writing a letter, placing a phone call, sharing a link, or
penning a letter to the editor takes very little of your time, and
there is no guarantee your fellow skeptics will take up the cause. If
you don’t do it, no one else might do it either. And that would be a
shame, because a moment of your time could make a difference.
——
Note: this essay is adapted from a talk I gave at SkeptiCamp NYC on Saturday, Dec. 3. I will let you know if video surfaces.
Further note: I think the word “skeptic” could be replaced with many other labels. We could all probably be more engaged in the political process anyway. But this talk was tailored specifically for SkeptiCamp, so there you have it.
Comments:
#2 Michael De Dora on Tuesday January 17, 2012 at 12:55pm
@Blamer,
Yes, I should have stated that I’ve heard those objections at a range of local skeptics events: skeptics in the pub, discussion groups, lectures, panels, conferences, etc.
Also, I very much like your idea for a “take action” button on popular skeptic web sites. Hopefully some skeptic bloggers see your post.
#1 - Blamer .. on Monday January 16, 2012 at 1:08am
“several reasons why many skeptics are not as engaged in political advocacy… three of the most common:”
I assume this is what you’re hearing from folks at skeptical meet ups…?
I’m tempted to guess at 3 more, from the point-of-view of an armchair skeptic:
1. skepticism is a FUN passtime, politics is serious
2. changing laws/minds is HARD and time-consuming
3. activists must butt heads with BUTTHEADS
To get me off the sidelines (become more active than pushing links around the twittersphere and attending the occasional presentation) perhaps popular skeptical websites can start adopting a method for their readers to “take local action” on specific political issues of the day. That is, +1 an effective political petition, spam out pre-written email addressed to my local elected official, etc.