Whatever happened to science—revisited
July 20, 2019
This HND piece goes back to a subject we've covered a few times before: The proliferation of junk science. In this case, we examine a blatant political screed masquerading as science, that checks off so many boxes:
1. Politically correct...check
2. Anti-Trump...check
3. Based on a post hoc fallacy...check
4. Involves a minority group...check
5. Suggests that this minority is suffering at the hands of the bad Orange man...check
6. Cherry picks data...check
7. This cherry picking ignores a much larger trend that destroys the authors' premise...check
8. Key references cited do NOT state what the authors claim
9. Main hypothesis cannot be proven since there is no control group, nor could there ever be one.
10. Even if their hypothesis were proven, it is a pointless finding.
Embarrassingly bad study, yet originating from prestige institutions, and published in a well-regarded journal. Read the complete article.