News
The march of the stupid
Academics and experts must go on the offensive when spin and vested interests threaten to rule the day. Science is under attack and research is easily mocked – and a large proportion of our population are easily persuaded to believe the most dubious propositions. By Paul Abela.
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Andrew Bolt, Piers Akerman, Alan Jones, Janet Albrechtsen, Miranda Devine, Chris Kenny, Paul Sheehan, Gerard Henderson were all invited to Tony Abbott’s post election soiree. They all benefit from what Javes (2010)’s formula: “Certainty plays better than complexity. Anger is more entertaining than reasonableness and blame beats explanation hollow.” From a transactional analysis perspective, these people have been very successful at leveraging Karpman’s drama triangle, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karpman_drama_triangle
The better studies on expertise are concluding that it’s the opening up of expertise to wider ‘networks’ that is the future, not bunkering down and employing better PR. Building even better connections to the wider community, and letting those connections run the full length of the network, right down to the lab bench. Consilience is a mythology, consensus in science comes through the same sort of networked practice as successful engagement with the community requires, and it’s often that wider community now that’s providing genuine insights in the science itself (as in citizen science).
My argument is that academics with a sound clear message need to be at the forefront of the mainstream media. They can only do this by employing the same marketing and PR methods used by professionals in that field.
Universities employ some terrific marketers and PR people, highly trained and experienced professionals and these resources need to be used by academia to deliver simple, easily understood messages so that they become the dominant voice on issues of importance.
My main concern is that it is far too important to allow the loudest voices to become the communities thinking on issues when the real authority should come from sound research and science.