Earlier this summer, Professor Jacobson reviewed the ideological capture of our military institutions. In his piece, the focus was on Critical Race Theory and the implementation of Diversity-Equity-Inclusion programs that target conservative service members and weaken our national defense.
I would now like to review the troubling impact that redounds from the ideological capture of our scientific institutions. The fallout is no less serious, and I fear that we are on the leading edge of a tsunami of unintended consequences that we cannot even begin to fathom.
One of the most significant issues related to media-supplied information scientific news, discoveries, and theories, is that few journalists and pundits have any advanced education in physical or life science, statistics, engineering, or other technological degrees. Therefore, the focus of the stories will be on the approved narratives and regurgitation of “facts” that could be properly challenged by other sources and data.
Which brings me today’s example of flaming ideological capture: Scientific American’s article, “How Medicine’s Fixation on the Sex Binary Harms Intersex People“.
The piece is in support of a documentary created by Meghan McDonough is a filmmaker and journalist based in Brooklyn, New York. The documentary asserts that “Normalizing” infants’ and children’s genital appearance to match a sex assigned in early age isn’t medically necessary and can negatively impact quality of life.
One of the episodes in the series is entitled the “Myth of 2 Sexes.” And so while it is true there are a genetic issues that can impact individuals, 99.982% of people will clearly fall into one of two genders (sexual preferences aside). However, the title certainly is edgy and in keeping with today’s preferred narratives.
The documentary is filled with LGBQT platitudes, and as an extra bonus, there is a dig at Western Culture at about five minutes into the clip.
While it is good to support the best care options for those with genetic issues, entitling two genders as a “myth” while there is a push to promote transgender surgeries among children is disturbing. And dangerous.
Several European nations have suspended or drastically restricted support for this supposedly “well-established medical practice” following new evidence.Research reveals, for example, that pediatric transition delivers poor or no mental-health improvements for those who undergo it. The cancer drug used off-label to halt puberty has been shown to cause shocking side effects, such as stunted growth, cognitive impairment, brittle bones and even blindness. And of course once a surgeon has cut your teen daughter’s healthy breasts off, they ain’t growing back — even if she changes her mind later on.
I am looking forward to the Scientific American piece of transgender surgery harm. Surely there is one upcoming.
I did a deep dive into McDonough’s education background, to determine what science expertise she might bring to “Scientific American”. Here is McDonough’s resume, and here is a summary of her education from LinkedIn.
Amherst CollegeFilm and Media StudiesActivities and societies: Phi Beta Kappa; Varsity Women’s Lacrosse; Social Project Work Group; co-founded student production company Pioneer Creative; produced original series “Show & Tell” (vimeo.com/showandtellshorts) Activities and societies: Phi Beta Kappa; Varsity Women’s Lacrosse; Social Project Work Group; co-founded student production company Pioneer Creative; produced original series “Show & Tell” (vimeo.com/showandtellshorts)
Without the scientific background, there isn’t the experience to know when to research and find alternative sources with different data. Take, for example, the documentary’s assertion that the number of intersex people is 1.7%. According to the Journal of Sex Research, that number is a little high (emphasis mine).
Anne Fausto-Sterling s suggestion that the prevalence of intersex might be as high as 1.7% has attracted wide attention in both the scholarly press and the popular media. Many reviewers are not aware that this figure includes conditions which most clinicians do not recognize as intersex, such as Klinefelter syndrome, Turner syndrome, and late-onset adrenal hyperplasia. If the term intersex is to retain any meaning, the term should be restricted to those conditions in which chromosomal sex is inconsistent with phenotypic sex, or in which the phenotype is not classifiable as either male or female. Applying this more precise definition, the true prevalence of intersex is seen to be about 0.018%, almost 100 times lower than Fausto-Sterling s estimate of 1.7%.
The lack of scientifically or technically trained members in media is only one problem. There are others: Denying funding to scientists whose research challenged “settled science”; deplatforming scientists, engineers, and technical professionals who go against the narrative; denial of tenure, promotions, or hiring because research doesn’t meet the currently approved world view.
I have explored many of these issues in previous posts. To conclude this one, I will share Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson exposing the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine, which has information that has been suppressed in social media and not promoted in news media.
Well, in July, the German government put out a Tweet stating that at least one out of every 5,000 COVID shots causes “serious side effects.” One in 5,000. Really? This is a shot that was taken by hundreds of millions of people, including in this country. What effects are they actually talking about? Well, those would include decreased sperm counts. The journal Andrology reported in June that there was a 22% average drop in total sperm count in samples taken 3 to 5 months after the second Pfizer dose of the vaccine….
Decisions that are not fully informed, or worse, based on bad science can be dangerous. Truly, the ideological capture of our scientific institutions is alarming.
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