The recent flood of generic science-cheerleading pieces such as this one strike me as intellectually lazy. Science is a good thing? No shit. Of course it is.

The recent flood of generic science-cheerleading pieces such as this one strike me as intellectually lazy. Science is a good thing? No shit. Of course it is. The level of polarization being applied in recent discourse on some of these topics is disturbing. This article in particular is a prime example. Several topics are listed, each cast as black and white, and subsequently lumped together under the same banner. If you have any reservations regarding any of the topics listed, no matter how nuanced, you clearly must be anti-science. Moreover, this intolerance doesn't seem to discourage the ignorant from continuing to argue their uninformed opinions. On the contrary, it only inflames them. The few people who do have nuanced, well-researched opinions on these hot-button topics are then shouted down and discouraged from participating. Why risk career suicide or otherwise waste time arguing something when it's completely fruitless anyways. If I had to ascribe a dynamic to the phenomenon, it might look something like this: 1. Hot-button issue arises wherein the majority of the science agrees with one position, but very specific legitimate issues persist. 2. The uninformed latch on to the issue as a whole, and completely fail argue in any sort of reasonable, nuanced manner. 3. The media, usually spurred on by robust corporate messaging strategies, decide to utterly destroy these people (rightfully so). 4. The general public joins in to fight on behalf of Science™, because the Neil deGrasse Tyson memes on Facebook really spoke to them at some basal level. 5. The uninformed become even more inflamed, and the crazies start coming out of the woodwork. 6. Any semblance of civil or reasoned discourse is completely gone at this point. All that's left is a self-perpetuating cycle that fosters an environment completely hostile to anyone wanting to raise legitimate concerns, but it at least generates heaps of ad revenue. A cynic might say the last point is by design, though I prefer to think it's simply a dynamic inherent to modern, public forms of communication.