The Conservative Zone

Here you go. Bad Research Leads to Bad Law.

This article goes into how bad scientific practices make it into law. When one-third of "hard science" (medicine, physics, etc.) studies can be called into question, what about the "soft sciences" where it is largely interpretation of the data that determines the outcome?

This is not a mere academic matter. Inaccurate studies become entrenched in laws that govern our daily lives. Using VAWA [Violence Against Women Act] as an example again, the Act incorrectly assumes that women, and not men, are the victims of domestic violence, and it has been influential in denying men access to shelters. This denial often extends to the older male children of women who seek assistance.

The act also calls for more studies, a perpetuating act.

When three soft science researchers can look at the same data and come up with three different conclusions, all based on their judgment and agendas, we should not be making law based on these studies. But that is exactly what is happening today, especially with Liberal causes.

It may surprise people, however, to hear that I don't think political agendas are inevitable within the soft sciences. Even on controversial subjects like rape, it is possible to find interesting studies in which researchers sincerely pursue solid data.

But you have to go back a few decades. In his book from the '70s, "Men who Rape: The Psychology of the Offender," Nicholas Groth offered a theory that sounds almost jarring to today's ears. He wrote, "One of the most basic observations one can make regarding men who rape is that not all such offenders are alike." That is, a drunken boyfriend who rapes because he does not hear the "no" being uttered should not be placed in the same research category as a back alley rapist who leaves his victim physically crippled for life.

A rape researcher could not make that statement today on a college campus. He would be fired, bludgeoned into silence, or his funding would be yanked. There is now only one acceptable view of rape; it is an act of power. There is only one research category of rapist: the oppressor.

Has it been that long when soft science had the ethics to get to the truth of things, and not conform with some Political Correctness whiner?

We're in more trouble than I thought.