Friday, January 20, 2006

Book Review: The Politically Incorrect Guide To Science

Now take the following review with a grain of salt. Pamela Winnick has written her own book that is highly unflattering of what she considers science's crusade against religion, but here she does a fair job of reviewering:

"There is much here that's jaw-dropping. In the chapter on African AIDS, Bethell finds yet another "crisis" that may not be such a crisis after all. AIDS is over-diagnosed in Africa because instead of costly HIV tests, medical workers rely on a combination of symptoms, which could be attributable to other diseases. AIDS mortality figures likewise are inflated and cannot be reconciled with population statistics. By overstating the danger of AIDS, the medical community diverts funds from preventable diseases, such as malaria, which kill millions of Africans each year. While most of the book is well sourced, Bethell occasionally plays fast and loose with facts. He claims, for example, that "careful U.S. studies" show that a heterosexual can acquire AIDS only after a minimum of 1,000 contacts; in other words, a one-night stand isn't enough. But he doesn't cite any of these studies to support this highly dubious claim. He likewise doesn't explain how emission controls would cause an "economic depression."

Unfortunately, science is a money making proposition and yes, a lot of things haven't changed all that much in the past 30 years of scientific research when it comes to combating disease. BUT, people ARE living longer and sure, a lot of it has to do with simply being CLEAN and taking more care of oneself, but there's nothing in the bible about Thou Shalt Boil Water, so somebody finally hadda advance the human race in some way and it was science that did it. And the medical community long since stopped fighting the AIDS canard because they could not win. Rather than lose monies for a great many other things a lot of medical professionals begrudgingly began to fight this non-crisis.

Politics is everywhere and political correctness has taken the place of common senseness.

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