Dave Levitan > Quotes

“The resultant violence is rare, but letting politicians spout whatever nonsense the Internet offers without challenge is indeed a slippery slope. The BLAME THE BLOGGER is in some ways a free pass for politicians to lie; if they are just quoting someone else’s claim, can you really blame them? We should blame them; politicians have a public influence that the average blogger does not wield, and they should be held to a higher standard when it comes to science. Calling out their repetitions of silly, ridiculous, or downright dangerous Internet nonsense can have wide-ranging impacts: stopping the spread of abortion-related misinformation could help reduce the possibility of extremist violence, for example, and building trust in climate science could help push for action, quite literally helping to save the world.”
― Dave Levitan, Not a Scientist: How Politicians Mistake, Misrepresent, and Utterly Mangle Science

“That’s where the OVERSIMPLIFICATION tends to break down. When you start to ask for and examine the evidence behind a scientific claim, you often see that science doesn’t quite cooperate with political sound bites.”
― Dave Levitan, Not a Scientist: How Politicians Mistake, Misrepresent, and Utterly Mangle Science

“When a politician cites a singular example as a means of refuting a larger trend, take note; this is the hallmark of bad science.”
― Dave Levitan, Not a Scientist: How Politicians Mistake, Misrepresent, and Utterly Mangle Science

“So anyone who says that we shouldn’t act on climate change because of uncertainty is really inviting you to ride towards a brick wall at 80 km/h because it might not hurt. [Do] you feel lucky?2”
― Dave Levitan, Not a Scientist: How Politicians Mistake, Misrepresent, and Utterly Mangle Science

“The CREDIT SNATCH is a ploy whereby politicians claim some sort of accomplishment just because it happened “on their watch.” They don’t bother to explain the underlying, actual reasons for that accomplishment, which often is a result of a previous administration’s policies, or simply has some mechanism behind it that in no way is a result of the elected official’s specific actions.”
― Dave Levitan, Not a Scientist: How Politicians Mistake, Misrepresent, and Utterly Mangle Science