For a society that relies upon fact and truth in the way that America does, and, because our very system of justice relies on it; then redefining fact as values is potentially harmful, deceitful and misleading. It is becoming, Kahan says, the "cultural cognition of harm." This is the phenomenon of cultural cognition, Kahan says, and he defines it this way:
Cultural cognition refers to a collection of psychological mechanisms that moor our perceptions of societal danger to our cultural values. In appraising societal risks, for example, we rely critically on value-pervaded emotions such as fear and disgust. To minimize dissonance, we more readily notice and recall instances of calamity that appear to be occasioned by behavior we abhor than by behavior we revere. Where members of society disagree about the harmfulness of a particular form of conduct, we instinctively trust those who share our values -- and whose judgments are likely to be biased in a particular direction by emotion, dissonance avoidance, and related mechanisms."
The response to behavior or actions that put at risk society's morals or norms by endangering the innocents: babies, children, animals; is unacceptable to society as a whole. So when Al Gore uses his unproven science...
Then this cultural cognitive illiberalism becomes the vehicle for self-interest and for those who profit from the laws and legislation enacted in the name of preserving the planet.
Then, when we begin rewarding and recognizing as valid that which is not, we turn a blind eye to facts by which we should be making sound decisions and judgments. It has become an endemic in our law today.
Works Cited
http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5025008778
Hoar, William P. "Al Gore Takes the Prize." The New American 26 Nov. 2007: 42+. Questia. 28 Apr. 2008 http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5025008778.
A www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5024775979
Kahan, Dan M. "The Cognitively Illiberal State." Stanford Law Review 60.1 (2007): 115+. Questia. 28 Apr. 2008 http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5024775979.
Hoar, William, P., / Al Gore Takes the Prize,' the New American, vol. 23, November 26, 2007, p. 42.
Guggenheim, Davis, an Inconvenient Truth,
documentary film, Lawrence Bender Productions, 2006.
Durkin, Martin, the Great Global Warming Swindle, documentary film, WAGtv, 2007.
Kahan, Dan M., 'The Cognitively Illiberal State,' Stanford Law Review, vol 60, 2007, p. 115.
