Poltirsh reviewed Galileo's middle finger by Alice Domurat Dreger
None
1 star
An insidious work in the tradition of Charles Murray, Richard Lynn and Andrew Wakefield.
337 pages
English language
Published Jan. 6, 2015
Galileo's middle finger
heretics, activists, and the search for justice in science
4 stars
(6 reviews)
"An investigation of some of the most contentious debates of our time, Galileo's Middle Finger describes Alice Dreger's experiences on the front lines of scientific controversy, where for two decades she has worked as an advocate for victims of unethical research while also defending the right of scientists to pursue challenging research into human identities. Dreger's own attempts to reconcile academic freedom with the pursuit of justice grew out of her research into the treatment of people born intersex (formerly called hermaphrodites). The shocking history of surgical mutilation and ethical abuses conducted in the name of "normalizing" intersex children moved her to become a patient rights' activist. By bringing evidence to physicians and the public, she helped change the medical system. But even as she worked to correct these injustices, Dreger began to witness how some fellow liberal activists, motivated by identity politics, were employing lies and personal attacks to …
"An investigation of some of the most contentious debates of our time, Galileo's Middle Finger describes Alice Dreger's experiences on the front lines of scientific controversy, where for two decades she has worked as an advocate for victims of unethical research while also defending the right of scientists to pursue challenging research into human identities. Dreger's own attempts to reconcile academic freedom with the pursuit of justice grew out of her research into the treatment of people born intersex (formerly called hermaphrodites). The shocking history of surgical mutilation and ethical abuses conducted in the name of "normalizing" intersex children moved her to become a patient rights' activist. By bringing evidence to physicians and the public, she helped change the medical system. But even as she worked to correct these injustices, Dreger began to witness how some fellow liberal activists, motivated by identity politics, were employing lies and personal attacks to silence scientists whose data revealed inconvenient truths. Troubled, she traveled around the country digging up sources and interviewing the targets of these politically motivated campaigns. Among the subjects she covers in the book are the anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon, falsely accused in a bestselling book of committing genocide against a South American tribe; the psychologist Michael Bailey, accused of abusing transgender women; and the evolutionary biologist E. O. Wilson, accused of fomenting rightwing ideas about human nature. Galileo's Middle Finger describes Dreger's long and harrowing journey back and forth between the two camps for which she felt equal empathy: social justice warriors and researchers determined to put truth before politics"--
Eric Lawton reviewed Galileo's middle finger by Alice Domurat Dreger
Review of "Galileo's middle finger" on 'Storygraph'
4 stars
There is a lot of important information in this book that is not only applicable to the (many) specific topics, such as intersex or trans people and societies uninformed attitudes to them, but also to any subject in social science where there are conflicts between what people on either side of debates would like to be true and scientific evidence as to what is true.
The problem is that activism is needed to get justice for many groups but sometimes the need for strength leads to believing what would be convenient to be true for the case at hand and then being hard to shake that as evidence comes along.
Alice Dreger's book is a personal case study of the many issues she has been involved with and it will be useful to anyone wanting to spot similar issues in their own struggles and understand that all movements are better …
There is a lot of important information in this book that is not only applicable to the (many) specific topics, such as intersex or trans people and societies uninformed attitudes to them, but also to any subject in social science where there are conflicts between what people on either side of debates would like to be true and scientific evidence as to what is true.
The problem is that activism is needed to get justice for many groups but sometimes the need for strength leads to believing what would be convenient to be true for the case at hand and then being hard to shake that as evidence comes along.
Alice Dreger's book is a personal case study of the many issues she has been involved with and it will be useful to anyone wanting to spot similar issues in their own struggles and understand that all movements are better off in the end with knowing the facts. Otherwise you get painted into a corner if the evidence becomes overwhelming; the assumption will be made that if you were wrong about one thing, your whole advocacy can be called into question.
After reading this book, I feel I would be better prepared to handle both other people’s misconceptions and better able to spot some of my own.
Favourite quotation:
Evidence really is an ethical issue, the most important issue in a modern democracy
I did take one star off. The book could have used better editing. Too often there are less relevant details left in, perhaps to make more personal, but I found it made reading harder than it should be, by distracting from more important issues. Especially the side-comments. For example “The journal had published ... without including information about the authors’ funding” did not need to be followed by “(Yes, more undisclosed conflicts of interest)”. Got it already. That’s a small example but in this book there are enough to be annoying, and it would be a shame if the important parts were missed through skipping or loss of interest.
Subjects
- Moral and ethical aspects
- Heresy in science
- Scientists
- Science
- Political aspects
- Professional ethics