The final speaker at this seminar was Cal State Hayward anthropologist Glynn Custred, one of the sponsors of the anti-affirmative action Proposition 209. Custred spoke about the religious and political issues surrounding the discovery of Kennewick man in the state of Washington. Because of the complexity of these issues, they will be the subject of a later commentary. The flight from objectivity, evidence, and reason is the common thread in the three cases noted in this commentary. However, the underlying reasons for this flight are not simply a combination of ignorance and dogmatism.
Modern society is complex.
Most ordinary people do not understand the technologies that impinge on their daily lives. A feeling of powerlessness over these forces frequently is the impetus for the desire to obtain control through political means. As Melott noted in his talk, democracy got Kansas into its mess and democracy got Kansas out of it. Those who value the search for scientific understanding of the universe around us must not abandon the mechanisms of democracy to the extremists. Return to main commentary.