A rigid, ideological stance that conflates scientific methodology with the current institutional consensus, treating any challenge to the latter as heresy against the former. It's the belief that science is a monolithic repository of Final Truths rather than a fallible, ongoing process. This bigotry manifests as automatically venerating "official" sources while dismissing all heterodox thinkers, regardless of evidence or argument. It fails to recognize that many revolutionary ideas (germ theory, plate tectonics) began as "pseudoscience" outside the consensus, and that skepticism of institutional authority is sometimes warranted.
Example: A researcher presents preliminary but methodologically sound data suggesting a non-standard mechanism for a well-understood phenomenon. Instead of evaluating the work, established figures immediately brand it "pathological science" and blacklist the researcher from journals. They cite the "overwhelming consensus" as proof the new work must be wrong, committing the appeal-to-authority fallacy. This bigotry protects orthodoxy but stifles the corrective, revolutionary potential that is essential to science's long-term health. Anti-Pseudoscience Bigotry.
by Dumuabzu January 25, 2026
Get the Anti-Pseudoscience Bigotry mug.