Right-wing denialists weaponized academic leftist skepticism of experts

Evidence

Now the climate-change deniers and the young-Earth creationists are coming after the natural scientists, just as I predicted—and they’re using some of the very arguments developed by an academic left that thought it was speaking only to people of like mind. Some standard left arguments, combined with the left populist distrust of “experts” and “professionals” and assorted high-and-mighty muckety-mucks who think they’re the boss of us, were fashioned by the right into a powerful device for delegitimating scientific research. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 289

Categorization

• XREF: This parallels the recurring finding (Frankfurt School, Postman) that cultural critique can be weaponized by the forces it critiques. — connects to: Right-wing attacks make critical self-examination nearly impossible for academic radicals — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures, 268; The Sokal hoax backfired by publicizing postmodernist ideas to right-wing readers — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 263; Questioning science may have been borrowed from postmodernism by right-wing ideologues. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 264 (+1 more)
• ADDENDUM: Directly relevant to the underlying idea in ‘Grafting & Growth’ that tools and concepts can be repurposed toward ends their creators never intended.

Broader Connections

• Conspiracism undermines rather than expresses democratic skepticism about experts #complicates (0.78) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 269