It is hard to credit just how far so much that emanates from modern 'science research' has become propaganda and an abrogation of the high standards of empirical science. What am I talking about? Try this: That once fine journal The Lancet has published a study that alleges Israel is to blame for Palestinian men beating up their wives.

How this study passes for science is anyone's guess.  How it ever got published an allegedly top-of-the-line science journal is more mystifying. Then suddenly, all becomes very clear. the study was funded by the Palestinian National Authority and the statistics collected by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. Disinterested parties? Hardly.

The whole sordid, anti-semitic, affair is laid bare here in this article at Pajamas Media. It is worth reading in full.

Thomas H. Huxley once said, "Scepticism is the highest of duties and unverified belief the one unpardonable sin." In this age where pseudo-scientific speculation has overtaken empirical scientific and thus Truth in the public consciousness, the problem becomes one of populist gullibility. And that makes for a climate where news reports on science research can become propaganda, not science.

Hat tip: Doug Payton.