Introduction

In their book, Merchants of Doubt, Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway describe how a relatively small group of privately funded, pro-industry scientists, lobbyists, and think tanks have managed to stunt public discourses and, as a result, affect public policy, through information campaigns meant to misinform the public about a wide range of social concerns, from the health effects of smoking to the realities of climate change. Among their chief strategies is to propagate lies (“the earth is in a cooling phase”) or half-truths (“the earth is warming, but it’s just part of a natural cycle”) in order to gain popular support for public policy initiatives that reflect industry economic interests—by, for instance, redirecting resources from public schools to private enterprise—rather than the common good.