Your parents giving you a lolipop? Time to send them to jail

[Matt]

The important point here was that the fraudulent paper was published in The Lancet, not the BMJ. *cough*

-m

[Metcarfre]

Eh.

[Lisra]

@Dibria
That's what I said.

Canada is.. um.. damn. That's a point. Maybe it's just because the countries really aren't the same, as both frequently point out? I really don't know.

[Psyclone]

I think part of the US's problem is that it puts far less stock in education than Europe and Canada do. At least where I live, whenever there are budget cuts, education is the first thing to go.

[Avistew]

I think it's because in most other countries, the nutjobs are shouting their nonsense in the middle of the street with a sign. In the US they're on national TV. Lots of people still know their nutjobs, but they have more credibility and so some people just believe them. I don't think that much is a US thing. I think most people from any country, if faced with someone they think is a specialist in a subject, would follow what the person says or believe that they're probably right/ know what they're doing.

[Master Gunner]

I think part of the US's problem is that it puts far less stock in education than Europe and Canada do. At least where I live, whenever there are budget cuts, education is the first thing to go.

It's generally the first thing up here too. Education, Health, and Social Services are the biggest sectors of the government (money-wise), and thus are the first to get cut.

And for the record, Canada also has a great many nutjobs, and some questionable decisions relating to education. We just also happen to have a sense of humour about it.