Unfortunately, the academy and profit-driven-science have given anti-intellectuals and science-rejecting conservatives all too much ammunition over the last several decades. (None of which shows that armchair psuedo-science, or just pulling stuff out of your ass is a better way, of course.)

[very good overview:] "https://reason.com/archives/2016/01/19/broken-science/print

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/a-scient... " "The numbers speak for themselves: evidence based medicine is broken and in crisis. Cites: Ramirez JH. Data (i.e., evidence) about evidence based medicine. figshare. http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1093997 http://www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g3725/rr/759895