> When people without scientific training attack scientists--without having gone through similar training and evaluation--then it's not surprising they would be met with suspicion.
Of course they would be. But their support counts for just as much. Nothing.
If you want to settle things this way you're looking for something we do not have, a meritocracy. And even in science sometimes the lone guy was right after all (in fact, you could argue that every radical departure from the norm in science was exactly such a situation).
Science needs to work really hard to be above politicization of the work they are doing. If scientists can't do that then how are we going to hold the ignorant masses (you know, those without even a single college degree, because they're all ignorant) to a different standard?
When people without scientific training attack scientists--without having gone through similar training and evaluation--then it's not surprising they would be met with suspicion.