Fighting Science.

Kevin · Tue Feb 22, 2011 1:28 pm

Squelch wrote:


	johnson1010 wrote: A sad state of affairs./

It's only good to deny people the right to speak against science if you're really, absolutely sure that science has it 100% correct on the subject they're speaking against.

That's a strong line you're taking! Well, it's not good even when it is a given that science is 100% right on a particular subject to not allow people to speak out against it, or so I believe... but, did anyone here (or on the clip which admittedly I only browsed through) actually advocate denying anyone the right to speak out against prevailing scientific ideas? I just don't see what prompted your defense of free speech. It's one thing to say that so-and-so is foolish, stupid, backwards, and so on for not believing such-and-such in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. I think this is what has been going on here. But it's a far worse thing to advocate banning stupidity!

I appreciate stahrwe as much as the next person! He could be defending the continued use of harmful pesticides one moment and going on about how evolution is just a theory the next. A person can do worse than to think about these things! (He told me once that I made a perfect post!) ~ ~ and I do love me JS Mill ~ ~ but it's OK to say stahrwe is all wet!

stahrwe · Tue Feb 22, 2011 3:36 pm


	Kevin wrote: did anyone here (or on the clip which admittedly I only browsed through) actually advocate denying anyone the right to speak out? I just don't see what prompted your defense of free speech. It's one thing to say that so-and-so is foolish, stupid, backwards, and so on for not believing such-and-such in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. I think this is what has been going on here. But it's a far worse thing to advocate banning stupidity!

I agree and extend that sentiment to censorship.


	kevin wrote: I appreciate stahrwe as much as the next person! He could be defending the continued use of harmful pesticides one moment and going on about how evolution is just a theory the next. A person can do worse than to think about these things! (He told me once that I made a perfect post!) ~ ~ and I do love me JS Mill ~ ~ but it's OK to say stahrwe is all wet!

I believe the post I praised actually advocated a postion I opposed.

thank you for your comments.

johnson1010 · Tue Aug 30, 2011 2:02 pm

http://gizmodo.com/5835389/the-republic ... es-science

Why do republicans hate knowing things?

Robert Tulip · Thu Sep 01, 2011 4:11 am


	Attachment: These Republicans Are Crazy!!.GIF [ 38.96 KiB \| Viewed 314 times ]


	johnson1010 wrote: http://gizmodo.com/5835389/the-republic ... es-science Why do republicans hate knowing things?


	Sam Biddle wrote: One of the two viable political parties in the United States has an institutional agenda against scientific fact. That's very bad. The GOP's refusal to believe the world's smartest people isn't accidental. It's smart strategy. As the party of business, the GOP has to oppose scientific findings that threaten business. That means denying climate change—because the reform to fix it would cost corporations money. That means pushing for the abolition of the EPA—because environmental regulations cost corporations money. In order to fight for a society in which smokestacks flow freely and all slimy shit in christendom can be dumped into lakes, the science that says these things are bad and dangerous has to be suppressed. Or at least opposed and dismissed. It's a typical tactic across the GOP gamut, to wave off science as silly, contrived, made-up, voodoo, and various other demeaning adjectives. It's been this way for decades, but with the infiltration of Tea Party loons like Bachmann, the blinders are strapped on extra tight—and non-business worm-cans like creationism are popped open too. By not having to take an issue seriously, the GOP can remain unengaged with the empirical world.

johnson1010 · Thu Sep 15, 2011 8:24 am

here's an article about vaccines which relates to the opening post of this thread.

Vaccines are one of humanity's greatest achievements. Is it any surprise the un-educated reject them out of hand?

http://io9.com/5840419/how-vaccines-saved-the-world

geo · Thu Sep 15, 2011 10:54 am

http://thethinkerblog.com/?p=11084

R. LeBeaux · Thu Sep 15, 2011 1:28 pm

“Nothing is true forever. A man and a fact will become equally decrepit and will tumble in the same ditch, for truth is as mortal as man, and both are outlived by the tortoise and the crow.” James Stephens

Having been a science and medical writer for the majority of my writing career, I am intimately familiar with the vast number of contradictions that arise in medicine and science, and have often interviewed researchers who battle each other over theories, results and methodologies with a rhetorical and didactic fervor equal to the physical combat of pro football linemen. What we live with in this era of enlightened thought is something called “The weight of scientific evidence.” Unfortunately, this weight often balloons to the point of obesity, only to later go on a diet, sometime to the point of withering and blowing away in the wind of new discoveries. About all we can hope for is to survive the worst and benefit from the best.

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