Saturday, March 31, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
The week in fundie . . .
*Catholic political correctness. (ABC News Online; see also Pharyngula)
*The "Creation Science Museum" phenomenon sweeps across America. (HT: Justaguy)
*Poland's war on gays (and Jews)
*Court ruling: Procter and Gamble "does not worship Satan" (via Morons.org)
*South Carolina pushes to force women--even rape and incest victims--to view ultrasounds before seeking abortions. (via Morons.org)
*The Argument from Peanut Butter: defeating Darwinism once and for all. (via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)
*Catholic political correctness. (ABC News Online; see also Pharyngula)
*The "Creation Science Museum" phenomenon sweeps across America. (HT: Justaguy)
*Poland's war on gays (and Jews)
*Court ruling: Procter and Gamble "does not worship Satan" (via Morons.org)
*South Carolina pushes to force women--even rape and incest victims--to view ultrasounds before seeking abortions. (via Morons.org)
*The Argument from Peanut Butter: defeating Darwinism once and for all. (via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
This has to be seen to be believed. A man named Corey Andrew who had posted his resume to Careerbuilder.com (the equivalent of our Seek or CareerOne, I suppose) was emailed by Marcia Ramode, an army recruiter. Her initial email was cordial and professional enough. Andrew responded:
"IF YOU ARE GAY WE DON'T TAKE YOU YOU ARE CONSIDERED UNQUALIFIED," with every subsequent reply she managed to up the ante in homophobic ranting--which soon became racist ranting (though the racist jibes weren't all one way) once she learned that Andrew is an African-American:
Via Dispatches From the Culture Wars. More at Pam's House Blend.
Awesome! Sounds great! The US military has so many vacant positions and opportunities. I had no idea. I'm seriously considering contacting you. One thing. I'm not up current poilitics but since it's 2007, I would imagine also that I am now able to serve in the US military as an openly gay man, right?And with that last sentence, Marcia Ramode switched into Fred Phelps CAPS LOCK mode. After informing Andrew in a short reply that
"IF YOU ARE GAY WE DON'T TAKE YOU YOU ARE CONSIDERED UNQUALIFIED," with every subsequent reply she managed to up the ante in homophobic ranting--which soon became racist ranting (though the racist jibes weren't all one way) once she learned that Andrew is an African-American:YOU GO BACK TO AFRICA AND DO YOUR GAY VOODOO LIMBO TANGO AND WANGO DANCE AND JUMP AROUND AND PRANCE AND RUN ALL OVER THE PLACE HALF NAKED THERE AND PRACTICE YOUR GAY MORALS OVER THERE THAT'S WHERE YOU BELONG.All in caps. All from her official army email address. The military is investigating.
Via Dispatches From the Culture Wars. More at Pam's House Blend.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Gerard Henderson, in today's Sydney Morning Herald, on Work Choices:
. . . over the past year about 250,000 jobs were created, real wages increased and industrial disputes were at their lowest levels since records were introduced just before World War I.John Howard, speaking with Radio National Breakfast's Fran Kelly on Work Choices:
We've had, what, more than a quarter of a million more jobs created, wages have continued to rise strongly and strikes at their lowest level since 1913.Why don't the two of them just get together and write a fucking jingle?
(HT: Mikey)
Saturday, March 24, 2007
The week in fundie:
*Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen's XO, Dr Philip Selden, warned NSW voters about the Greens' evil push "to remove loopholes in the Anti-Discrimination Act that allow private schools and religious organisations to discriminate against gays and lesbians." (Via Ninglun, who I should mention--in fairness to him--would probably disapprove of my use of the term "fundie." See also Mikey.)
*A German judge cited the Koran in her rejection of a Muslim woman's request for divorce. Both the woman and her husband, the judge noted, came from "a Moroccan cultural environment in which it is not uncommon for a man to exert a right of corporal punishment over his wife." (Dispatches from the Culture Wars)
*William Dembski calls for Charles Darwin to be dumped from the British 10-pound note, on the grounds that "he is the chief prophet of the materialist religion, and his presence on the 10-pound note is an inappropriate endorsement of that materialist religion and its related anti-religious ferment." (Via Jason Rosenhouse, who points this out as yet another example of creationists trying to discredit evolution by discrediting Darwin. See also Nullifidian's post.)
*Tom DeLay: "liberals are just like Hitler!" (Huffington Post)
Did I speak too soon? About a month ago I pooh-poohed the Aussies' chances of securing a third consecutive cricket World Cup, after a dismal session at the crease in the first match of the Chappell-Hadlee series against New Zealand--a series they went on to lose 3-zip. (Making it a five-match losing streak for Australia, who lost the Commonwealth Bank tournament 2-0 to England in early February.)
Since then, Australia has won five consecutive encounters--three of them, admittedly, against minnows such as Zimbabwe, Scotland and The Netherlands, but they also defeated England by 5 wickets in a World Cup practice match. And Australia's return to form has this morning culminated in a win over world No. 1 South Africa by 83 runs. That means that Australia will finish undefeated on top of Group A, and will meet
It has been an interesting World Cup: Pakistan have already been eliminated, and India look to be heading the same way (unless Bermuda defeats Bangladesh tomorrow). Most of the other top nations will still, as expected, be there for the Super-Eights, and I think New Zealand remains Australia's biggest hurdle, given their psychological edge.
The other worrying factor has been Mike Hussey's form slump. Apart from the 15 he scored against Zimbabwe in the practice games, his most recent figures have been 0, 4, 2 and 5.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
A month ago I blogged about a teacher who had come under fire from her principal, after she allowed to run in the school newspaper an editorial written by one of her students calling for tolerance towards gays.
Said teacher has now been suspended.
Don't you love it? A teacher proselytises in his history classroom, in blatant violation of the US constitution: his school board rallies to his defence, and he gets a slap on the wrist. Another teacher mandates tolerance towards homosexuals, in violation of no law or constitutional principle that I can think of, and she gets raked over the coals and thrown to the wolves. (I mean: it's not as if she was wearing a "Bong Hits For Jesus" t-shirt or anything.)
Ed Brayton "smells a lawsuit coming," and I hope he's right. Look at what happened in Dover, Pennsylvania, for instance. Given that the decentralised nature of the US education system makes it so vulnerable to the influence of the medieval brand of Christianity, the judicial branch seems to be one of the only things keeping America clinging so precariously to the sunny side of the Enlightenment. (Until, of course, the medievalists seize control of the judicial branch, too.)
*As defined by Malott on a couple of comment threads here.
Said teacher has now been suspended.
Don't you love it? A teacher proselytises in his history classroom, in blatant violation of the US constitution: his school board rallies to his defence, and he gets a slap on the wrist. Another teacher mandates tolerance towards homosexuals, in violation of no law or constitutional principle that I can think of, and she gets raked over the coals and thrown to the wolves. (I mean: it's not as if she was wearing a "Bong Hits For Jesus" t-shirt or anything.)
Ed Brayton "smells a lawsuit coming," and I hope he's right. Look at what happened in Dover, Pennsylvania, for instance. Given that the decentralised nature of the US education system makes it so vulnerable to the influence of the medieval brand of Christianity, the judicial branch seems to be one of the only things keeping America clinging so precariously to the sunny side of the Enlightenment. (Until, of course, the medievalists seize control of the judicial branch, too.)
*As defined by Malott on a couple of comment threads here.
From Neural Gourmet:
I'd like invite you all to Blog Against Theocracy. This is a little blog swarm being put together by everybody's favorite panties blogger Blue Gal for Easter weekend, April 6th through the 8th. The idea is simple. Just post something related to, and in support of, the separation of church and state each of those three days. Something big, something small, artistic, musical, textual or otherwise. The topic is your choosing. Whether your thing is stem cell research, intelligent design/Creationism, abortion rights, etc., it's all good. Separation of church and state impacts so many issues and is essential.Hmmmm . . . well it isn't my usual style to blog against theocrats, but I'll give it my best shot!Blue Gal is still putting the finishing touches on everything and tying up loose ends so check in regularly with her for updates. In the meantime, if you need a little information to tickle your muse then you'll want to check over at First Freedom First for a ton of excellent resources. FFF is a partnership of two very cool groups; Americans United For Separation of Church and State and the Interfaith Alliance Foundation. Also, I can personally recommend this interview on CFI's Point of Inquiry podcast with Susan Jacoby, author of Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism. The Center For Inquiry is just one of many supporters of the FFF project.
So get involved in a little blogactivism and help raise awareness on the need to preserve separation of church and state and protecting the First Amendment. Your help in recruiting bloggers for Blog Against Theocracy is needed and appreciated too.
(Via Pharyngula)
Monday, March 19, 2007
Blogger Alonzo Fyfe argues that atheists are making a couple of strategic errors when they attempt to counter the "Hitler and Stalin Cliche"--"the argument that there is something fundamentally and foundationally wrong with atheism because Hitler and Stalin were atheists – and look what they did"--with a history lecture (namely by countering that Hitler was not an atheist). First, Fyfe contends, those who wield the Hitler and Stalin Cliche are not likely to persuaded by historical arguments to the contrary, and are unlikely to accept the word of someone who is, as an atheist, a priori untrustworthy anyway. Second, if you are attempting to prove false the premise that, say, Hitler was an atheist, you are accepting as valid an argument that should never have been taken as valid in the first place.
Fyfe continues:
It's a great post, in which Fyfe goes on to take issue with the "Crusades and Inquisitions Cliche" often deployed against theists, but also specifies the conditions under which it might be valid to use it.I have seen atheists scramble for evidence that Hitler was not an atheist. Perhaps it is true. It does not matter to the moral argument. Assume that somebody were to assert that Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy were white males, and as such all white males are to be regarded with contempt. One possible answer would be to try to prove that Dahmer and Gacy were not white males. However, this would be fruitless. A better response would be to say that justice demands that each person be judged by his own actions, and that no person shall be judged guilty of the crimes of Dahmer and Gacy but Dahmer and Gacy themselves.
By the way, Hitler and Stalin were also both white males. I sense a pattern.
It is also the case that both Hitler and Stalin wore a mustache. Maybe it is the wearing of a mustache that disposes one to tyranny, and the wearing of mustaches should be prohibited.
They both (almost certainly) believed that the Sun was at the center of the solar system. In fact, if you take a look at history, you will discover that heliocentrists (those who assert that the sun is at the center of the solar system) have killed and maimed far more people than geocentrists (those who believe that the earth is at the center of the solar system). Obviously, heliocentrists are evil and despicable creatures! We must immediately take action to remove the doctrine of heliocentrism from our schools before this view that the Earth is not the center of the solar system . . . that humans live on just another planet orbiting just another star . . . destroys the very moral fiber of our civilization!
Hitler and Stalin were both born in Europe. They both had six letters in their first and last names.
Of all of the traits that define Hitler and Stalin, why attribute their evil deeds to atheism? Why not the mustache, or their European birth, or their heliocentrism, or the number of letters in their name, or their gender, or their race?
The answer, at least for a great many people, is that they are looking for reasons to market in hatred and bigotry of atheists, and references to Hitler and Stalin are very popular among those who sell hate for a living. If not for the love of hate, or the business of selling hate, atheism would be seen just as irrelevant as these other traits. This is because it is just as irrelevant as those other traits.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Saturday, March 17, 2007
More YouTube joy.*
Fans of the latter show (like me) will enjoy "Tommy AND MATT'S Guide To LOST!!" (tommyiscooldotcom), The post may be dated, but it's still hilarious.
(*Sorry: I would have embedded the video, but for some reason posting videos from the YouTube site doesn't work with the "NEW! IMPROVED!" Blogger. I used to be able to get around this by copying the "Embed" HTML from the YouTube site and pasting it into the HTML editor in Blogger, and while it used to inform me that my HTML could not be accepted, all I had to do was check an "Ignore HTML errors" box and the problem would be resolved. Now, the "NEW! IMPROVED!" Blogger redirects me to a screen telling me what I already know--i.e. that my HTML can't be accepted yada yada yada--but no longer offering me an "Ignore HTML errors" option. How's Wordpress these days?)
Fans of the latter show (like me) will enjoy "Tommy AND MATT'S Guide To LOST!!" (tommyiscooldotcom), The post may be dated, but it's still hilarious.
(*Sorry: I would have embedded the video, but for some reason posting videos from the YouTube site doesn't work with the "NEW! IMPROVED!" Blogger. I used to be able to get around this by copying the "Embed" HTML from the YouTube site and pasting it into the HTML editor in Blogger, and while it used to inform me that my HTML could not be accepted, all I had to do was check an "Ignore HTML errors" box and the problem would be resolved. Now, the "NEW! IMPROVED!" Blogger redirects me to a screen telling me what I already know--i.e. that my HTML can't be accepted yada yada yada--but no longer offering me an "Ignore HTML errors" option. How's Wordpress these days?)
Friday, March 16, 2007
Hotdogs: pseudo-modernistAlan Kirby, in the latest issue of Philosophy Now magazine, muses on the death of postmodernism, and what comes after . . .
The cultural products of pseudo-modernism are also exceptionally banal, as I’ve hinted. The content of pseudo-modern films tends to be solely the acts which beget and which end life. This puerile primitivism of the script stands in stark contrast to the sophistication of contemporary cinema’s technical effects. Much text messaging and emailing is vapid in comparison with what people of all educational levels used to put into letters. A triteness, a shallowness dominates all. The pseudo-modern era, at least so far, is a cultural desert. Although we may grow so used to the new terms that we can adapt them for meaningful artistic expression (and then the pejorative label I have given pseudo-modernism may no longer be appropriate), for now we are confronted by a storm of human activity producing almost nothing of any lasting or even reproducible cultural value – anything which human beings might look at again and appreciate in fifty or two hundred years time.Bogans. He's talking about bogans.
(See also: John Surname)
Thursday, March 15, 2007
The week in fundie:
*Essay: "The Funhouse Mirror of Intelligent Design." (via Pharyngula)
*Texan state congressman links evolutionary theory to "Rabbinic writings"--declares that it therefore "cannot legally be taught in taxpayer supported schools, according to the Constitution." (Via Morons.org)
*Californian Congressman a "liberal bully" for not believing in God. (Via Pharyngula)
*Nick Minchin appeals to the authority of a Canadian newspaper columnist (rather than scientific opinion) to deny AGW. (Evidently he's of the Andrew Bolt school of enviroskepticism: "I'm not a climatologist but I do have a bull detector through being a journalist.") (Also read Ninglun's post.)
"If we can't get them out, we'll breed them out."Here's a novel idea that should cause Iain and his fellow homophobes to prick up their ears with enthusiasm. Albert Mohler of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is advocating pre-natal gene therapy in order to eradicate homosexuality. Via Pharyngula:
If a biological basis is found, and if a prenatal test is then developed, and if a successful treatment to reverse the sexual orientation to heterosexual is ever developed, we would support its use as we should unapologetically support the use of any appropriate means to avoid sexual temptation and the inevitable effects of sin.Well, I suppose its an improvement upon the method preferred by anti-gay campaigner Paul Cameron (speaking in 1985):
Unless we get medically lucky, in three or four years, one of the options discussed will be the extermination of homosexuals.I guess GLBTIs ought to keep their fingers crossed that we get "medically lucky"--or it may very well be Zyklon-B for them.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Sunday, March 11, 2007
A list of the "Most Significant SF & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years" has been doing the rounds, and now appears to have evolved into a meme. The idea is that you reproduce the following list with the books you have read in bold-type.
Here's the list. And though I consider myself a SF fan, it appears I'm not as big a fan as I thought:
- The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
- Dune, Frank Herbert
- Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
- A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
- Neuromancer, William Gibson
- Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
- The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
- Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
- The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
- A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
- The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
- Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
- Cities in Flight, James Blish
- The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
- Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
- Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
- The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
- Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
- Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
- Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
- The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
- The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
- Gateway, Frederik Pohl
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
- I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
- Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
- The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
- Little, Big, John Crowley
- Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
- The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
- Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
- More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
- The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
- On the Beach, Nevil Shute
- Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
- Ringworld, Larry Niven
- Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
- The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
- Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
- Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
- Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
- The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
- Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
- Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
- The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
- Timescape, Gregory Benford
- To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer
The consensus seems to be that of sheer mystification regarding the inclusion of The Sword of Shannara on this list, and understandably so. The book is derivative rubbish: not only is it a cheap rip-off (in every sense) of Lord of the Rings, it also reads like the kind of fantasy novel that graces the bargain bins of second-hand bookstores or the rotating bookstands you find at train station newsagencies. But I suppose it could be argued that this is a list of the most significant SF/Fantasy, and The Sword of Shannara merits its selection on the strength of the Shannara series as a whole. (And the series improves greatly post-Sword.)
Still, if you're going to include The Sword of Shannara for the reasons just mentioned, I don't see why Raymond E. Feist's far superior Magician doesn't get a guernsey. Magician wears its Tolkien influences on its sleeve--particularly in the way it represents elves and dwarves--but it still manages to be original and enthralling.
(And where's L. Ron Hubbard? I haven't read any of his stuff--nor do I plan to--but his SF spawned a whole new religion! How many SF/Fantasy authors can say as much?)
Thumbs up to the inclusion of Stephen Donaldson and William Gibson. I would have liked to have seen Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed up there, too.
(Via Pharyngula. And although this is a meme, I won't tag anybody this time. I'm interested to hear your thoughts, however.)
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Five Public Opinions is calling for an immediate moratorium on Christian fundamentalists entering politics.Five Public Opinions' blog author, Arthur Vandelay, believes it is necessary because there has been no serious study on the potential effects on Australia of the Christian fundamentalists who are already here.
Reverend Vandelay says temporarily stopping fundies entering politics would give some breathing space to assess the situation.
He says while the policy may be offensive--not to mention fallacious--he stands by it.
"It's an issue that's affecting everyone and I think many of the political parties are frightened to even discuss the issue," he said.
He says in the meantime Australia should extend a welcoming hand to the many thousands of persecuted atheists, secular humanists, rational Christians and non-Christians alike, and other members of the reality-based community in the United States and western Sydney.
Friday, March 9, 2007
The week in fundie:
*Girls suspended for using the word “vagina” during reading of “Vagina Monologues.” (Pharyngula)
*Coulter rationalises domestic terrorism. (Alternet)
*Orthodox churches: human rights are evil. (Bartholomew's Notes on Religion)
*Wingnut Senator calls for an answer from his state Educational Commissioner on the creation of the universe (via Morons.org)
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Bob Altemeyer, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Manitoba, might be the world's foremost authority on Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA). His latest work on the subject has recently been released as a free e-book, The Authoritarians, available here. In the Introduction, Altemeyer defines authoritarianism thus:
UPDATE: On the subject of authoritarian followers.
Authoritarianism is something authoritarian followers and authoritarian leaders cook up between themselves. It happens when the followers submit too much to the leaders, trust them too much, and give them too much leeway to do whatever they want--which often is something undemocratic, tyrannical and brutal. In my day, authoritarian fascist and authoritarian communist dictatorships posed the biggest threats to democracies, and eventually lost to them in wars both hot and cold. But authoritarianism itself has not disappeared, and I'm going to present the case in this book that the greatest threat to American democracy today arises from a militant authoritarianism that has become a cancer upon the nation.And from Chapter 7:
Question: Is it the duty of every patriotic citizen to help stomp out this rot that is poisoning our country from within? No, I hope it’s obvious that that’s no solution at all. It may be just as obvious that social dominators will want to hang onto control until it is pried from their cold, dead fingers in the last ditch. And authoritarian followers will prove extremely resistant to change. The more one learns about theHat tip: Larry Gambone.
problem, I think, the more one realizes how difficult it will be to change people who
are so ferociously aggressive, and fiercely defensive.
You’re not likely to get anywhere arguing with authoritarians. If you won every round of a 15 round heavyweight debate with a Double High leader over history,
logic, scientific evidence, the Constitution, you name it, in an auditorium filled with
high RWAs, the audience probably would not change its beliefs one tiny bit. Authoritarian followers might even cling to their beliefs more tightly, the wronger
they turned out to be. Trying to change highly dogmatic, evidence-immune, groupgripping people in such a setting is like pissing into the wind.
UPDATE: On the subject of authoritarian followers.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Amanda Marcotte reflects on the role Ann Coulter plays in red-blooded red-staters' fantasies as a fuckable WASP bitch.
Meanwhile, the Huffington Post suggests that Coulter's recent shark-jumping (which has resulted in advertisers and newspapers dumping her left, right and centre--so to speak) has wrong-footed the Republicans, exposing their homophobia as the bigotry that dare not speak its name among "respectable" conservatives. ("No, Arthur, you have us all wrong. It's not bigotry: it's 'compassion.'")While I abhor it when men who take cheap shots at her fuckability, one can safely state that Coulter does have this exaggerated femininity, and appears to cultivate it. But I wouldn’t characterize it as American so much as the exaggerated version of the stereotype of the bitchy WASP—not the girl you marry, of course, but the one you party with while listening to your yacht rock while your
baby factorywife stays at home tending your heirs. Or, in the other fantasy of the yuppie good life, the fantasizing man is the confirmed bachelor banging the skinny, bitchy blondes in his abundant spare time. Think of Bill Maher’s own view of himself or maybe Chevy Chase’s character in Caddyshack.Taken from that point of view, the conservative dude obsession with Coulter makes perfect sense. Most wingnuts aren’t going to be That Guy—leaving the wife home to tend the baby while you go out to fuck bitchy, skinny blondes tends to be out of the reach of your average wingnut. Anyway, even if you can get away, it’s unlikely that said bitchy, skinny blondes will give you the time of day. But then there’s Coulter on the TV and she wants you to know that she loves you and thinks you’re a hot manly man and totally like the Chevy Chase character and the only thing you have to do in order to get into her good graces is vote Republican and hate liberals, those fags. Framed that way, there’s no mystery to her appeal.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Via Living the Scientific Life (you can see it better there)
Also, given the Burke/Rudd/Campbell orgy of mudslinging this week, Beware of the God provides a valuable public service in the form of a post detailing some things you may not have known about certain leading Federal Government figures. Learn about Tony Abbott's beginnings as a pugilistic Young Liberal thug; Eric Abetz' shady dealings with the Exclusive Brethren; Guy Barnett's theocratic and homophobic activism; and Kevin Andrews' links with various anti-abortion, anti-gay and anti-women's rights organisations.
OK, so maybe this information isn't exactly earth-shattering, but it's well worth bearing in mind in an election year.
A teacher of American Literature in a high school in Washington state has been giving the following lesson for the past seven years:Controversial lesson Here are two parts of a class assignment on creation myths that stirred controversy in a Lake Stevens High School teacher's American literature class:The lesson will be part of his teaching programme no longer. Teacher Gary McDonald was reprimanded by the school's principal after one student's parents complained that he was "denigrating their Christianity." The school's superintendent issued a written apology to the parents of Lanae Olsen, stating that he, too, was "deeply offended" by a lesson adapted from a textbook comparing Iroquois creation beliefs to other creation myths. McDonald's crime, in short, was to treat Genesis as a creation myth.The second is this handout titled "The Problem of Evil" that the teacher gave students to read.
For. Fuck's. Sake. The treatment of McDonald by the school authorities and the banning of his lesson amount to nothing short of anti-intellectualism and PC thuggery. (Except in this case it's Christians who are being pandered to, so we're not allowed to call it political correctness). More than that: it's a war on thinking. A school district spokesperson suggested that " The teacher's additions are more appropriate to a college-level philosophy course than a high school literature lesson." Why? Why is it inappropriate for high school students to be encouraged to think?
The double-standards here are both obvious and breathtaking. If the same action had been taken against McDonald because of a complaint by an Iroquois student, the Right would be jumping up and down, screaming "PC!!!! PC!!!!" But if someone dares call Genesis for what it is--a fucking creation myth--it's walking-on-eggshells time.
I ought to mention that McDonald, an atheist, had in the previous lesson revealed his religious affiliation to the class after a student noticed that he didn't utter the words "under God" during the Pledge of Allegiance. So what? Do you mean to tell me that no Christian teachers have ever told inquiring students what their religious affiliations might be? As for any possible parallels some might be tempted to draw with the Paskiewicz case: apples and oranges. McDonald simply announced that he is an atheist; Paskiewicz proselytised. McDonald's lesson materials were relevant to the teaching programme (his class was studying Arthur Miller's The Crucible); Paskiewicz's maunderings on biblical literalism and biblical creationism had no place in the history lesson he was supposed to be teaching. Finally, I should add that McDonald apologised for his "error," even though it could not in any reasonable sense be described as an "error;" Paskiewicz first lied about his proselytising, then when he was confronted with evidence he played the burning martyr, and remained unrepentant. Of course, while Paskiewicz enjoyed the full support of his principal and superintendent, McDonald gets raked over the coals.
And this is the kind of education system that Julie Bishop and John Howard want Australia to emulate. All I can do is shake my head.
(Via Pharyngula)
The week in fundie . . .
*Google: "Pharisees"--Christian doctor turns away child from treatment because her mother's tattoos detract from his office's "Christian atmosphere." (Via Morons.org)
*Sorority ejects members for being too fat and too Asian. (Via Morons.org)
*Ken Ham's Creation Museum set to open in June. "It’s not entertainment; it's 'edutainment,'" says Ken. (Via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)
*Religious Right distorting research on gay families, social scientists say.
*Oprah promotes superstitious irrationalism: lending weight to the thesis that most daytime TV is designed for morons.
*Google: "Pharisees"--Christian doctor turns away child from treatment because her mother's tattoos detract from his office's "Christian atmosphere." (Via Morons.org)
*Sorority ejects members for being too fat and too Asian. (Via Morons.org)
*Ken Ham's Creation Museum set to open in June. "It’s not entertainment; it's 'edutainment,'" says Ken. (Via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)
*Religious Right distorting research on gay families, social scientists say.
*Oprah promotes superstitious irrationalism: lending weight to the thesis that most daytime TV is designed for morons.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Scienciness n. the use of technical jargon, figures or statistics to lend a veneer of scientific credibility to cockamamie ideas, crackpot theories and ideological nostrums. The normal scientific method involves drawing (tentative) conclusions about the natural world from observation and experimentation; scienciness turns the scientific method on its head by presupposing conclusions about the world and then looking for data that appears to confirm them. (Creationism is the most notable case.)
Scienciness can therefore function as an effective propaganda technique, particularly when such propaganda is directed against minority or marginalised groups. An example is the anti-gay psychologist Paul Cameron's famous "Obituary Study," in which he attempted to demonstrate a significantly shorter lifespan among homosexuals by counting obituaries in various gay publications. In a critique of the study, Gregory Herek of the University of California at Davis observes that it "provides a textbook example of the perils of using data from a convenience sample to generalize to an entire population."
Scienciness, then, can be said to be a species of truthiness--but one which is parasitic upon the tension between emotion-based or faith-based reasoning on the one hand, and the appeal of science as a reliable source of knowledge about the world on the other, that is characteristic of contemporary political discourse.
By the way, I'd like to be able to claim credit for this term, but it's been around for a while.
Scienciness can therefore function as an effective propaganda technique, particularly when such propaganda is directed against minority or marginalised groups. An example is the anti-gay psychologist Paul Cameron's famous "Obituary Study," in which he attempted to demonstrate a significantly shorter lifespan among homosexuals by counting obituaries in various gay publications. In a critique of the study, Gregory Herek of the University of California at Davis observes that it "provides a textbook example of the perils of using data from a convenience sample to generalize to an entire population."
Scienciness, then, can be said to be a species of truthiness--but one which is parasitic upon the tension between emotion-based or faith-based reasoning on the one hand, and the appeal of science as a reliable source of knowledge about the world on the other, that is characteristic of contemporary political discourse.
By the way, I'd like to be able to claim credit for this term, but it's been around for a while.
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