1.12.2007

Another late night post? No, you're kidding!

Before I get into anything else, you should all pay Shayna a visit. I'm saying this right now because it's going to be followed by things that are either far less kind in sentiment or immeasurably less important.
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You may have noticed the changes in links. I'm waaaaaay behind where it comes to blog refurbishing. I mean shit, I may be the only one here still using the same template that he started with, with no personal touches to the layout or anything that would suggest individuality. In any case, if I haven't linked you and you think I've a good reason to please don't take it as a slight. I've only just now linked to my side project with the lovely Jemima--- And Then What Happened.

Cooper has a post up about global warming. As always she owns the issue and her words ought to be read and pondered, and, hell, whatever you happen to customarily do with words you hold in high regard. I gave some commentary there that may have been coherent or relevant; I don't know. But then I saw this, and I had to say something. A Seattle school has put a stoppage on showing "An Inconvenient Truth" in its classrooms, after a parent complained that it painted a different picture of the end of the world than the Bible.


Oh sweet merciful squealing fuck.

Ok, so at first glance, it's a typical case of some backward-ass fucks (not to be confused with backward ass-fucks) saying that shit shouldn't be taught because it contradicts the Bible and somehow getting their will done by an either cowardly or lobotomized (or both) school board. Then you look at the wording of the actual policy, which requires that whenever a "controversial issue" is discussed, a "credible, legitimate opposing view" is provided.

Let's mull that over a little bit where I give my obligatory "I see what you tried to do here and I respect your intent" before I explain exactly why that's fucking stupid.

Controversy does not limit itself to provable, or even demonstrable arguments. The fact of the matter is, and once again, I quote Douglas Adams, "Not all opinions are equal. Some are a great deal more robust, and supported by fact and argument than others." If controversy can be drummed up by shitheads who eschew the Scientific Method because it arrives at conclusions that bother them, then there won't always be a credible, legitimate opposing view for each controversial issue. And what then? Well, if those assholes over there get their way, the view that is supported by fact and logic and reason doesn't get taught in schools either.

I'm reminded of Pascal's Wager, an application of Game Theory which people of faith often use as a last resort to reach out to atheists. One wonders if those parents ever used that argument, and if it's utterly lost on them how it applies here.

3 comments:

  1. omigosh, am i the first??? gee.
    loved this post.
    you know i was a christian for ten years and then i wasn't. and i remember the pent up anger and the outrage when the secular world wrote stuff that 'wasn't true!!!' it's going to happen, mr. wombat. be angry all you want. i know. i know. it makes me tired now to see stuff like this and i cannot believe i used to be that way. but you gotta know that they are operating under a different belief system, one that is coupled with an urgent cry from their lord and god and saviour, etc that it is their DUTY to bring as many souls as possible to the lord andit is their DUTY to stand up and cry foul when something is 'misleading' their flock.
    again, i know, mr. wombat. i know. hence the aspirin and the scotch. it is a little out of hand. but in the meantime, just be grateful that your life is not lived out of fear. and be grateful that you don't have it on your shoulders to save all those you know and love from the fiery pits of hell and how every day you wonder if today is the day that you'll say just the right thing so that when you die and go to heaven you will indeed see your loved ones there instead of not seeing them, etc. etc.
    yep, i told ya. crazy stuff.
    glad i'm out.
    glad you're not in.
    much love,
    anna

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  2. I was raised Catholic, and remained as such until high school. In the end, what began the rift between me and the Church was Pascal's Gambit; that atheists should do the sensible thing and accept God in case he exists.

    I'm not so much angry that one parent didn't want his kids seeing it. My hope is that the kids will come to their senses at some point but I'm in no position to say how someone should raise their children. What pisses me off is that the objection was immediately acted upon by the school board and they stifled a film whose aim is to get people to give a shit about SAVING THE PLANET.

    I have far less of a quarrell with the parent, who I view merely as a misguided fool, than with the school board who enacted that ignorance into public policy.

    Christians can try and get their message across if they like. Free speech and all that. But they don't get to silence other voices. And they especially don't get to remove legitimate scientific inquiry from the classroom because they disagree with it. If they don't want their kids to learn about global warming they have options outside of public school. They shouldn't be allowed to prevent the generation upon whose shoulders it will inevitably fall to fix the global warming problem from learning that the problem exists. Shit, if that type of thinking spreads, it could literally cause the end of the world. And if they have a problem with freedom of speech, there are other places they can live.

    I know that my shouting doesn't accomplish a hell of a lot, but if I made that a requirement for me to write something then I don't think I'd ever write much here.

    I'm glad to have you with me on this one. Mmuch love to you as well

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  3. in my attempt to play devil's advocate...
    i forgot to mention that no one should be allowed to prevent someone else from seeing information..and like yourself am angry that it happened.....oh god this cold medicine is not doing any good for my alreay impaired ability to formulate sentences...
    nevermind, nevermind..cough...cough..still no voice...

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