Tag Archives: Reason

Science-Light, or Sciency Sounding Sound Bytes – Not Only Bad, But Stupid

This article brought up some thoughts about people choosing to either be dumb or promote ignorance in the name of greed:

In Heartland Institute Leak, a Plan to Discredit Climate Teaching – NYTimes.com.

The part that made me angry, actually, isn’t that there are people out there actually foolish enough to believe the message this group is spreading. Nor is it the fact that certain interests might finance their mission, which is at this point something I have sadly accepted as inevitable. What makes me angry is the willful attempt to disrupt the education of our children and fill their heads with what is at best confusing claptrap, at worst outright lies. Taking hundreds of thousands of private dollars and targeting that money toward a misinformation curriculum when our nation’s schools are already struggling so much because of political maneuvering and posturing and kowtowing is an unforgivable transgression against our society and the coming generations.

Grammar: Really, really bad.

When I was a senior in high school, I caused a minor uproar with an essay I turned in to one of my writing classes decrying the use of proper grammar. It was intended as something of a personal joke between the teacher and myself, and the essay itself contained impeccable grammar. The truth is, the rules of grammar are very important for proper communication. I truly believe that. However, there are times that grammar gets in the way of creative expression. The rules cannot, however, be properly or effectively broken without having first been mastered. Which was kind of my point. Artistically speaking.

The teacher I wrote this for (Mr. R.) then took it to the teachers’ lounge and shared it with my journalism teacher (Ms P.) who took it quite seriously and literally and waved it like a flag of triumph in a battle for the hearts and minds of a rebellious generation. I’m still a little surprised that no one ended up bruised or bloody from the fallout Continue reading Grammar: Really, really bad.

Fear Mongering: It’s Just Bad For You

As an inaugural post, although I think it is pretty obvious, it never hurts to point out that buying into Fear Mongering (as once popularized by the Bush-Cheney Years, but readily in use, well, forever and counting) is bad for you. It’s unhealthy to believe every scary headline on Fox News, and just as bad for you to believe every frightening claim made by homeopathic “medical practitioners” to scare you away from unnecessary medication or surgery… The fact is, people use hyperbole to sell you whatever they want, and lately it has become more aggressive than ever across all media. This is partly because of the blogosphere — truthfully, the level of misinformation out there is growing exponentially every day — AND WILL SOON CAUSE ALL KNOWN INFORMATION SYSTEMS TO COLLAPSE UNDER THE VIRTUAL WEIGHT OF IT ALL. Well, maybe not the part in bold, but there certainly is something there to be concerned with, and probably a little afraid of, until we can all take a breath and reason things out.