Palin on fruit flies - why does she hate science?

[pirana 0]

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We are gonna get fucked either way because the other party's platform is damn near communist.

It's a LOOOONG ways from any form of communism. I'd suggest that both of your parties are so much further Right than the center of European politics. Saying that they are commies is scaremongery at it's best.

OK, I'll tone it down to Centrally Planned Socialism. Whatever you want to call them, anybody who wants me to come home from work and hand out half my pay to other people so they can up their standard of living is damn near communist.

The fact that some of Europe has gone even past that point already is their problem. I'm still hoping we can avoid that path.

Our party of the left wants state controlled health care, state controlled (and state owned?) banking, state control of what a pregnant woman does with her body, and state control of half my income. (And God knows what else - - I'm sure the hard core among them wants state control of me from birth to grave - - for my own good of course).

It occus to me that they want state control over everything other than what I choose to do as a means of livelihood.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[shropshire 0]

Well good luck... but if you end up with that woman as one of the most powerful people on Earth - Heaven help ALL of us.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[pirana 0]

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All one has to do is read this thread and see all the posts by wanna-be scientists that condemn all those who think differently and you can find the reason why it has become popular to bash science.

People can think in whatever fashion they desire; however, what they believe to be true is an entirely different matter.

Some of the silly shit people believe is not just different - - they are wrong. I asked you what you include in Faith. It is an important distinction because of the wide breadth of meaning that term can have.

If it is the organized religion flavor of faith, then it leads to ignorance because it rejects even the most basic tenets of investigation and discovery.

I used to try to make nice with people who claimed the Earth was created in 7 days, the Universe is only 6K years old, Noah's Ark, and other such nonsense. Then the Bible thumpers got disclaimer style stickers regarding evolution inserted into the science texbooks in a district only about 40 miles away.

Damned if I am going to stand by and watch ignorance win the day. I now call people on their stupidity and ignorance, and refuse to apologize for my intelligence.

BTW, some people here are not scientist wannabees. Some are the real thing.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[pirana 0]

Nice post argyle.

I had a turning point in my attitudes about the propogation of ignorance several years ago when I attempted to picque the wonder and awe of a youngster by pointing out Jupiter.

Went to the races one evening with my sister and her family and some of their friends. In between races we are all just chilling and chatting and I notice how cool looking Jupiter is that evening. So I point it out to this 10 year old in the friends group. We chat about it for a couple minutes and he seems really interested and amazed.

A couple minutes later I see him tug on his dad's arm and proudly point out Jupiter. What's the Dad's reaction? A stern "That's not Jupiter . . . ." He went on with some thoroughly ignorant statements that I do not recall. The main thing to me was this ignorant jackass not only had no idea what he was talking, but that he had to have known that. But it was more valuable for him to propogate his ignorance by handing it down to his son than to see the young man enlightened.

Even a "How do you know that?" or "Who told you that" would have gotten him somewhere. To that crowd, I quit apologizing long ago.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[Andy_Copland 0]

Fucking idiot she is.

1338

People aint made of nothin' but water and shit.

Until morale improves, the beatings will continue.

[shropshire 0]

That's just stupid... everyone knows that Dinosaurs are purple.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[Belgian_Draft 0]

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Nice post argyle.

I had a turning point in my attitudes about the propogation of ignorance several years ago when I attempted to picque the wonder and awe of a youngster by pointing out Jupiter.

Went to the races one evening with my sister and her family and some of their friends. In between races we are all just chilling and chatting and I notice how cool looking Jupiter is that evening. So I point it out to this 10 year old in the friends group. We chat about it for a couple minutes and he seems really interested and amazed.

A couple minutes later I see him tug on his dad's arm and proudly point out Jupiter. What's the Dad's reaction? A stern "That's not Jupiter . . . ." He went on with some thoroughly ignorant statements that I do not recall. The main thing to me was this ignorant jackass not only had no idea what he was talking, but that he had to have known that. But it was more valuable for him to propogate his ignorance by handing it down to his son than to see the young man enlightened.

Even a "How do you know that?" or "Who told you that" would have gotten him somewhere. To that crowd, I quit apologizing long ago.

Maybe he was right and you were the one who was wrong.

HAMMER:
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a
kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the
object we are trying to hit.

[vortexring 0]

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When did it become so popular to bash science, and the "ivory tower elitists" who carry out the vital research that underpins the progress of modern medicine and new technologies? When did ignorance become so fashionable?

"Why are the Republican candidates so contemptuous of science? I suppose it's part of their general attack on "elitism," which has been surprisingly effective. We white-coated nerds in our labs, fooling around with flies at taxpayer expense, are easy targets."

Further to the answer provided above (from the same original article), I'd imagine this is just another typically small-minded comment from what most people perceive to be a small-minded person.
Still, she's rather pleasant on the eye, so I'm not complaining. . . . .

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[riddler 0]

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I suppose it's part of their general attack on "elitism," which has been surprisingly effective.

And hypocritical. In this country, the wealthy are the most elite, of all the elite. And the Republicans support them in totality.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[pirana 0]

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Nice post argyle.

I had a turning point in my attitudes about the propogation of ignorance several years ago when I attempted to picque the wonder and awe of a youngster by pointing out Jupiter.

Went to the races one evening with my sister and her family and some of their friends. In between races we are all just chilling and chatting and I notice how cool looking Jupiter is that evening. So I point it out to this 10 year old in the friends group. We chat about it for a couple minutes and he seems really interested and amazed.

A couple minutes later I see him tug on his dad's arm and proudly point out Jupiter. What's the Dad's reaction? A stern "That's not Jupiter . . . ." He went on with some thoroughly ignorant statements that I do not recall. The main thing to me was this ignorant jackass not only had no idea what he was talking, but that he had to have known that. But it was more valuable for him to propogate his ignorance by handing it down to his son than to see the young man enlightened.

Even a "How do you know that?" or "Who told you that" would have gotten him somewhere. To that crowd, I quit apologizing long ago.

Maybe he was right and you were the one who was wrong.

Too funny.

The propogation of ignorance is a powerful enemy. Ran into it another time one night when I was out observing in the darkest spot I could find at a local park. Some young people (20's) strolling by came over and asked for a peek. I walked them each thru a turn at the eyepiece; after which one of them asked how I knew what we were looking at was really Saturn.

I suppose I could have launched into a discussion of the hundreds of years of observations, Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion, retrograde, etc. Instead I just mentioned the rings. A close call indeed. Good thing I wasn't observing Venus.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[JackC 0]

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I suppose it's part of their general attack on "elitism," which has been surprisingly effective.

And hypocritical. In this country, the wealthy are the most elite, of all the elite. And the Republicans support them in totality.

Different kind of elite I'm afraid. The elite nerd will toil away in obscurity furthering scientific knowledge for a (usually government supplied) pittance because of a love for the work. To a neo-con, taking government money to do something is one small step away from taking government money to do nothing and to the neo-con, it frequently looks like the same thing. Ergo, academic research is tantamount to communism, therefore McCarthyism applies and academics may be (metaphorically) shot on sight. Now the GOP supported elite make money, so they can fund themselves and are therefore good Americans. Unfortunately, basic research is rarely profitable so the good American GOP elite frequently poach ideas from the commies in academia, but that's OK cos the commie bastards should pay their fucking dues like everyone else. No hypocracy necessary.

[/tongue in cheek]

[brokenwing 1]

i would suspect that this site would answer your question -- not only palin but many of those main streeters


http://www.creationmuseum.org/