The war against science and knowledge

skidd

Well-Known Member
Joined
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Oh, we gotta stop this shit...

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencei...oses-new-criteri-1.html#.UX6YKYl-Bt8.facebook

Politicians should never, ever, even remotely, determine the direction research goes. Right now, grants are awarded or denied based on peer review, where other NSF funded scientists select grant proposals that they deem should be funded. Under this proposal, the NSF director, who is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, would make every call, on more than 40,000 grant proposals per year.

so...wtf? Why mess with a system that ensures no single person determines the path of research?
 
You have to understand, all these facts that are generated through that funding make it really hard to argue against some stuff politically. That?s just unfair towards politicians, as they are rarely voted into office for their intellect.

We gotta level that playing field!

:bunny:
 
Well, when you ask for funding from an institution that is constantly changing it's own rules to benefit the people who are temporarily involved, are you surprised? The difference between asking money from gangsters and politicians is that the politicians deem themselves legitimate, whereas gangsters know they are immoral.

After the person heading the committee leaves, I am sure it will be changed again. And again. And again.
 
A big win for creationist "scientists".
 
I recall some idiot on a Texas school board talking about how they needed to get the experts out of school books. The man is a dentist. Jon Stewart pointed out it's time we get rid of these so called 'experts' in dentistry. Brushing teeth with chocolate is indeed a good way of avoiding cavities.
 
The troubling part is, many people will agree with it and denounce science and research as needless expense. Granted, they're in the red states and still don't understand how genetic diseases get carried through incest, but it's still a worrying trend. The fact that anyone in some seat of power claims the pursuit of knowledge is misguided worries the shit out of me.
 
Why do conservatives support the republican party? I'm a moderate conservative, but most republican politicians just make me want to vomit even more the democratic politicians.. If the republican party wants to stay a serious party it need to be less of a quasi-religious party. Some politicians here are still trying to get rid of the teaching of evolution and probably have the majority on their side.

Cut spending in the military, cut the pay-roll for elected officials across the board and put it into various research, technology, and education programs.

Also look at the house science committee , Paul Broun from GA thinks the earth is less than 9000 years old and called evolution, embryology, and the big bang theory from "the pit of hell". This guy should not be in any position higher than fry cook hence why Neal Boortz ran Darwin against him for Representative.
 
My dad is a pre-Nixon era conservative, but he still votes Republican out of inertia (though he did vote for Perrot). The problem is the religious right has taken hold of the party, but the conservatives see no other choice.
 
Bear in mind, NSF also funds political science and climate change research. All things them nutty republicans hate. While I do recognize not all republicans are this retarded, I still do hold all republicans responsible for this kind of shit.
 
You have to understand, all these facts that are generated through that funding make it really hard to argue against some stuff politically. That?s just unfair towards politicians, as they are rarely voted into office for their intellect.

We gotta level that playing field!

:bunny:

Yes, to quote Stephen Colbert: "Everybody knows, that reality is liberally biased".

;)

Bear in mind, NSF also funds political science and climate change research. All things them nutty republicans hate. While I do recognize not all republicans are this retarded, I still do hold all republicans responsible for this kind of shit.

The problem is, I think, that politicians - no matter what party or direction - would never bring up such nonsense, if they wouldn't know there are many people out there, who follow them. If there wouldn't be a chance for a majority, nobody would even dare thinking about talking publically like that.

Personally I don't think it's the politicians' fault but the voters'. If big parts of America wouldn't be stuck in that strange mixture of 21st century technology and medieval moral standards, things like that would never pop up.
 
I feel America is going through a cycle of religious revival. Nothing new or out of the ordinary. But....

Lat time it happened the 18th Amendment and The Volstead Act was passed.
 
Yes, to quote Stephen Colbert: "Everybody knows, that reality is liberally biased".

;)

The problem is, I think, that politicians - no matter what party or direction - would never bring up such nonsense, if they wouldn't know there are many people out there, who follow them. If there wouldn't be a chance for a majority, nobody would even dare thinking about talking publically like that.

Personally I don't think it's the politicians' fault but the voters'. If big parts of America wouldn't be stuck in that strange mixture of 21st century technology and medieval moral standards, things like that would never pop up.


You underestimate the boldness of politicians. They are often elected because of a fringe issue, or because a group that supports them pushes that fringe issue. Sadly, they will then push another fringe issue to keep that same group happy.


You are also wrong about the voters being at fault, at least they take part in the process. The real problem comes from those that don't vote. In the good ol' USA, less than half are registered to vote, and just over half of them vote. And that takes us back to the fringe issue getting so much support from politicians. Why would they listen to the masses(not that they would anyway, see current support for universal background checks) when they don't vote?
 
I feel America is going through a cycle of religious revival. Nothing new or out of the ordinary. But....

Lat time it happened the 18th Amendment and The Volstead Act was passed.

There was more going on at the time than a religious revival. Ken Burns recently did a very well done documentary on Phrohibition and part one covered what caused it.
 
You underestimate the boldness of politicians. They are often elected because of a fringe issue, or because a group that supports them pushes that fringe issue. Sadly, they will then push another fringe issue to keep that same group happy.

ahpadt translation: Despite likely having zero academic background, politicians will make wonderful claims that people will buy which results in his or her popularity increasing. Hence it shouldn't really be dangerous to claim that most politicians are absolutely unqualified in making the decisions they often do, even if they have so-called "advisors" (read: advisors = people with a lot of money who just want things done based on their own interest).

The reason why scientists and engineers don't go into politics is likely due to not being able to withstand all the brainless arguments, that only people of a certain "convincing" nature can. :p
 
On the long run, you can only overcome ignorance with education. There has to be an educational standard for every child, which the parents cannot obviate. I still think a statutory obligation to attend a public school, which teaches those standards, is the only way to avoid raising a child as an ignorant zealot, who only know about religion and the people and the area around them.

Also I think that every child should at least once in their life spend a year or so abroad, to learn seeing things from a different perspective.
 
During the period of the Volstead act you could not have a beer but you could have a gun - hmmm, must say something about America, what I do not know, but something.
 
I share your feeling of unease, that something you cannot put your finger on, is wrong. You probably mean something like this:

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Or this girl from hell:

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Or this:

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Or this:

77799734ff1b152a8eca04bd1762ff13_image_document_xxl.jpg


Or maybe this:

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Or maybe even this:

3cedfa8cb027934122bd3c9f8d30e8b6_image_document_xxl.jpg


Yes, I know, those are old advertisements but fact of the matter is, that those are all American and could nowhere else in the world be found like that. They represent the image of a society, where something from the root on is somehow wrong. It can send shivers down your back, when you think that people, who are in power today, grew up with and have been influenced by such stuff.
 
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