Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
With the anti-vaccine stance being politicised and turned into a mostly Republican stance, especially amongst white Evangelicals, we can embrace the thought that this has had consequences. First, let’s clarify something. It is of course obvious, but let’s be clear. Not all Republicans are anti-vaccine, many are rather sensible. Not all white evangelical Republicans are … Read more
On Sept 13, 2022 Pew posted an article titled “Modeling the Future of Religion in America“. If you happen to be utterly ticked off by religious fanatics consistently and persistently imposting intolerance, hatred, and bigotry, then this new Pew insight will indeed be a very welcomed bit of good news. If however you are a … Read more
Back in 1917 there was a supreme court case that revolved around the concept of Freedom of Speech – Schenck v. United States. The defendant was opposed to the draft during WWI and had been distributing leaflets to that end. When prosecuted, he took a “Freedom of Speech” stance. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. took this … Read more
We all know that misinformation and disinformation abounds and is currently running rampant. Thankfully there are also some very useful resources that can really help: To be specific, I mean the fact-checkers. Well-known examples of organizations that are wholly and completely focused on fact-checking include … FactCheck.org PolitiFact Snopes etc… There are of course many … Read more
Scientists who articulate evidence-based facts in response to media requests for comment are finding themselves facing harassment and threats
Each year I put up a posting related to 9/11. It is perhaps a reflection of the date being burned into my brain. Key moments in history are like that, we often remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when we hear about something truly impactful. In the past I’ve written about … Read more