The new anti-science assault on US schools

Looks like big money wants to degrade the quality of public education even further:
In a disturbing trend, anti-evolution campaigners are combining with climate change deniers to undermine public education 

But there are a couple of new twists that make this same-old story more interesting than usual. One has to do with the temperature in a less metaphorical sense. The Oklahoma bill isn't properly speaking just an "anti-evolution" bill; it is just as opposed to the "theory" of "global warming". A bill pending in Tennessee likewise targets "global warming" alongside "biological evolution". These and other bills aim their rhetoric at "scientific controversies" in plural, and one of the New Hampshire bills does not even bother to specify which controversies it has in mind.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/feb/12/new-anti-science-assault-us-schools

anti-evolution campaigners are combining with climate change deniers
 
I thought they were the same people. 

I thought christian fundamentalists where the driving force behind getting creationism in the class room and big oil was behind climate change deniers.

I think they're all in one big stew pot.  :D

With the Koch brothers stirring. 

I suspect that whether or not the earth is warming up, it won't matter in the end because we've got an ice age coming along in the near future. I'm about as far from any of the categories of people listed above, but must admit to having some serious second thoughts about evolution - only it isn't versus "creationism" it's versus something else entirely and I'm not sure exactly what.

I bought the book, "Not by Fire But by Ice" from Robert Felix and there's a mystery in there that those who survive the coming shift will probably be able to witness. It seems that every time there is a magnetic pole shift, there is also an extinction level event. Then, during the pole shift, there are two layers of rock: black (coal) and red (don't know what it is) that apparently fall from space onto the planet. Mind, this happens in every single magnetic pole shift, which is why we have so much coal on the planet. I figure that there's something that gives us a close enough flyby to drop coal and that red dust on our planet every time we go through this cycle. A third layer also appears and that is enough volcanic ash to indicate volcanoes going off pretty much planet wide all at once. Then after those three layers, new species appear - fully formed, not coming through a pattern of evolution but just - being there. It seems that horn and bone are the most prone to radiation mutation, and it's mostly horn and bone that differentiates new species from old. Hmm....

But anyway, I guess I"m off the subject, which is the anti-science assault in our schools. They aren't just anti-science. They are anti-think. Kids are being dumbed down to the point of idiocy. On purpose.

Oh, Lua!  We've had some great discussions on here about creationism vs. evolution.

I think they are both a lie.  Or there are bits of them that are truth and most of it is a lie.

I think when the two major establishments (the CHURCH and science/government) are pushing something, you can figure it's more than likely a lie.

Per the ice age thing:  Someone linked an article here awhile back about the earth getting myteriously windier.  Supposedly, it's the sign of an ice age.

Kids are being dumbed down to the point of idiocy. On purpose.
 
Honestly, I don't think it really matters anyway.  Humans are the dumbest animals.  Always have been.

If a kid is "smart," i.e., they get an advanced degree, they end up working for the system.  If they don't work for the system they don't really change anything anyway.  The trajectory has been the same since agriculture took over the earth some many thousands of years ago.

I think the "dumbing down" thing is just thinkspeak.  Keeps us all worked up over something that really doesn't matter one way or the other.

The best a person can do is just move to the middle of nowhere (and this is just mho) and grow as much of their food as they can, and stay as far away from "conveniences" as they can.

And that's a hard way to live.

Also, I have a dim view of "science" as we know it.  It's pretty much the reason we are where we find ourselves today.

What is the answer?  Ignorance/religion certainly isn't.  They held sway for a long, long time and the earth was a mess.  Now science runs the show and it's a bigger mess.

I don't know what the answer is.  Something that isn't what is happening now is all I know.

Nods, nods, nods at Lua and Lou.

I think the really smart humans are the ones who live in harmony with the earth and practice a religion of compassion towards all living things.

Some of the supposedly "smartest" humans that have ever lived have used their "intelligence" as many times for evil as they have for good, but we all know this.   WE know the psychopathic, sociopathic, seriously narcissistic rise to the top.....and the problem as I see it is that to stop them you have to become like them, which is the anti-thesis of what benevolent/benign humans wish to do.

Sometimes at night I lay awake dreaming about how I could start all these sanctuaries and sustainable communities, cruelty free zones where people and animals who have been abused or are in some way vulnerable come to heal and live.  The communities would be full of other benevolent, "strong" people as well, but we'd have ethics not hierarchies.   Imagine having more and more of these sanctuaries growing around the world.

Of course the psychos would try to come for us.   Mostly they'd try to use "the law" to make it look all respectable, just like they closed down the Amish for the "terrible crime" of selling raw milk.   But if society broke down and the world started to go "tribal" we'd really need "protectors" in the communities, those who were willing to kill but to DEFEND them. 

"They" may be stuffing up the entire planet but what say enough of us started building "bits of paradise" in more remote locations?

All the "brilliant" people who think nuclear power is such a great idea can live closest to the nuclear power plants.

Anyway, back on topic....

There was a time when schools espoused a policy that they would teach children HOW to think.

It seems we have all these special-interest groups fighting these days over the right to teach children WHAT to think.  Like Lua and Lou I don't think it's a choice between evolution and creationism.  I think it's a lot more complicated than that, but the point is, why can't children at a certain age have presentations on all sorts of ideas and make their OWN  mind up?  If they think creation is ludicrous, let them work it out for themselves.   If they have any big questions about evolution, let someone try to answer them. 

In other words they shouldn't be taught to agree or disagree, they should be taught to THINK FOR THEMSELVES, how to ask the right questions, how to consider evidence, how to see through political and religious agendas, how to be truly skeptical of everything in fact....