permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>]

On 3/2/2011 1:27 PM, Toby Hemenway wrote:

> What raised my ire here (and since I've got a bad cold, I am perhaps
> a little less tolerant than usual) is, first, seeing the oceanplasma
> folks make unsupportable, erroneous statements to support the use of
> a product, and, second and more strongly, seeing someone (whoever
> wrote the line that Chris quoted) hide a political or religious
> agenda behind a plea for tolerance, using the old canard "How can
> students be taught to challenge popular ideas when they are only
> presented a one-sided view?"
>
> This sort of plea to "tolerance" (the liberal Achille's heel) has
> long been used to sneak in agendas that I consider evil or at least
> dishonest. Since Chris asked if I would ever teach using the same
> name-calling that I used in describing the above kind of ignorance or
> deception, here's what I do. If one of my students asked "But doesn't
> GMO corn have higher yields than non GMO?" I would answer with the
> same calm logic that I used to explain what a scientific theory is.
> But if one of my students used the tactic of saying "If you are
> against GMO corn, then you must want people to starve to death," (the
> Monsanto party line) then I would be much less kind in my answer.
> That's the same kind of argument as "How can students be taught to
> challenge ideas . . ." and its real agenda is to deceive. We need to
> be on our guard whenever we see statements like that, and recognize
> that all statements in that class are designed to manipulate and set
> up a smokescreen. Those sorts of statement s are vicious, and if
> someone uses them, or even quotes them without seeing the dishonesty
> behind them, they are going to get a strong reaction from me. There
> is no room in honest discourse for that sort of lie, and it's
> frustrating to see people deceived by it.
>
> Toby http://patternliteracy.com
-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Creationists write the science books
Date:   Thu, 03 Mar 2011 20:51:23 +0000
From:   David Segal, DemandProgress.org <info@demandprogress.org>
Reply-To:       David Segal, DemandProgress.org <info@demandprogress.org>
To:     Lawrence London <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>

Lawrence,

The Texas Board of Education is waging a war on science: *They want to
put Creationists in charge of the content of science text books. * The
board, whose members are elected, has influence beyond Texas because the
state is one of the largest buyers of textbooks -- *so their decisions
could undermine what gets taught across America. *

*Will you click here to demand an end to Texas's war on science?
<http://act.demandprogress.org/go/63?akid=311.347838.8hJ3us&t=1>*

The nominees to the science curriculum review team are absolutely
ridiculous: They don't believe in evolution -- *and some of them admit
that they don't even believe in science at all!*

One said, "I can find physical and written testimony that the Earth is
only 6,000 years old ... Studying natural history can be an interesting,
fun, and adventure-filled pursuit, /but it is not real science."/
Another puts it even more bluntly: "As a creationist, /I believe
naturalism in the sciences to be science-fiction./"

These people are making a mockery of science education, which could have
ramifications across the country.

*Will you help fight back by signing Demand Progress's petition to the
Texas Board of Education?
<http://act.demandprogress.org/go/63?akid=311.347838.8hJ3us&t=2>*

Thanks for standing with science,

-- The Demand Progress team

P.S. Because it buys so many text books, the Texas decision could have
real ramifications on science education across the country. Will you
forward this email to your friends?

Paid for by Demand Progress (DemandProgress.org
<http://demandprogress.org/>) and not authorized by any candidate or
candidate's committee. Contributions are not deductible as charitable
contributions for federal income tax purposes.

--
You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time.
<http://act.demandprogress.org/cms/unsubscribe/unsubscribe/?akid=311.347838.8hJ3us&t=1>