Maybe We Don't Know Shit. So What?

I recently posted about a seemingly local website whose sole purpose is to spread dissent regarding global warming, and climate change, and so on. Even in a hating setting I tried to be, and maybe quoting, fair and balanced, but in this age of Real Talk, one must ask, who actually thinks human induced climate change is fiction? Seriously.

This Slate article highlights the American style of paranoia concerning science. It's a good read, in that, by the second installment, it does reach for an air of fair and balanced by calling, in my words, the good guys, guilty of the same thing that the "bad guys" are attempting and succeeding at.

I've taken to watching C-Span lately, and I watched a program with a speaker who talked about America's general lack of knowledge of how science actually works, and this plays into the idea of "scientific paranoia" quite well, because this lack of know-how just spreads the skepticism that basically flies in the face of what science actually does.

I'm stringing many things together here, and may not know how to untie everything, so I'll just end with a couple of questions that are completely not hypothetical.

-How does God (or god) continue to exist?

-Do people really think, whether they have vested interests or not, that humans are not contributing to climate change?

-Bordering on a rant, how can evolution be held as a theory in the popular concept of the definition of that word, in that, it's a non-conclusive idea? If one were to ask me, which you just did, I would say that the simple fact that life exists without a god is far more astounding than if it does. But that's just me.

-With respect to Bowie, is there life on Mars?

I'm of the opinion that, while not infallible, science should be taken as it is, unless you're a scientist and smart enough to come up with something reasonable that says otherwise. It seems that, as it has been throughout it's history, science will always be under attack by people whose interests lie in science being disproven.

Edit: An aside for creationists with a dogged reasoning.

Eternity in a Black Hole

According to Jack Van Impe ministries this is the time line of upcomming events which we need to prepare ourselves for. I am not sure how it works in other parts of the United States but here in Minneapolis at 11:00 pm on Sunday nights Jack Van Impe and his wife Rexella (yes, ironically, she is named after a Dinosaur...or as SNL put it, a "Jesus Horse") have their weekly television show in which they discuss the comming of....you guessed it....Jesus Christ. This show has been on the air for as long as I can remeber. On the show Rexella reads current headlines which Jack then analyzes using bible verses (on the televangelist scene he is known as "the walking bible"). Recently Jack has predicted that the Apocalypse will begin in 2012. Prior to this he predicted that there would be wide spread catasrophe surrounding Y2K (this proved to be inaccurate). He was also quoted as saying, "black holes fulfill all the technical requirements to be the location of Hell." Mostly Impe preaches an "end of times" philosophy which puts him at odds with other religious leaders. (In 2005 he hated on Pat Roberson by comparing him to the likes of Osama Bin Laden.)

The question I often grapple with when thinking about the current Evangelical slant in the United States is, "What is motivating these people?" Are we really expected to trust televangelists? are there really that many people out there who buy this stuff? Why are they all white, middle class, old guys?

Since when has the book or revelation become the basis for the way many people think? More important than the idea that church and state should be seperated...one of the very concepts that this country was founded on. Does Democracy mean anything anymore?

Stephen Colbert put it quite pointedly what he asked, "why can't these people just say 'I don't know'?" Is the fear of the unknown so difficult for us to comprehend that we have to scare people into believeing a book that is most probubly a work of fiction? I am not saying that the prophesies found in the book of revelation are impossible I am just pointing out that they are highly improbable. Evangelicals make up a minority of United States citizens yet their presence is having an extreme impact on us all. This can be seen in environmental legislation, money for wars, etc. . .

Why can't people keep their dooms day babble to themselves?