For those who think that my article using the tsunami (that is, using scientific explanations for the tsunami, not the fact that it killed people) to make a point is tasteless and inappropriate, let me show you what a real tasteless response to it might be. I’m sure there will be a great wailing and gnashing of teeth coming any minute now from the ARN crowd over this one.
I think some people really need to get a grip on this one. I was discussing the scientific aspects of it, I wasn’t making fun of the victims. It’s no more “exploitative” than newspaper articles discussing how warning systems might have saved lives, or how scientists try to predict such occurences. If I had used Krakatoa as an example instead, the substantive argument would be precisely the same (the one the ARN crowd is so stalwartly avoiding) and I still would have been referring to a disaster that killed tens of thousands of people. And, I would add, it’s not even close to the level of exploitation going on with the various whackos around the world talking about how these are the “last days” and claiming that God killed those people on purpose for their (or our) sins, not to mention the utter inhumanity of a cretin like Fred Phelps celebrating it because it killed “dykes and fags”. Yet of all those things, my article that did not even mention the victims of the tragedy is criticized as tasteless and exploitative? You’ll pardon me if I don’t take this feigned outrage very seriously.