…and this is a 
It's for college students only, and first prize is $2000. Come on, students, you're used to churning out term papers, and that prize is substantial.
The topic of the essay is free expression.
The Campaign for Free Expression is a CFI initiative to focus efforts and attention on one of the most crucial components of freethought: the right of individuals to express their viewpoints, opinions, and beliefs about all subjects—especially religion. To encourage free expression and to emphasize the importance of this fundamental right, CFI and its sister organization, The Council for Secular Humanism, are sponsoring this contest.
Given recent events in Chicago, that topic is ironic and rich in potential for discussion.
Comments
Posted by: Caryn | November 4, 2009 11:45 AM
On that note, whatever happened to the Seed Science Writing contests?
Posted by: Zifnab
|
November 4, 2009 11:52 AM
I understand that the Cold War was very scary, and that the US is ground zero for anti-communist sentiment in much the same way that Boston is ground zero for anti-Yankees sentiment.
But, at a certain point, it feels really silly to virtually outlaw people even talking about Communism. I mean, fer FSM's sake, if it's such a bad idea then you should be able to bat it down easily in open dialogue.
Every now and again, you'll see a bunch of college kids come to the collective conclusion that we should ditch our airliners and all travel by dirigible. No one in the airline industry has to swoop in and slap cuffs on them.
But if you start treading on too many political toes - good idea or bad idea - suddenly we all need to call 911?
It's most ironic that this shit was over communism - an ideology that preaches collective adherence to a single system - in opposition to capitalism - an ideology that preaches that individuals should be allowed to go out, experiment, and find what works best for them. How funny that the biggest capitalist in the room is the commie.
Posted by: kopd | November 4, 2009 11:58 AM
Another thing that CFI did recently was deliver a statement opposing the UN anti-defamation resolution.
Posted by: Brownian, Most Vicious & Petty of Pharyngulites
|
November 4, 2009 11:59 AM
I think Zifnab mistook free expression as the topic of this thread.
(I kid, I kid. I know in which thread you meant to post that.)
Posted by: Tim | November 4, 2009 12:00 PM
In order to best develop a world-wide set of permissible restrictions on the freedom of expression, it is useful to first identify a set of ethics and morals that serve as a fundamental set acceptable to the largest majority of humanity.
As one example of this issue familiar to those who read this board, one would expect that the restrictions considered acceptable to a humanistic atheist versus an evangelical christian would vary greatly. Is there, in fact, a set of common principles that enable the formulation of a set of restrictions permissible to both groups? How does one develop a compromise between these two opposing groups?
Furthermore, it is important to distinguish between freedom of expression of the individual versus freedom of expression of the State, the most important example being national education systems. Atheists would censor religious expression and the religious would censor atheistic (and, unfortunately, scientific) expression of teachers.
It's an interesting topic. I may have a go at it, although it seems difficult enough to rigorously state the problem, let alone develop a solution with any confidence.
Posted by: SEF | November 4, 2009 12:02 PM
PZ, that "mdash" needs a semicolon rather than a lower-case L after it.
Posted by: Tim | November 4, 2009 12:11 PM
Relating to Zifnab's post and extending on his idea, capitalism is about decentralized, local control of economic decisions, while communism is about centralized control. With respect to ideas, it is still reasonable for local entities to restrict expression as they see fit, and it enables the clear identification of the set of ideas permissible for expression.
It is especially interesting that freedom of expression is especially important and sacred among scientists. I hypothesize that a communal evaluation function - experience at the bench and its resulting data - enables confidence that the most efficient and most explanatory ideas will eventually dominate.
This doesn't always hold in science, though, and it certainly doesn't hold true for more nebulous concepts propagated among the population at large. It is sad that the group restricted expression by a communist using their forum, but it was their prerogative, and it broadcasts to all the concepts which they do not consider worthy of discussion. Like the lady said, she would be expressing her views somewhere regardless, it was only a question of which platform she used for expression.
Posted by: rawnaeris
|
November 4, 2009 12:30 PM
I wonder if I can still submit something even though I graduate in December?
*Is already envisioning a topic*
Posted by: Stwriley | November 4, 2009 2:11 PM
I think we might well have some local entrants from here in Philly if I can get word back to the right places. I would have said before yesterday that the students of our district wouldn't be very likely to enter this contest, but I was down at Central HS yesterday (our premier academic magnet school) and encountered several signs for the Central Secular Student Association. So it seems that secularism and freethought are more prevalent than I had thought. I'll be trying to get word back to their faculty sponsor so that some of our kids can have their shot at glory (and $2000, of course.)
Posted by: «bønez_brigade»
|
November 4, 2009 8:32 PM
No, I'm used to churning out math & physics problems. A contest requiring those skills would be nice.Posted by: wiley | November 5, 2009 4:54 AM
Oh yes indeed: "students, you're used to churning out term papers". Even better would be to use the brain God put in your head and to have the courage to freely contradict the Lefty bull-frog University professors use to brainwash you.
Posted by: Stuart Van Onselen | November 5, 2009 8:02 AM
wiley has obviously never been with 100 yards of a university. Most liberal-arts students delight in contradicting anything their profs tell them, just for the fun of it.
Posted by: mdoko | November 6, 2009 12:37 PM
"Submissions must be in Microsoft Word"
Really? And what if someone does not want to accept the terms of MS (extremely restrictive) EULA? Why not allow Open Document Format? Or PDF? And essay is supposed to be about freedom.
Oh, and BTW, which version of MS Word?