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Posted on: December 5, 2009 11:13 PM, by PZ Myers
Back in October, I sent you off to vote in an online poll that pitted real social workers, SozialHelden, against homeopaths, in a contest that actually had consequences: the winner would get a "Dedication Award" for their work.
We just got word from SozialHelden on the outcome of the poll:
haben gerade den Deutschen Engagementpreis 2009 gewonnen. Danke für Eure Stimmen!
They've won the German Engagement Prize for 2009. Thank you for your votes!
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Comments
Posted by: Ken Cope | December 5, 2009 11:20 PM
Here in the newage, homeopathy is the memory of sewage.
Celebrate our victory by watching ROLLER DERBY! Now! Live! http://www.derbynewsnetwork.com/live/bouts/2009/12/la_derby_dolls_2009_season_championship_swarm_vs_tough_cookies
Posted by: Nelson M.
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December 5, 2009 11:26 PM
Yay team awesome!
I'm glad that a deserving group got the recognition.
Posted by: Nerd of Redhead, OM
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December 5, 2009 11:27 PM
Great news! A glass of sugar water will work as well as any homeopathic remedy.
Posted by: Kimberly Hosey | December 5, 2009 11:31 PM
Woo hoo Pharyngulating! (Pharyngulaters? Pharyngulates?)
Posted by: Jadehawk, OM
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December 5, 2009 11:35 PM
w00t!!
pharyngulation for a good cause is double as fun :-)
Posted by: Aratina Cage
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December 5, 2009 11:41 PM
I'm relieved to hear they won, we put a lot of effort into it to beat back the crackpots. Congratulations SozialHelden!
Posted by: Zeno | December 5, 2009 11:49 PM
Sehr gut!
Posted by: Rewarp | December 5, 2009 11:51 PM
What a wonderful way to start an afternoon.
Posted by: Hans | December 6, 2009 12:20 AM
German really is a gorgeous language. And I say that as a citizen of a country that would've been overrun by them twice in the last century, if it hadn't been for those meddlesome Americans
Posted by: MaleficVTwin
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December 6, 2009 12:29 AM
Is it mere coincidence that 'homeopath' and 'sociopath' sound so eerily similar?
Posted by: Daniel | December 6, 2009 12:33 AM
Swigity sweet!
Posted by: Valdyr | December 6, 2009 12:34 AM
The past participle of "win" is "gewonnen"? Awesome... too bad "genommen" has nothing to do with eating.
Posted by: KCGreg79 | December 6, 2009 1:10 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMGIbOGu8q0
If you have 2.5 minutes to watch a great show about homeopathy.
Posted by: Rorschach | December 6, 2009 1:16 AM
Seems like a bunch of good guys, congratz to winning the award !
Posted by: Yubal
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December 6, 2009 2:04 AM
Ausgezeichnete Arbeit, Leute :)
Posted by: Levi in NY | December 6, 2009 2:11 AM
Ja! Wir haben es geschafft!
Posted by: Keenacat
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December 6, 2009 2:23 AM
Yay for the good cause! Homeotards are running rampant here in good old germany. Good to see they got a setback due to pharyngulation.
Vielen Dank, pharyngulites!
Posted by: MikeTheInfidel
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December 6, 2009 3:07 AM
Dear homeopaths:
Wenn ist das Nunstruck git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
Posted by: Draken
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December 6, 2009 3:08 AM
We are the Pollens of Myer. Countervotes are futile. You will be pharyngulated.
Posted by: Cartera357
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December 6, 2009 3:14 AM
Hoorah, an excellent acknowledgement of good sense shining through the fog of idiocy. Well done to all those who helped make it happen. It's nice to see the power of the petition put to some good use.
Posted by: Tim | December 6, 2009 3:28 AM
Sehr toll!
Posted by: strangest brew | December 6, 2009 5:05 AM
Now if we could only get a chance to Pharyngulate xian religion...we would be on a roll methinks!
Posted by: The Tim Channel
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December 6, 2009 5:44 AM
Another God abandonment story.
http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/12/05/where-is-you-messiah-now/
Enjoy.
Posted by: Fips | December 6, 2009 5:49 AM
Most importantly, the award was endowed with 10 000 €. This might not sound too impressive but since the 'homeopaths without borders' aim to spread their dangerous pseudoscience world wide (e.g. by training homeopaths in third world countries), they could have caused a lot of damage with that money.
So yay, you guys really made a difference!
Posted by: Rorschach | December 6, 2009 5:51 AM
No worries mate, it's what we do...:-)
Posted by: 'Tis Himself, Quel Dommage
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December 6, 2009 5:54 AM
Where are the complaints about Pharynguling another poll? Cue the whiners in 3...2...1....
Posted by: Joerg | December 6, 2009 5:56 AM
Sozialhelden will use the price money for their wheelmap project, aiming to map Germany's wheelchair accessible places. How much better is that than sugar pills?
Posted by: Phodopus | December 6, 2009 6:04 AM
Let me think:
* maps of wheelchair accessible places help people in wheelchairs to find accessible places.
* sugar pills are sugar pills
hmm...
Posted by: 'Tis Himself, Quel Dommage
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December 6, 2009 6:27 AM
Homeopaths don't use sugar pills. They use highly diluted sugar water.
Posted by: Stefan | December 6, 2009 6:57 AM
The German skeptics thank you for your help and votes! Great work!
Posted by: Peter Ashby | December 6, 2009 7:17 AM
Whoop! The Enlightenment lives to fight another day. No rest though, the battle against the new Endarkenment continues apace.
Once more into the breach, dear friends once more!
Posted by: Yakaru
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December 6, 2009 7:29 AM
Well done you guys! It looked like the homeo's organised a response to the sudden surge, coz their votes climbed quite dramatically. But it wasn't enough.
Homeopathy is widely accepted here in Germany - pharmacies sell it, medical insurance pays for it (as long you take some actual medicine as well). It's a tradition.
Good to see a bit of enlightenment coming from the US in this direction!
Posted by: lordshipmayhem | December 6, 2009 7:56 AM
SozialHelden, keep up the good work. That's thanks enough.
Posted by: Albert Lewis | December 6, 2009 8:10 AM
"Engagement" auf Deutsch doesn't refer to plans to get married, but to "being engaged, involved, committed" etc.
I admire the name of the group, SozialHelden - Society's Heros, in the sense of society at large, not debutantes' balls and such.
Posted by: Mystic Olly | December 6, 2009 8:49 AM
How offensive (and satire from privilege is as offensive if not more than straight talk) do a couple of posts have to be before the offender gets shown the door?
#22 and #28 are off-topic, insipid, offensive and reveal an infantile morality coupled with an 11 year old's desire to inflame. I hesitate to give him (I'm heavily betting) any attention - but some infections need to be treated.
Banning?
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | December 6, 2009 9:27 AM
Yes, the past participle of gewinnen is gewonnen.
LOL! :-D But actually, it does: a euphemism for eating is zu sich nehmen, "to take to oneself", and einnehmen is used for medicaments. Past participle of nehmen... genommen.
That depends on when PZ wakes up. Soon, probably.
Posted by: Nelson M.
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December 6, 2009 9:58 AM
So it would seem.
Posted by: ursulamajor | December 6, 2009 10:03 AM
Nice, Draken! The image of PZ in a Borg suit with all the appropriately tentacled attachments was kinda.....sexy.
Posted by: Esther Nezzlegold | December 6, 2009 10:37 AM
So people gave away real money based on the results of an internet poll? Oh well, the money is going to a good cause and I guess it's immoral and unethical not to part a fool from his money.
Und SozialHelden, ich wünsche Ihnen sehr viel Erfolg mit Ihren Wheelmap Projekt. Ich bin mir sicher daß es viele beispielsweise alte oder invalide Leute gibt die sich schon im voraus darauf freuen.
Posted by: matt | December 6, 2009 11:12 AM
i'm glad those Himmelreich "Kingdom of Heaven" guys didn't win.
Posted by: xebecs | December 6, 2009 12:04 PM
Well of course! Have you seen the price of sugar lately???
Posted by: Rey Fox | December 6, 2009 12:05 PM
Time to celebrate with some highly concentrated rum.
Posted by: Draken
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December 6, 2009 12:45 PM
A nasty side-effect of deleting posts in this blog system is that #22 and #28 now no longer are ungood.
Posted by: Kerim Mansour | December 6, 2009 12:49 PM
If that wasn't cheating, i don't know what is.
Posted by: Aratina Cage
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December 6, 2009 1:06 PM
Well, Kerim, how about diluting something down to where it is indistinguishable from "nothing" and selling that to people as a panacea? Is that cheating enough for you?Posted by: Kerim Mansour | December 6, 2009 1:20 PM
#45:
Of course you can always try and sue them.
Don't get me wrong. I don't mind that they didn't win. I wouldn't have voted for them anyway.
What i dislike is that through selective voting you elected ONE specific rival without actually knowing if not AN OTHER one would have deserved the award more.
Posted by: Crudely Wrott | December 6, 2009 1:32 PM
Great news. I just had a little rush of hubris.
So, there is an exception to the rule that says internet polls are pointless . . .
Posted by: Xenithrys | December 6, 2009 1:49 PM
Usually homeopathic remedies are taken as a drop placed on or under the tongue, but sometimes they do use sugar pills. They put one drop of their highly diluted "treatment" on the pill, let it evaporate, and then it's ready for the patient, er, sucker. So it's not even highly diluted water, but dried-up highly diluted water.Posted by: Kismet | December 6, 2009 2:57 PM
@Kerim, if we didn't crush the poll, then homeopaths would have won and they do *not* fall in the category of a "more deserving" team. Now, at least a team won which is more deserving than homeopaths (not necessarily the *most* deserving but who cares?!)
Hence you're objection doesn't make sense.
Posted by: Gyeong Hwa Pak | December 6, 2009 3:12 PM
Wir hatten gewonnen! Kann wir jezt der Cheeseburger haben? (Wie schreibt man LOLcats auf Deutsch?)
Posted by: Gluecypher | December 7, 2009 4:42 AM
Big FAT TNX from over here guys. Pharyngula rocks.
Posted by: Tammy | December 7, 2009 12:12 PM
This American Social Worker is grateful as well. Homeopathy is a frightening waste of time, money, and sadly, lives. Social workers get things done.
Posted by: Kerim Mansour | December 7, 2009 1:55 PM
@Kismet:
Well, I care. I am one of those old school fools that think a price should be deserved and given to the most deserving one.
Obviously you see this differently.
Tell me: Is it that the end justifies the means?
BTW: Something i found rather ironic about this was a comment of the (now) winners a while ago.
"Etwas schade finden wir, dass es bei den Stimmen weniger um unsere Sache als SOZIALHELDEN geht, als viel mehr um das “Nicht-Stimmen” für einen anderen Wettbewerbsteilnehmer. Wir finden Homöopathie nicht grundsätzlich schlecht. Es gibt Menschen, denen es hilft. Bei mir tut es das nicht. Wissenschaftlich ein heikles Thema. Placebo oder nicht? Wir erlauben uns da kein Generalurteil."
Translated:
"We find it somewhat sad that the voting is not so much about our cause as SH but rather about the "not-voting" for a rival. We do not think that homeopathy is prinzipally wrong. There are people where it works. With me it doesn't. Scientifically it is a hot topic. Placebo or not. We don't allow us a general judgment."
;-)
Anyway ... i rest my case.
Posted by: Jadehawk, OM
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December 7, 2009 2:01 PM
seeing as they were the top contenders with actual substance, they DID deserve it. what is your fucking point? And just because Germany is so woo-soaked that everyone feels they need to be tolerant and supportive of those who believe in it, doesn't actually make it any less false and, in this context, dangerousPosted by: Dieter Hirsch | December 8, 2009 5:37 PM
Kerim Mansour, I care too. I am one of those old school fools who thinks a prize shouldn't go to the least deserving party. Also, your translation is a bit off.
‘Wissenschaftlich ein heikles Thema. Placebo oder nicht?’ ➾ ‘Scientifically a tricky issue. Placebo or not?’ Mind the difference in nuance.
That said, I still think it's worrying, because it is an indication of the widespread acceptance of homoeopathy in Germany and because this still gives it some of the endorsement we were trying to deny it. Since we've given SH 13.000 votes, I think we needn't have voted for the runner up, we could have shifted the vote in any one contender's favour. Let's learn from this experience and vet our beneficiary more thoroughly in the future.
Posted by: Wiley Kroeger | January 1, 2010 2:18 PM
I thght t ws gng t b sm brng ld pst, bt t rlly cmpnstd fr my tm. I wll pst lnk t ths pg n my blg. I m sr my vstrs wll fnd tht vry sfl.
Posted by: Tarah Winnen | January 1, 2010 2:30 PM
Smply wnt t sy yr rtcl s brllnt. Th clrty n yr pst s smply strkng nd cn ssm y r n xprt n ths fld. Wll wth yr prmssn llw m t grb yr rss fd t kp p t dt wth ftr pst. Thnks mlln nd pls kp p th thntc wrk.
Posted by: Bernardo Imbrock | January 1, 2010 2:32 PM
Y md sm gd pnts thr. I dd srch n th tpc nd fnd mst ppl wll gr wth yr blg.