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In Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum's newly released book, Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future, they roundly condemn ScienceBlogger PZ Myers and other "New Atheists" for their uncompromising stance against religion. When PZ, in return, posted a scathing review of the book on Pharyngula—calling it a "hypocritical and ignorant paean to mealy-mouthedness" and "utterly useless"—a vehement debate was launched across the blogosphere. PZ and others claimed that the authors misrepresent the doctrines they attack in the book, and that by attributing a public disconnect with science to poor science communication, they ignore cultural forces that work to actively undermine scientific education. While most ScienceBloggers agree that the book's treatment of the science-religion divide is unneccesarily accusatory, some have praised the book for bringing the problem of public disengagement with science to the forefront and for its recommendations to scientists dealing with policy-makers and the media.
Comments
Example: Explain to me what PZ's whole cracker controversy accomplished. What practical goal did it achieve? Did it convert one person away from Catholicism? Sorry, but it's very easy to see things like that as just PZ looking for attention to feed his ego.
"hypocritical and ignorant paean to mealy-mouthedness" and "utterly useless"
I'd expect such hyperbole in a junior high school newspaper. When criticized, the critic is dismissed as a "concern troll" and ignored. It's this behavior similar to a archetypal clique of immature teens girls that works against honest efforts to popularize science. Folks like PZ are the worst thing to happen to popular science in many years.
Posted by: WSX | July 14, 2009 2:00 PM
Example: Explain to me what PZ's whole cracker controversy accomplished. What practical goal did it achieve? Did it convert one person away from Catholicism?
- It exposed the hypocrisy and homicidal fantasies of a large number of devout Catholics.
"hypocritical and ignorant paean to mealy-mouthedness" and "utterly useless"
- I wouldn't call this hyperbole, it's harsh criticism. You may not like it, but it is specific and to the point.
Folks like PZ are the worst thing to happen to popular science in many years.
- Bullshit. I would argue the opposite.
Posted by: WSX |
Posted by: T. Bruce McNeely | July 14, 2009 2:26 PM
"Crackergate" as it came to be called, did not de-convert any Catholics that I am aware of. However, it did bring the dark side of religious extremism into the light of day for everyone to see, provided they were paying attention.
In the aftermath of Crackergate, PZ Myers posted a number of the hate mails, calls for his termination, death threats, etc., on Pharyngula. They were, to say the least, "out of proportion" to his actions, offensive as they may have been. It became glaringly obvious (again, if you paid attention) that nobody does intolerance, bigotry and hatred like religious zealots -- the so-called 'new atheists' don't even come close. Religious extremists are the true enemies of rational thought (and science) in America.
(Counterexample: can anyone give me an example of a 'new atheist' stooping to the ghastly level of sending an e-mail death threat over a religious/scientific issue?)
In the comments following these violent reactions to Crackergate, there was at least one post I can recall from a reader who had initially been appalled at PZ's actions, then became even more outraged at the sheer level of hate displayed in the backlash...at which point they changed their mind about the whole thing.
I don't know how many others had similar thoughts without actually posting them, besides myself.
Crackergate accomplished rather a lot, actually. It got the opposition to show their true colors, ugly as the are. And in doing that, it made some of us more aware of who and what we're up against.
Thanx heaps,
Rt
Posted by: Roadtripper | July 14, 2009 2:32 PM
WSX @ 1:
Sorry, but it's very easy to see things like that as just PZ looking for attention to feed his ego.
It's also very easy to see quantum entanglement as leading to faster-than-light communications, or the fossil record as indicating a creation event in the Cambrian, but both would be wrong.
Posted by: Dave W. | July 14, 2009 7:52 PM