|
"Systematic reviews and meta-analyses that
are carefully done
and that are done by players who do not have conflicts
and
pre-determined agendas are not a problem, quite the opposite.
The problem is that most of them are not carefully done or are
done
with pre-determined agendas on what to find and report."
John Ioannidis |
"In the end I must rely on
the judgment and standing of the few scientific leaders who have, on the one
hand, sufficient independence of thought to weigh my data on its own hideously
convincing merits or in the light of certain primordial and highly baffling
myth cycles; and on the other hand, sufficient influence to deter the exploring
world in general from any rash and over-ambitious program in the region of
those mountains of madness.
It is an unfortunate fact that relatively
obscure men like myself and my associates, connected only with a small
university, have little chance of making an impression where matters of a
wildly bizarre or highly controversial nature are concerned." - HP Lovecraft,
At the Mountains of Madness |
pseudoscience
Widespread scientific illiteracy has left
Americans defenseless against pseudoscientific babble.
Politically motivated
pseudoscience demonstrates a pattern of characteristics:
There is a
lack of experiments.
The results of experiments are ignored or
contradicted in the conclusions.
There is either no peer-review or
peer-reviewer concerns are ignored.
The findings cannot be replicated
or falsified due to the withholding of data.
False conclusions are
supported by marketing or media propaganda.
Hypotheses that are
supported by the evidence are ignored.
"We have dumbed down our educational standards in
math and
science so far that public policy is at
risk. A population that believes in telepathy,
fat-burning diet pills and a
10,000-year-old planet Earth is unable to evaluate anything objectively."- Paul
S. Dwan
"Something that is overlooked these days is the
influx of large amounts of money, bureaucratic power and influence and prestige
that has flowed into science over the last 75 years has turned large parts of
it into a careerist profession rather than the vocation it supposedly was. This
is important because there are a number of
scientific beliefs maintained in the face of contrary evidence which is
politically repressed and editorially swept under the carpet because those who
have built their careers on those reigning beliefs are
loathe to have them removed from
under their hard won elevated positions and from
the textbooks they have written." -
Anthony Liversidge
THE FOLLOWING LETTER WAS SENT TO
CNN BY FED EX (FOR
DELIVERY, 12/22/08), BY FAX AND BY EMAIL December 19, 2008
Jim Walton,
President
CNN Worldwide
One CNN Center, 6 South Tower Atlanta, GA
30303
Jon Klein, President
CNN/US
One
Time Warner
Center New York, NY 10019
Dear Mr. Walton and Mr. Klein,
We are
writing on behalf of several national and international science journalism
organizations to express our strong concern about CNN's shortsighted decision
to cut its science, technology and environment unit in one fell swoop.
In wielding this
ax, your network has lost an experienced and highly regarded group of
science journalists at a time when science coverage could not be more important
in our national and international discourse.
The environment, energy
technology, space
exploration, and biotech are crucial ongoing stories that will have growing
prominence as a new American president takes office and nations confront a wide
range of science-based global issues.
As the impacts of climate
change intensify, shows like "Planet in Peril" cannot make up for
informed daily coverage
of this important issue and other science topics in the
public eye.
As with political and policy reporting, it is important
that the underlying science be covered by journalists with the skills and
knowledge to sort out competing claims.
Concerned as we are about the
dismissal of our colleagues-including the award-winning science reporter Miles
O'Brien in New York; Peter Dykstra, head of
CNN's science unit in
Atlanta; and five other science producers there-this letter is not about
individual journalists.
Rather, the wholesale dismantling of the
science unit calls into question CNN's commitment to bringing the most
informative science news to the general public, including the science-minded
younger audience.
If CNN
wants to be truly international, it will be at odds with the trend toward
increased science coverage in many parts of the world.
It is difficult
for us to imagine why CNN, which has earned a justifiably strong reputation for
its science journalism in the past, has opted to widen the gap in science
coverage rather than strive to fill it.
We would hope that you would
reconsider your decision and reassemble a cadre of well-trained science
journalists that would enable you to expand unfolding science news and in-depth
coverage, not shrink it.
Your action is an unfortunate symbol of recent
widespread cutbacks in specialty science journalism.
Our groups will
continue to push for more science coverage by the major media and to do our
part to promote the highest possible professional standards for communicating
complex science-based issues across the spectrum.
We plan to publicize
this letter as widely as possible to encourage further discussion of
the future of science
journalism.
Thanks for your attention.
Sincerely, Cristine
Russell, President, Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (CASW)
russellcris@nasw.org
Mariette DiChristina,
President, National Association of the Science Writers (NASW)
mdichristina@sciam.com
Christy George, President,
Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) CGeorge@opb.org
Pallab Ghosh, President, World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ)
pallab.ghosh@bbc.co.uk
"I am increasingly dismayed by the devaluation of
scientific fact by its inclusion, by
superstitious
commentators, in opinions about purely superstitious subjects.
Zev Chafets* derides "secular liberals" for "profoundly"
believing in global warming.
Then
Zev Chafets* writes about
Armageddon as though the
latter is more likely to occur.
There is no such thing as "liberal" science .
Peer-reviewed scientific method has
no political party, race or relgious
creed and no objective but
truth.
There is no disagreement among peer-reviewed scientific
journals about the fact of global
warming and its cause being human activity." - Sue Simmons
 |
|
 |
This web site is not a commercial web site and
is presented for educational purposes only.
This website defines a
new perspective
with which to engage reality to which its author adheres. The author feels that
the falsification of reality outside personal experience has forged a populace
unable to discern propaganda from reality and that this has been done
purposefully by an international corporate cartel through their agents who wish
to foist a corrupt version of reality on the human race. Religious intolerance
occurs when any group refuses to tolerate religious practices, religious
beliefs or persons due to their religious ideology. This web site marks the
founding of a system of philosophy named The Truth of the Way of the
Lumière Infinie - a rational
gnostic mystery
religion based on reason which requires no leap of faith, accepts no
tithes, has no supreme leader, no church buildings and in which each and every
individual is encouraged to develop a personal relation with the Creator and
Sustainer through the pursuit of the knowledge of reality in the hope of curing
the spiritual corruption that has enveloped the human spirit. The tenets of The
Truth of the Way of the Lumière Infinie are spelled out in detail on
this web site by the author. Violent acts against individuals due to their
religious beliefs in America is considered a "hate crime."
This web site
in no way condones violence. To the contrary the intent here is to reduce the
violence that is already occurring due to the international corporate cartels
desire to control the human race. The international corporate cartel already
controls the world economic system, corporate media worldwide, the global
industrial military entertainment complex and is responsible for the collapse
of morals, the elevation of self-centered behavior and the destruction of
global ecosystems. Civilization is based on coöperation. Coöperation
does not occur at the point of a gun.
American social mores and values
have declined precipitously over the last century as the corrupt international
cartel has garnered more and more power. This power rests in the ability to
deceive the populace in general through corporate media by pressing emotional
buttons which have been preprogrammed into the population through prior mass
media psychological operations. The results have been the destruction of the
family and the destruction of social structures that do not adhere to the
corrupt international elites vision of a
perfect world. Through distraction and coercion the direction of thought of
the bulk of the population has been directed toward solutions proposed by the
corrupt international elite that further consolidates their power and which
further their purposes.
All views and opinions presented on this web
site are the views and opinions of individual human men and women that, through
their writings, showed the capacity for intelligent, reasonable, rational,
insightful and unpopular thought. All factual information presented on this web
site is believed to be true and accurate and is presented as originally
presented in print media which may or may not have originally presented the
facts truthfully. Opinion and thoughts have been adapted, edited, corrected,
redacted, combined, added to, re-edited and re-corrected as nearly all opinion
and thought has been throughout time but has been done so in the spirit of the
original writer with the intent of making his or her thoughts and opinions
clearer and relevant to the reader in the present time.
Fair Use Notice
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has
not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making
such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of criminal
justice, human rights, political, economic, democratic, scientific, and social
justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such
copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In
accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For
more information see: www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to
use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond
'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. |
 Copyright
© Lawrence Turner
All Rights Reserved
|