If all facts are subjective and dependent on religious and personal views, there is no such thing as fact, truth, objectivity or science.
Ohio’s dumb Republican-controlled legislature isn’t on the verge of passing a law that puts religious belief and science on the same plane.
So it is not surprising that believers in a Flat Earth are on the rise., according to CNN.They can’t find proof that the world is round, so they don’t believe it, even though you can see the curve of the earth’s surface from an airplane window at 35,000 feet, even though astronauts and satellites have taken pictures from outer space of the earth as a sphere.
Faked photos, say the Flat Earthers.
Is stupidity contagious?
Or does it flow from the top?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is the fruit of our skills oriented curriculum. Graduates know little so they get their education from the Internet.
That’s a reach, Ponderosa. One cohort of the sampling must have been some Fox viewers who learned the 1950’s view of Western Civ.
The distinction between a person’s preference for emotional vs. rational information gathering probably had a greater connection to the study results than your explanation.
BTW- Ohio’s GOP legislators are old, white guys who boast of religious and conservative values.
The war on fact teaching began in the 1890s. Read Diane’s Left Back.
Got it. The internet explains the GOP men in Ohio’s legislature proposing the legislation. One group you should inform is at the Catholic Marian University in Ohio’s neighboring state, Indiana, which is designing a new education dept. The person leading the design for “teacher training” i.e. skills (as described by the Indiana Business Journal) is from the Gates-funded Deans for Impact. The $12 mil. to fund Marian’s program is from Fred Klipsch, who founded a school choice political action committee and advocates for ed reform.
Ponderosa,
You should alert the state department that the rise of groups like the Taliban in the Middle East has nothing to do with theocracy and entitlement based on gender and race, ethnicity,…in a time of economic scarcity, caused by concentrated wealth. The traction that fake info. gets with citizens who use the internet and those who learn skills training (a transition that took place over the past 110 years)
reflects causality not symptom.
Republicans are the party of trickle down economics and theocracy.
Linda: I’d get a little ‘iffy’ at the thought of a doctor who focuses on sanity of human life and values formed by reflection on the life of Jesus and prayer. “There is a Catholic view of the person….”
I’m a drop-out Catholic.
…………………………………………………….
Catholic Marion University medical school:
We welcome students of all faiths who seek an educational experience framed within the context of our Franciscan sponsorship values of dignity of the individual, peace and justice, reconciliation, and responsible stewardship. Our understanding of these values is informed by reflection on the life of Jesus Christ and prayer.
Mind, body, spirit
Osteopathic doctors take a holistic approach to medicine, and that mind, body, spirit connection seemed a good match for a university with a Franciscan tradition. “Our Catholic faith, Catholic intellectual tradition and Catholic social teaching do not change medical science,” but can enhance care, explained university President Daniel J. Elsener. Marian is sponsored by the Sisters of St. Francis Oldenburg; Elsener said the medical school’s religious ties will help shape its culture.
In addition to rigorous medical training, studies also will focus on the sanctity of human life, ethical issues and ways to reach out to vulnerable populations. “There is a Catholic view of the person that sheds light on how we care for people, why we care for people,” Elsener said.
Marian officials describe a difference in philosophy between DOs and MDs, saying osteopathic physicians tend to go into primary care — an area of care where doctors are needed — and are trained to assess a patient’s physical symptoms in context with their mental and spiritual condition. Both DO and MD schools provide four years of medical training, and students then go on to residency and can specialize. Both DOs and MDs must pass the same exams to practice medicine with a license, from general practice to surgery.
Interesting, Carol, thanks for posting
I have to agree with Ponderosa here. I teach Geography and I have to grapple every year with kids who truly believe the earth is flat and won’t believe anything else. They think that truth is subjective and that everyone’s opinions are just like facts. These are high school freshmen. And it’s a dozen or so students every year. And it’s getting worse. Kids don’t learn facts anymore.
Today, CNN posted possible reasons people join the flat earth community. One community member cited his need to reconcile his born again Christian belief with what he viewed as a contradiction – the science of an expanse of outer space.
Being told by one influence group to accept something as belief and by another, that a list of facts should take preference could be confusing – a focus on skills, notwithstanding.
recently what I’ve read and heard makes me realize that the Christian fundamental ‘elite’ in the USA is a threatened and thus very threateningly strong force
One of the things i have noticed is the tendency of kids to write a history essay, or any essay, without proper references in their argument. They make assertions, reasonable, but do not provide any reference that might support their claims.
As to reading many of them are not reading. Many classrooms seems like places of ‘hugs’ and while that is good, demanding academics seems to be lessened.
“One of the things i have noticed is the tendency of kids to write a history essay, or any essay, without proper references in their argument.”
Kids???
How about adults?
Especially news program talking heads.
Just watch Fox News (Sean Hannity) or MSNBC (Rachel Maddow) for examples.
Of the latter are members of a different organization: The Fat Purse Society
But in the 3rd century BC, the ancient Greeks knew the Earth was spherical (although we know it is more of a flattened sphere then perfectly round)…..I guess the Flat Earthers will say the ancient Greeks were wrong and espoused fake news even then….
While some secularists will say the middle ages didn’t know the earth was round and that Copernicus demoted the earth.
There are well educated people who have incorrect views this cuts both ways.
Trump’s threat to the U.S. includes among other appointees, DeVos and the partisan hack, Bill Barr. Barr spoke to Leonard Leo’s Federalist Society and using typical Republican strategy, he flipped the charge against him for undermining the Constitution and leveled it at Dems, claiming that they weren’t following rule of law. Trending #impeachbarr #disbarbarr
Barr has absolutely no respect for the Constitution or the rule of law.
Barr has ordered an investigation into events that occurred in 2016 under the Obama Administration while claiming that the executive branch should not be questions because anything they do is by definition legal.
If the media was not so co-opted and lazy, Barr would have been questioned on this.
When Barr releases his carefully edited version of the IG report, will anyone ask him why he would have investigated anything that occurred in 2016 when he has just made a speech about how anything the President chooses to do is legal?
Barr means that anything a right wing Republican President does is legal, since he is going around the world trying to convince foreign countries to work with him on his “investigation” of Obama’s Presidency.
Barr is American but, only by birth not by values. He’s a lawyer but, only by credentials not professional conduct. He’s Attorney General but, only by appointment not executive branch canons.
Barr is an American by girth.
LOL
Clever turn of words.
Every society has had its fringe characters. Technology allows them to connect and develop some identity as a “community.” Looking at the diagram of the shirt on the two girls in the post, I was wondering where they believe a good part of Africa and South America along with Australia has gone? Are they on the opposite side of the disc?
“opposite side of the disc” – funny summary of the “fringe”.
After exclusion of the attention- seekers and devoutly religious, the flat earthers are, I speculate, greatly reduced in number.
Science doesn’t matter if the bible is the source of information.
Revelation 7:1
1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.
………………
The flat-Earth conspiracy is spreading around the globe. Does it hide a darker core?
By Rob Picheta, CNN
Updated 11:17 AM ET, Sun November 17, 2019
Asheley Landrum is an assistant professor of science communication at Texas Tech University. Her focus: how cultural values affect our understanding of science. Most recently she’s been looking at the rise of flat Earth theory.
Incredibly, more people than ever believe in a flat Earth. Google searches for “flat earth” have grown massively over the past five years and flat Earth conventions have begun popping up all over the globe.
That’s where Landrum focused her research.
Landrum interviewed 30 people who attended one flat Earth convention and found that all but one became flat Earthers after watching videos on YouTube.
She presented her research at an event run by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
While Landrum didn’t explicitly blame YouTube for the rise in flat Earth believers, she does believe that Google could be doing more to stop the spread of scientifically incorrect ideas.
“There’s a lot of helpful information on YouTube but also a lot of misinformation,” she said, as reported by The Guardian. “Their algorithms make it easy to end up going down the rabbit hole, by presenting information to people who are going to be more susceptible to it.”
Google has acknowledged there’s more it could do to combat the spread of false information on YouTube and, as recently as January, outlined new plans designed to push back.
“We’ll begin reducing recommendations of borderline content and content that could misinform users in harmful ways—such as videos promoting a phony miracle cure for a serious illness, claiming the earth is flat, or making blatantly false claims about historic events like 9/11,” the YouTube team said, in a post describing new measures in the process of being implemented. The YouTube team admitted this would be a “gradual change.”
“Science doesn’t matter if the bible is the source of information.
Revelation 7:1
1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.”
That’s an odd argument. Pasture, Lamaitre and Mendel. Any of those ring a bell?
You seem to start with a conclusion and back fill it with a passage which you read to be ment in a fundamental not metaphorical or figurative way. Are you sure your interpretation is correct?
Are you aware of Aquinas and his view of the 2 books and how that relates to interpretation?
Your view of the Bible is as ignorant as the flat earth theory is of science.
You expect flat earthers to research and know the truth. While showing no evidence that you research before you form an opinion.
Well NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman also believes the World is flat and wrote several books about it — and made lots of money off the idiots who bought them.
http://www.nypress.com/news/flat-n-all-that-matt-taibbi-eviscerates-thomas-friedmans-hot-flat-and-crowded-DGNP1020090114301149999
Like all excrement it flows from the top down.
Google N-gram searches books for references to key words and phrases. i just entered earth is flat, and Flat Earth Society. “Earth is flat” peaked around 1927, Flat Earth Society does not have many references, but these have been on the rise since the 1960s.
I think that the “Religious Freedom” legislation (federal and state) and the initial “faith-based initiatives” funded with federal dollars (Bush 2 ) are contributing to the organized assults on facts based in scientific inquiry. There is rhetoric aplenty about making data-driven decisions in education, but that has nothing to do with teaching science.
Ohio’s legislature is packed with religious zealots whose only use for “science” is to strive for a complete ban on abortion, allowing for no exceptions.
Men eager to control women’s bodies. They love the unborn. They don’t give a damn about the born.
Agree, Robert George, the far right’s favorite professor, described a link between birth control (pharmaceutical) and promiscuity.
The terminology used for women, sluts, whores, etc. categorizes them as society’s pariah. The inequivalent “womanizer” doesn’t mean men are ostracized by society. Instead, it’s a description offered as warning.
Those who oppose abortion should read about the orphan trains of the late 1800s.
I had a conversation with a very conservative Baptist the other night. She was working in foster care. She stated that if each church in Tennessee would adopt one child, the entire group who needed homes would be cared for with room to spare.
Life is precious until it gets in your way. those newborn babies better learn to pull themselves out of the mire by their bootstraps.
Republicans aren’t Christian.
Linda: I hesitate to denigrate whole groups of people. The extremists would like to be able to catch centrists doing that to demonize us as extremists
Extremists- you mean the entire GOP in the House, Senate, executive branch and judicial and at the state level, ALEC, who back a racist President and who assure trickle down economics starve and leave homeless one-fifth of the children in America, leave the elderly with the choice between food and medications and allow insurance companies to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions?
She says about a whole group of people with insufficient evidence to back such an immense claim.
Are laws about feeding your children so they don’t starve also about controlling womens bodies?
So they are ok with infantacide?
Aggggh!
This comes from the WH:
West Wing Reads
It’s Democracy — Not Trump — That’s on Trial on Capitol Hill
“Public impeachment hearings have begun in Washington, but nothing has changed. The Ukraine ‘rebound’ scandal simply follows from the Russia collusion probe as the latest front in a smoothly operating, taxpayer-funded, propaganda war of political intimidation: an attempt not only to undermine President Trump, but also to demoralize and break the will of those who voted for him,” Augustus Howard writes in the New York Post.
“Democrats, trying to ‘move on’ from the disastrous testimony of Robert Mueller, offer us a new cadre of government-insider witnesses, most of whose evidence would be laughed out of any courtroom in America.”
House Democrats’ real goal is to tell President Trump’s supporters that “those who dared challenge the permanent, elite government class — to know they can never win.”
“Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff isn’t a constitutional scholar, but he plays one on Impeachment TV. His latest gambit is an attempt to redefine ‘bribery’ in the Constitution to include President Trump’s behavior toward Ukraine.” Of course, “he’s wrong about the law and constitutional history,” The Wall Street Journal editorial board writes.
The evolution shall not be televised.
Sigh.
Now we can learn what a Dotard is. Great definition!! [By Ann Coulter???]
TOP DEFINITION
dotard
A cross species between on Orangutan and an Oompa Loompa. The Dotard is usually bred in captivity by wealthy families that wish to pass on their inheritance without having to raise an actual human. There are many similarities to a human, but you can usually tell the difference by their unique orange skin and hair. Although a Dotard has the ability to speak, they usually have a very limited vocabulary and are limited to simple words and sentences. The Dotard requires some food to survive, but the most important thing in raising a Dotard is to feed its ego. The Dotard has a very large ego that requires constant feeding. If the Dotard’s ego isn’t constantly fed, it will usually resort to social media, rallies, or other places where it can feed its ego in large quantities. Another main difference between a Dotard and a human is the digestive process. Whereas a human will defecate through the anus, a Dotard defecates through the mouth by spewing shit at anyone nearby. Due to its limited vocabulary and IQ, a Dotard is only able to perform limited tasks. Some examples of common tasks that a Dotard is able to perform include the following: politics, golfing, eating fast food and diet coke, spending daddy’s money, and shutting down governments. Genetics can also be an issue for future generations of Dotards due to their propensity to try and breed with their direct offspring.
Did you see the latest tweet from the Dotard? I think it’s watching Fox News again.
Person 1: Have you seen the Dotard lately, I can’t find it.
Person 2: I think it’s golfing at Mar-A-Lago again.
Person 1: I am getting frustrated trying to talk to the Dotard. No matter how I phrase the question, it starts ranting about how great walls are.
Person 2: You should not try to talk rationally to a Dotard, they are not able to understand complex sentences. If you really need to ask a Dotard a question, try to find a way to feed its ego with the question. For example if you want to know what time a meeting is, try phrasing the question like “What time will you be making the meeting great again?”
Person 1: You need to keep a watch on the Dotard. I think it’s trying to breed with its daughter again.
Person 2: You’re right, I’ll be careful. I heard it saying what a nice piece of ass its daughter is and that it would like to tap that.
Person 1: Just make sure it doesn’t try to grab her by the pussy.
#maga
by Ann H. Coulter January 13, 2019
So your ok with dehumanization you never criticize Trump for dehumanization language?
This article is pretty hack and biased.
Religion is a really big thing, Christianity is a pretty big thing. To say Christian’s are flat earthers is a laughable contention. One would need to isolate which Christian groups. Probably ones influenced by fundamentalist type views would hold such things. But that a tiny part of Christianity.
If someone said all Islam pushes terrorism would that be acceptable?
Or all atheists are nihilistic?
What you have is a pack of institutional trust in Science probably brought on by some pushing materialism as true not as a philosophy by according to science.
Materialism would have people think there is no purpose or meaning save the subjective.
They are being told essentially that humans are insane for seeing purpose and meaning (justice) in nature. Yet are told that they should trust their mind enough that science is true. That’s some heavy cognitive dissonance.
The more educated will realize that the type of materialism that’s been pushed leads to a view of the human mind. Which makes holding materialism as true irrational. As a mind formed by survival cannot be more than 50/50 on whether materialism is true.
Why would they trust the institution when it’s prestige was used to push such nonsense?
“…economics starve and leave homeless one-fifth of the children in America,…”
-Linda
Only 0.2 percent of Americans are homeless while that still means there is work to be done your off by a bit.
“Linda: I’d get a little ‘iffy’ at the thought of a doctor who focuses on sanity of human life and values formed by reflection on the life of Jesus and prayer. “There is a Catholic view of the person….”
I’m a drop-out Catholic.”
CarolMalaysia
I trust you mean sanctity.
If so than as Peter Singer notes we should stop referring to rights as human rights. Since if humans are not separated from other animals it is bigoted to view only one species as having moral worth. If we are all just purposeless animals why does only one species have rights?
“Those who oppose abortion should read about the orphan trains of the late 1800s.
I had a conversation with a very conservative Baptist the other night. She was working in foster care. She stated that if each church in Tennessee would adopt one child, the entire group who needed homes would be cared for with room to spare.
Life is precious until it gets in your way. those newborn babies better learn to pull themselves out of the mire by their bootstraps.”
-Roy Turrentine
If your view is pro abortion your ok with the argument that life is precious if the mother likes it and not if it gets in her way.
So your not pointing out bad behavior just a failure of others to live up to standards you don’t see as true.
Do you criticize Christians that don’t go to Church on sunday? Or is this just an adhominim to throw in order to obscure the issue?
Would you criticize a historical figure being anti chattle slavery because they didn’t want to do reparations. Would that mean that ending slavery wasn’t right?
Orphans don’t have parents so that’s rather different. Also since they were I take it somewhat unpleasant would you hold that they should have allowed killing the orphans so they didn’t have to suffer? If not then does that mean your terrible because they would suffer?
If your argument are mostly about suffering are you a pacifist even if that means you would lose everything?
If a serial killer says murder is wrong does that mean his view is incorrect?
The argument that x group of pro life people don’t do x or y is a Tu quoque fallacy. Your not addressing the argument but the person making the argument.
“Republicans aren’t Christian.”
-Linda
That seems to be a no true scotsman.
Marc: I don’t know why you are so hung up on this topic. Take a rest.
Since if humans are not separated from other animals it is bigoted to view only one species as having moral worth. If we are all just purposeless animals why does only one species have rights?
In my personal view, everything on earth is precious. It is mankind that has the power to destroy the planet, and it is doing a very good job of that. There are animals in the ocean that are dying because of noise pollution and garbage. We know that but nothing gets done and the plastic continues to grow.
Mankind is destroying the planet by increasing pollution on land. Trump, with his EPA coal lobbyist, is making the wealthy richer by his misdeeds that increase pollution. Who in his administration cares? Corporations are free to dirty the planet and not have to clean up afterwards. They can and do pay workers a rotten salary. [The minimum wage in my state is $7. 25 an hour. Why? It is GOP controlled. We can’t have ‘socialism’ which is a word spread to ignorants who don’t understand what would benefit them vs. the wealthy.]
If we do not start caring for ALL life on earth, animal & plant, we will eventually cease to exist. Everything is connected. We are higher up on the food chain but eventually our livelihoods will become endangered.
Caring only for the unborn is nonsense. Increasing funding for the military is pure destruction. Having more and more guns sold, the aim of the NRA, is the reason more and more people are getting killed, especially in the U.S. Who cares? Factual studies which prove guns kill has been squashed by gun lovers.
The internet has allowed extremists to gather together and spread their hatred and violence. The vast and expanding inequality in this country will continue if people don’t start caring for each other.
God reigns over the whole planet and he is weeping. Free will starts within each person. We are abusing that and the result is what is seen daily.