Reply
Fri 17 Feb, 2006 05:48 am
"Neuron" wrote in message news:...
A freshman at Eagle Rock Junior High won first prize at the Greater Idaho Falls Science fair. He was attempting to show how conditioned we have become to alarmists practicing junk science and spreading fear of everything in our environment.
In his project he urged people to sign a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical "dihydrogen monoxide." and for plenty of good reasons:
1. It can cause excessive sweating and vomiting
2. It is a major component of acid rain
3. It can cause severe burns in its gaseous state
4. Accidental inhalation can kill you
5. It contributes to erosion
6. It decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes
7. It has been found in tumors of terminal cancer
He asked fifty people if they supported a ban of the chemical.
Forty-three said yes and six were undecided. Only one knew that the chemical, "dihydrogen monoxide" was water. The title of his prize winning project was, "How Gullible are We?" He feels the conclusion is obvious
Now if a junior high school kid has the ability to con people into signing something bogus, imagine the abilities of the media "spinmeisters", who are professional communicators. It has gotten to a point where I take just about everything that I read or hear on TV with a grain of salt.
How gullible am I?
Who wants ta know?
Jay Leno does the same sort of "test" on random people on the street about once a week. lol
Of course he wasn't practicing junk science, whatever that is, or science for that matter, not that that stopped the Idaho Falls yahoos from issuing him the First Prize. What scientific principle did he illustrate or expand upon? Uh. That's right. They awarded the First Prize in a science fair to a project which illustrates more reasons, so to speak, to doubt the validity of science.
Can you say Intelligent Design ought to have an opportunity to be examined?
Wait, were the social sciences included in this fair?
What we have here is 1) a nice young man illustrating the power of marketing and psychology and 2) beaming adults nodding their heads, eighty-six per cent of which are willing to sign something in protest while in a state of ignorance, then furthering their ignorance by designating this work as evidence of something other than that same ignorance. If the circle was any tighter it would be a black hole.
Joe(my project shows that dinosaurs and humans lived together)Nation
I have proof from Hanna-Barbera
We have evidence that they lived together. Remember, this was Idaho, we could not expect anything more, we can at least be proud of proper pronunciation.
Phoenix32890 wrote:Now if a junior high school kid has the ability to con people into signing something bogus, imagine the abilities of the media "spinmeisters", who are professional communicators. It has gotten to a point where I take just about everything that I read or hear on TV with a grain of salt.
So did Micheal Jackson sleep with kids? Who knows... the TV told me so.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace