I've managed to avoid most of the recent fracas over Expelled and what Matt Nisbet and Chris Mooney have said about it, mostly by unsubscribing from the RSS feeds for most of the participating blogs a few months back. Prescient of me, no?
I've kept my RSS subscription for Chris's blog, though, and I read his mea culpa post, and he's obviously quite sincerely bothered by what happened, and the way people on ScienceBlogs (both bloggers and commenters) have reacted to it. I can't say I really blame him.
Anyway, his post has motivated me to actually say something about the whole controversy. I'm going to put it below the fold, because I try to avoid excessive cursing on the front page of the blog.
Life's too fucking short for this horseshit. Here, have some dog pictures:
(Kate took these the other night, when Emmy was being unusually cuddly.)
Yeah. Life's too short. However, instead of dog pictures, I just prefer to go out and burn down some more churches when things get too wordy.
It's a lot of fun and I recommend it as a "feel good" therapy.
The definitive statement indeed!
Dogs. The ultimate antidepressant.
No prescription required - but they are habit-forming. No problems operating heavy machinery, either (like large vacuum systems).
I had managed to ignore this whole kerfluffle until now, but I just read some of the posts involved going through the link in this post. Ughh. I agree, if certain people are never going to talk about science on scienceblogs, they should at least have the decency to post useful things like dog pictures.
thanks. i really needed this ;>
If anyone does want to refight framing again, though, the intersection is going to give it one last valiant try...
You know, I'm reading through the comments on the post you linked to, and it amazes how many people out there just Don't Get It. PZ and Dawkins are complete assholes. They may be right, and I happen to agree with their message, but they're still assholes who antagonize the very people they're trying to convert. Pointing this out is apparently taboo or something. Fuck it, I'm aspie enough to not care.
The thing is, though, Chris was dead wrong on the issue at hand.
This whole kerfluffle makes Ben Stein and the "Expelled" people look like utter fools. Publicity may usually be helpful. Being made a laughingstock is not.
yeah, good luck with the cuddly puppy frame.
Definitely the most well-thought out and insightful statement I've seen on this particular argument.
followed the link over to intersections, etc. read the comments. came back here for a reality check.
emmy seems to have a good handle on the controversy in pic #1 (I believe she is yawning).
keep up the good blogging.