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News Gathering vs. Confirmation Bias
- Remember, if you do not have at least one source of news that you turn to regularly, with which you routinely disagree, then you are not practicing news gathering! You are practicing [confirmation bias].
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Science
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[S]cience is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time – when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.
The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30-second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.
— Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (New York: Ballantine Books, 1996) at p.32.
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[S]cience is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time – when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.
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Tag Archives: government
Election Deniers Were Among the Biggest Losers of the 2022 Midterms
Halle–fucking–lujah. Charlotte Alter, reporting for Time: The stakes could not have been higher. Across the country, Republican candidates who falsely say Donald Trump won the 2020 race ran for offices this year that would have put them in position to oversee elections in 2024. If an election-denier won an election-oversight job in a battleground state, […]
Also tagged politics, rational thought / critical thinking, reason
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Don’t Blame Migrants and ‘Open Borders’ for Fentanyl Entering the Country
Fiona Harrigan, writing at Reason.com: When politicians and pundits on the right call for the U.S.-Mexico border to be secured, they often point to rising fentanyl overdose deaths among Americans as justification. […] Despite the idea’s sticking power in certain circles, it’s inaccurate to say that undocumented immigrants crossing an open border are chiefly responsible […]
Remembering the ‘Faith-based Initiative’ we call 9/11 (2022)
I essentially re-post this every year: Those in authority should take appropriate precautions to protect our citizens. But we will not allow this enemy to win the war by changing our way of life or restricting our freedoms. (emphasis added) –George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States, remarks made during press conference/photo opportunity […]
FRONTLINE: The Power of Big Oil
In an epic three-part documentary series, FRONTLINE investigates the decades-long failure to confront the threat of climate change and the role of the fossil fuel industry. Part One charts the fossil fuel industry’s early research on climate change and investigates industry efforts to sow seeds of doubt about the science. Part Two explores the industry’s […]
Also tagged environment/environmental, investigative journalism, news, politics, science
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Some States Could Tax Recipients of Student Loan Relief
Danielle Douglas-Gabriel reporting for the Washington Post: People in line to benefit from President Biden’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student loans could be taxed on the one-time relief depending on where they live. Mississippi, North Carolina and Indiana plan to levy state taxes on federal student loan forgiveness, while decisions in Wisconsin, […]
Slavery By Another Name
“[In the Spring of 1921, John S.] Williams [became] the first Southern white man since 1877 to be indicted for the first degree murder of an African American; it would not happen again until 1966.” — Slavery By Another Name (PBS 2012). PBS: Slavery by Another Name “resets” our national clock with a singular […]
Also tagged history, law/legal, politics, race/racism, tv
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If it is not necessary to decide more to dispose of a case…
But that is all I would say, out of adherence to a simple yet fundamental principle of judicial restraint: If it is not necessary to decide more to dispose of a case, then it is necessary not to decide more. — Chief Justice John Roberts, concurring in judgment, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 597 […]
Also tagged commentary, law/legal, politics
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This conservative mindset is at odds with constitutional text and history
Damon Root writing at Reason, “Alito’s Abortion Ruling Overturning Roe Is an Insult to the 9th Amendment: The Constitution protects many more rights than it mentions, as James Madison explained.”: […]For Alito and the many legal conservatives who think like him, unenumerated constitutional rights are inherently suspect. When a court recognizes an unenumerated right, these […]
Also tagged commentary, law/legal, politics
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No one should get used to their rights
Mary Ziegler writing at The Atlantic, “If the Supreme Court Can Reverse Roe, It Can Reverse Anything”: If this decision signals anything bigger than its direct consequences, it is this: No one should get used to their rights. Predicting with certainty which ones, if any, will go, or when, is impossible. But Dobbs v. Jackson […]
Also tagged commentary, law/legal, politics
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Reason Roundup: Kansans Reject Anti-Abortion Ballot Measure—and It’s Not Even Close
Elizabeth Nolan Brown reporting for Reason.com: Voters overwhelmingly voted against a measure that would have allowed abortion to be banned in Kansas in the first post-Roe test of abortion’s legality put directly to the people. Yeah, that’s the kind of crazy thing about the Dobbs decision — the people of our fair nation are overwhelmingly […]
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