I do not hate science

Nor do I think STEM is a vast communist conspiracy.  Nor do I pine for the good old days of Medieval medical treatments and outhouses.  As I've said plenty of times, I'll forever be grateful that I was born on the leeward side of the invention of toilet paper.

I also don't hate scientists.  My late father-in-law, a wonderful man, was a chemist.  Several of my friends over the years have been in the field of science or medicine.  Two teach or have PhDs in science - physics and chemistry.  And I'm personally fascinated by science, from geography and geology to astronomy (though on a very amateurish level to be sure). 

I say all that because a comment that was made on this post some years ago.  I sort of hope it was a comment meant for a good laugh or perhaps a bit of facetiousness.  Because the suggestion that I hate science, scientists and regard STEM as a vast Commie Pinko plot is simply bone headed wrong.  I obviously don't.

Do I think it's time to rethink our modern approach to science in light of religion?  Sure.  And I'm not talking about the laughable 'follow the science' or 'settled science' buzz phrases in modern political discourse.  Nor do I mean science as it is often misused in the atheist community as some trump card that once and for all proves there is no God.

I do mean that even when we reject such things as political or atheistic misuse of science, we can sometimes still be dragged into a rather material, secular vision of the world nonetheless. Oh we still speak of demons and angels and miracles, especially on Sundays.  But through the week, we can often seem as beholden to the secular spin on science and scholarship as the alpha and omega of reality as any devotee at a Richard Dawkins seminar.

That's also not to say we need to swing to the other extreme and assume I can't find the TV remote because a devil (or perhaps, on a better day, an angel) hid it form me.  Or think the best thing to do when my wife is having a heart attack is to break out the incense and pray that an angel appear to heal her..  Throughout most of history, believe it or not, people may have attributed more to the spiritual than was warranted, but people understood there was a natural part of the world as well.

It isn't as if you could go to a farmer in the darkest of ages and see him sitting next to a field, waiting for God to send angels to grow the crops.  Farmers worked on ways to plant and harvest, to fertilize and increase yields since the beginning of farming.  They understood that there were things you had to do within the world because that's life.  They may not have gotten molecules and DNA or genetics, but they understood that the best way to avoid getting trampled by a horse wasn't to stand in its way and pray that an angel appear and stop the horse, but rather to step aside and get out of the way.

I merely think that we've learned so much about how the universe works, we sometimes forget that the omnipresent 'Invisible' part of creation is still there.  I saw a scientist teaching science for my son's coursework a couple years ago.  Lab coat and everything.  It was part of a Christian curriculum. When teaching about the definition of science that begins every science class in the history of science classes, he used the example of people once upon a time believing you got sick because of demon possession, but now we know it's because of viruses or other infections.

My point is, perhaps saying 'she's sick because of demon possession' misses a few natural marks.  But maybe saying we found the virus means it obviously has nothing to do with anything but the virus misses another mark as well.

As we realize we're at a sort of flatlands right now in terms of leaps forward STEM-wise, and as it becomes clear that there are some problems associated with our 'tech in the morning, tech in the evening, tech at suppertime' culture, maybe it's time to rethink things.  Maybe try to find ways to rethink many elements of our faith that some today have jettisoned because 'Science.'  Perhaps focus on the spiritual senses of the Invisible creation a little more often than just those famous Five physical senses. 

And in the process, perhaps stop following the world around and waiting for the latest theory that we then assume demands we rethink the Church's worldview because Science!. Take, for example, one of the things I got while sojourning with the Orthodox that I will forever hold dear. 

During a Q&A, an Orthodox bishop was asked what the official Orthodox approach to Evolution is.  He said there isn't one.  The POV of the Orthodox is that if, by God's grace, the world is around in 2000 years, then people at that point will look back on our time and barely recognized 90% of everything we've come up with over the last couple centuries.  Either the theories will long before have been debunked, or new scientific revolutions will have completely upended our understanding of things in such a way that in 2000 years they'll barely be recognizable. Oh, there will be some that will still be accepted in 2000 years.  But it's the height of hubris to think it all will, or even most will.  Especially as we watch things only recently floated as obviously true that are now being thrown out the window. 

That's all I think.  As I sit on my computer and type for the Internet, the trick is to remember that the Visible is the small part of the small universe in a big, wide Creation.  The big part - the "Invisible" part we say in the Creed - is the big part of Creation. And the important part.  Understanding how a computer or nervous system or nuclear fusion works doesn't change that.  Any more than developing better irrigation methods did so thousands of years ago. 

Training ourselves to remember that the two - Religion and Science - are not exclusive, and that perhaps we've become a bit too secular in our approach to science  in light of revelation (or revelation in light of science), might be something worth thinking on.  Especially as we see more and more Christians abandoning the Faith because, in the end, they believe that God stuff went out with the coffee makers because obviously it did.  No hating science about it. 

I wonder if this is true

 

I just don't have the time to look it up, times being what they are.  It's from the Internet, and I've developed a strong distrust for anything I find there, especially on Social Media.  In fact, I was going to post on the increasing number of Social Media posts I see that are dead wrong - photos don't match text, facts wrong and such - until I was informed that it's part of the whole posting gig.  That is, it benefits posts to have many comments for some measures of stats.  Thus they post things that are wrong and sit back as hundreds rush into to say 'Hey!  That's wrong'.  It's a comment, and that's what matters. 

That's not the only problem, but it adds to the distrust I've had for years.  So the above image could be bunk and nothing more.  The only reason I post it is because last year, during our local media's attempt to convince us that the mid-80s are life threatening, I looked up the all time high temps for the Midwest.  And I believe there were only a couple times that the all time highs weren't in the 1930s.   You know, the Depression, those droughts and dust bowls and all.  Because I noticed this referenced the 1930s as a comparison date, and it seemed to fit with what I found last year, I decided to post.

The point being my belief that the climate changes, just as it always has.  That often times we're watching cycles of changes where the climate fluctuates, changes, shifts and changes again.  I'm not saying our approach to STEM hasn't had an impact on the climate.  It probably has to a degree.  But it's simpler than the politics of Global Warming.  Or the two months long daily apocalyptic coverage of our summer temps this year. 

Fact

Only if you believe this is true and not humor:

Can you not see the problem here:

And in case you think this is something out of context or they aren't real stories, here is the NBC story, and here is the CBS story.

Yep.  Of course this isn't new.  Go back to any time ever, and you'll have different conclusions arrived at by different sources.  Eventually we figure out who is right, if anyone.  We then move on.  That's fine. 

But we live in an ago of 'shut up and obey the [conformist] experts'.  We are told to accept whatever the proper experts say on any given day.  Period.  Even if it contradicts itself.  

We don't see them held accountable if they are wrong.  We're told it's fact, shut up, obey, or face the music.  And this is possible due to all of those in various leadership positions around our nation and world that we imagined would safeguard us from such tyranny of the stupid. 

This seems significant

I've not seen it pop up yet in many mainstream outlets, at least in the US.  Apparently a group of 2000 women sued Switzerland over its failure to curb global warming - and won.  At least in some international court in France.  

Something about the story suggests that this is far closer to the end goal behind the Global Warming narrative than making bank off of green energy.  I don't know why.  It's the sort of thing that gives me the impression of people in the future saying 'We never thought it would lead to this.'  

I don't know.  Just something about this says more trouble is ahead.  That we can move past 'Are you sure this is settled science?' to 'Yes, and you are legally guilty because you failed to address the problem as defined by the latest settled science' makes me see clouds on the horizon.   

Because it is not climate

That's why.  

So yesterday we were supposed to have a dusting of snow.  The temperatures would drop, some mix of rain and snow, perhaps a little dusting.  And that was that.  As late as yesterday morning's weather forecasts on the morning news.  Yet this is what it looked like this morning: 

Not exactly a dusting.  And because we weren't ready, much of the prep work hadn't been done.  My sons noted that they didn't issue any type of travel advisory until after the evening news, when the majority of the snow had passed.   

This morning, however, the weather forecaster did address the staggering fail when it came to the forecast.  Which is only one of many  in recent months.  We've noticed that it does seem they have been missing the forecasts more than usual over the last year or so. 

The meteorologist said, at the end of the day, it's weather.  Weather is complicated and not always easy to predict. Plus it's based on models.  Models provide many things, but it isn't some magical spell.  In this case, only one model showed anything close to what happened.  All other models showed what all of the local stations predicted.  A light snowfall if anything at all. 

I had to chuckle.  After all, much of the climate change narrative is based on models.  But apparently those models predicting what the entire global climate will be in a hundred years are just spot on perfect in their accuracy.  As opposed to models that predict the daily weather in a given location.  How can we predict what will happen outside our windows later today?  It isn't like predicting the entire planet's climate a hundred years from now!  Apparently that's as easy as pie. 

Always remember: A forecast of 79 degrees means excessive heat watch.  Modern meteorology in a nutshell

Blinded by not science

I'm sure we all remember with fondness that famous tirade Bill Nye gave, in which he unwittingly used philosophical arguments to argue that philosophy is a waste of time. To be honest, I've not seen much of him in the MSM since then. Perhaps coincidence.

It looks like Neil DeGrasse Tyson is quickly stepping into Nye's shoes as the new pop-"scientist" to remind us what science isn't.  He is the latest scientist who speaks to anything because, well, lab coat.  In this article, he leans heavily on the infallibility of the latest progress to argue boys and girls are a thing of the past because we say so.  And today, we must be right.  As opposed to yesterday.  That seems to be his message in a nutshell. It's not a debate worth having.  Since proper science has declared it true - by ignoring or attacking dissenting views - it's true.  Therefore let's get those guys into girls' locker rooms  and girls' sports pronto.

The shocking point in all of this is that it doesn't seem to be helping the transgender cause.  I still see articles about how suicide is a scourge across the transgender community.  Naturally that is blamed on transphobic bigotry.  Just like the story I saw earlier in the year that reported on the most recent stats about HIV.   According to the CDC, the latest stats once again show that the overwhelming majority of new HIV cases are men who have sex with men. Why is this true? Why, because of homophobic bigotry, that's why.  What does that even mean in 2023?  I have no clue.  But Science!

It's quite amazing.  For generations we've been throwing out what Tyson calls 'the old view of the world.'  From human relations to gender roles to raising children to sexuality to moral priorities, we've gone through the conventional wisdom of the ages like a weed eater.  Tens of mullions dead from AIDS later, unprecedented suicide rates among our children, mass killings in our schools, tens of millions dead from drugs, unparalleled drug dependency, mental health problems, depression and staggering levels of physical unhealthiness, and yet we keep trotting along like a tripped out Pollyanna.  Look how much smarter we are. Look how better we are every day.  We're so right about everything.  Isn't it great that we are better than that old world and its old world views? 

In ages to come, ours will likely be the Age of Arrogance.  After all,  as one of my sons pointed out, when your generation has a noticeable dearth of lasting accomplishments, arrogance is all you have left.  Yet people will look back at us and shake their heads.  If we're remembered at all in centuries to come, it will be as a cautionary tale. 

Revealing to say the least

And worth pondering when we consider the state of affairs today with our modern corporate media. 

So a visitor here linked to this old weather broadcast from 1973:

The key takeaway?  The forecast calls for high temps at 97 degrees for the next day.  And apparently that's just hunky-dory.  In fact, he says it will be a great day to get out and go on a picnic or enjoy outdoors because there won't be any rain if the forecast goes according to plan.

I've written how, over the previous weeks, we've had ginned up hysterics about heat waves and heat advisories when the temps have at times stalled in the high 70s.  Or at best, they've made it to the high 80s.  Yet not only do they issue advisories and warn of extreme heat, they get the reaction from the people accordingly.

On the day it only topped off at 77 I didn't see any interviews of the 'man on the street.'  When it hit high 80s here (and 91 in Columbus), I saw them interview some folks who bemoaned the heat, the misery, and struggles with such debilitatingly hot temps.  They needed the guy from the clip above to cheer them up, since to him at least, in 1973, a 97 degree day was just awesome for being outdoors. 

Of course, as I mentioned to the individual who posted the link, it might have been because in the 1970s - when I was in elementary school - the buzz was about the impending ice age just around the corner. I've heard some Global Warming activists insist there was no such thing back then, that nobody was talking about an forthcoming ice age.  That, like so many things that advance modern progressive agendas, is false.  I remember sitting in Mrs. Griffith's 5th Grade homeroom class and being told we were heading into a new ice age at the rate we were going.  With all of the attached upheaval and horrors that such a development would incur.  

So obviously what we're seeing isn't new.  I don't think most sane people think it is.  But unlike then, when the narrative changed pretty quickly by the time I was in high school, this narrative isn't going away.  And a generation of young radicals and fanatics, convinced the world will soon explode and anyone who doesn't think so is an enemy of their survival to be dispatched accordingly, is on the rise. 

Remember what I said yesterday?

About how, when it comes to climate change, scientists and journalists increasingly sound like carnival carnies shouting out for  the sideshow, rather than actual scientists and journalists?  I thought you might enjoy this:

It's from the current weather report out of Columbus.  The map indicates the area we live in (circled in red), and the Heat Advisory, indicating an excessive heat watch for severe heat.  Note the forecasted high temp - 79 degrees.  Granted, yesterday did end up getting pretty warm, with the mid 80s and a pretty high humidity.  I'd say it felt around the high 80s or low 90s at the hottest. 

Right now, the humidity is 62, which can be a bit sticky, but since it's only in the high 70s, that's not too bad.  Plus there is a slight breeze out of the north, making it more than comfortable.  It might get up to 79 by the late afternoon or so, but I don't see it near the high 80s, which is the least I think of for a heat advisory. 

But this is the news.  Again, on the morning news shows, they focused on the Heat Index. claiming it could make it feel upwards of the 90s.  But they're soldering on with the Heat Advisory, despite it being a pleasantly warm summer day at 77 degrees with a slight breeze.  We call that brainwashing. 

Also, it's funny because that is often the example given for someone who wants something perfect.  You know, 'apparently you can't function unless it's sunny with a the high 70s and a cool northerly breeze.'  Meaning perfect conditions are demanded by you.  Except now, those once perfect conditions apparently indicate extreme heat advisory.  

The rise of the Weather Carnies

So we've all heard about the heat waves this year.  Every morning for over a year and a half the national morning news shows have opened the broadcasts with a weather crisis story (along with daily Trump/Jan 6 stories).  Granted, I haven't seen every broadcast.  I usually only watch in the morning during the week when I'm getting ready, but not weekends.  My wife and I share a coffee, and watch to see the weather and local traffic.  Then we watch the opening of the national broadcasts at 7 AM.  We watch through the opening segments, which is our cue to wrap up the morning routine.

But during the week, I do believe for over a year and a half, every national broadcast on the three networks has led with a weather crisis story each and every day.  Doesn't have to be weather in the US.  It doesn't even have to be much of a story.  But some form of 'severe weather' headline must be shown. So when it heats up like it did this year, you can bet they were going all out in their coverage - as they did.  

Now, one of my beefs with the Global Warming political narrative is that tendency advocates have of hedging their bets.  It isn't enough for them to declare their beliefs about the climate.  It isn't enough to just stay with the facts.  They have to find ways, clever or goofy, to convince me it's more than just change, but an apocalyptic holocaust in the making that will doom mankind if I don't obey get with the political program. 

To that end, the meteorologists on the news, or the scientists interviewed, or the various climate activists banging their drums, can come off more like used car salesmen rather than experts or scientists.  And that tendency to inflate or spin or just BS makes me wonder. 

For instance, it has been hot in some parts of the country.  That much is true.  And at least some records in our 140 years of keeping track have been broken.  Not in our neck of the woods, it's worth noting. For one week - naturally the week we went on our belated anniversary vacation - the temps got into the 90s.  And the local news stations went crazy with the warnings.  But that was it.  It's been the 80s or less for most of the last month or so.

Not to cry quits because of facts and reality, however, when the heatwave in the Southwest was at its height and the news outlets were warning the rest of the county it was coming our way, our own weather stations jumped on the bandwagon.  By the end of a rather cool first week of August, they predicted the scorching heat wave was coming our way.  But nothing happened.  It didn't get that hot.

Not to cry quits because of facts, they went ahead and issued a regional heat advisory for central Ohio, on the off chance it at least made it to the high 80s (the forecasted high for that Friday).  It didn't.  It stalled at around 84 degrees.  

Not to cry quits, they kept the heat advisory and insisted if you add that rather ambiguous and subjective Heat Index, it could almost feel like 100 degrees!  Yet not only was the afternoon high only 84 degrees, there was actually a rather pleasant breeze out of the north that day. I took advantage of it to work some in our outside herb garden.  My guess, off the cuff, was that when the breeze picked up it was probably closer to feeling like the high 70s, at least in the shade.  And for late July and August in Ohio, that is cool (these are usually the dog days when high 80s and low 90s and no rain are the norm).

Finally they cried quits and by mid afternoon cancelled the heat advisory.  They still insisted that if you count the heat index, in some places the 'feels like' temperature at least was close to 100.  Which is quite a heat index bump.  I'm old enough to remember that when the heat index was mentioned (it was introduced in the late 1970s), it usually bumped the temperature from high 80s to low to mid 90s.  But this time it was supposed to be an over 15 degrees bump, or so said the local meteorologists.  

All of this is to say that we didn't witness science, or journalism, or expertise, or information that day.  We witnessed the equivalent of snake oil salesmen peddling their wares.  And that's the sort of thing that raises warning flags with me.  

With Global Warming, we are continuously treated to a never ending list of slick sales pitch style rhetoric that even the most sympathetic listener has to question.  Like the famous 'exactly when is it weather and when is it climate?' question that always seems to fluctuate depending on the temperatures and locations at hand.

Or this.  Given the strange morphing of Heat Index to apparently any number that gets the 'feels like' temperature close to 100, I begin to doubt things like this:

Fact is, it's been closer to one of the mildest and coolest summers I remember for this time of the year.  And it's been that way all over central Ohio.

But the news casts, local as well as national, have pounded the pulpit about extreme heat, Extreme Heat, EXTREME HEAT every morning of every day for weeks and weeks.  Every extended forecast has assured us that by the end of the week it's going to be a scorcher!  90s and 100s are just around the corner!  Yet by the time those days reach the left of the graphic later in the week, they've dropped to the mid to low 80s or lower. Even yesterday, the extended forecast had the high temp jumping into the low 90s.  What did it end up being?  84 degrees.  

Yes, I realize we'll probably be pummeled in the Fall, as September and maybe even October see the temps skyrocket to the 90s or hotter.  It's been doing that in recent years, even as spring has lagged later and later, with cool temps and even late frosts becoming common even into late May and June.  Climate does change.  But the hysteria, the medicine shows, the weather carnies have almost become a joke.  

As a bonus.  We were watching the news on NBC, and the forecast was for high 80s.  The meteorologist said we were still going to be lower than average, though the forecast suggested we'd be getting close to normal.  The graphic showed the average and the highs and lows for the day, with the forecasted high being just shy of the average.  Then in the next weather segment later in the broadcast, the headline on the screen said that today we would be 'unseasonably warm.'  How, pray tell, are we unseasonably warm according to the statement on the screen when the meteorologist said we would be below average?  Again, car salesmen weather carnies.  

This time we mean it!

I am no lawyer

So I don't know.  But this seems significant.  Or at least it is being portrayed as significant by our always objective and reliable news media.  Some youths sued the state of Montana because, apparently, fossil fuels exist and proper establishment approved climate change solutions aren't being implemented in the state.  Therefore, that denied them their constitutional right to clean air and water.  

Now my thoroughly untrained and ignorant-where-the-law-is-concerned eye sees this and I see something much bigger behind the gibberish going on.  I don't know.  Something about it seems on the surface goofy, almost stupid, and yet I get a whiff of maliciousness behind it all.  We'll see.  I'm sure others will chime in around the media world.  After all, the WaPo says it's a case the whole world is watching.  Therefore I suspect others in the world will have more to say than I do. 

My unanswered response

Fall as it ever is in my mind

As many regular guests to my blog know, we are a family of seasonal traditions.  And no season gobbles up more time and effort tradition-wise than that greatest of all seasons: Fall.  This year, with a host of changes and obligations and time constraints, we'll again have to broaden what, when and where we do things.

In the olden days, the rules were binding: We didn't begin 'Fall things' until after the Autumnal Equinox.  That is, no cider, caramel apples, bonfires, hayrides or fall decorations.  Then came October, when we quickly turned to the spooky side of life, with ghost runs in cemeteries, Halloween specials, horror movies (kid appropriate) and all the fun that went with that time of year.  In those days Fall and Halloween largely overlapped. 

Eventually we had to spread things out.  As the boys got older and filled up more space on their calendars, time became limited.  So we expanded to all things Fall by early September, right after Labor Day.  For a while we began with some 'generic' horror mystery type reading or viewing even in August - The Invisible Man, The Hound of the Baskervilles.  But our second oldest requested we hold off until after his August birthday.  So it was back to post-Labor Day for fall.

We still kept Halloween proper until October.  Nonetheless, as the years went on, we found a loophole and decided to designate the time after Michaelmas as the time we turn towards that season of spooks.  We still try to decorate only shortly before Halloween since I believe too early and the decorations lose their umph. 

This year we have to expand again.  Our second oldest granted us a dispensation by saying we can have our annual Harvest Fest before his birthday this year.  Heck, we can even watch a few things like Fantasia, that we've sometimes used as sort of kick-off viewing.  

Our youngest is old enough that we'll likely set aside some of the things we've continued to do for his sake.  Plus with my son's bookstore opening up over Labor Day, he will be an occasional guest visitor to the house.  This doesn't count the increasing time burden on the other two older sons in their vocational pursuits, plus more responsibilities for my wife with her position, and my mom who continues to move along nicely, if also more needy. 

That's why now, in these unusually cool August days, I find my mind beginning to wax autumnal.  Which brought to mind a 'spooky' fall post I did a year ago that cost me a reader.  Now there was some debate among my longer term readers if he was, in fact, a troll or not.  Since he usually kept things on topic - a tactic almost anathema to internet trolls - I generally assumed good intentions. 

Nonetheless when I posted my reflections on our secular age of tech and industry with spirit stuff relegated to Sunday mornings before the coffee hour, he swooped in with a very curt comment then kicked the dust off his heals and moved on, never to comment again. Here is the post with his comment and my response.  

I still stick to my guns, as my response that he never responded to makes clear. The older I get the more I become convinced that we Christians went the wrong direction in light of the amazing era of discovery and invention in which we grew.  We allowed the non-believer to have his way, and replaced the Christian worldview with a rather atheistic one, with religion stepping in  only if all else fails.  That was the purpose of my post, which set off who had become a somewhat regular commenter. .

Ventilators and Covid

I am not a doctor.  I run an informal blog where I just noodle about, reading this or that story, commenting with my feet propped up, blathering about what interests me.  I avoid my own areas of expertise because I just don't have time to do them justice. This goes triple for subjects like medicine or almost any science, law, auto mechanics, or ballet dancing - subjects that are well beyond my ability to speak to them even halfway credibly and not look stupid.  

But this story jumped out at me.  Sadly we know several who died from Covid.  That's why I don't make light of it.  I get the problems, the Covid regulations, the disaster that all these measures were and the lives shattered by them.  But the disease is still serious.

Nonetheless, a few weeks ago my wife and I were discussing these last couple years.  We thought of those who we know who died.  A few of them were already in medical facilities because they were suffering from serious, basically terminal, problems.  When her uncle died of Covid, I was shocked he was still alive.  He had about a half dozen serious and essentially fatal conditions.  

But something else came to us as we thought about the people we know.  Everyone who died was in a hospital.  Even if they went to the hospital only for Covid.  True, almost everyone we know who died had some serious aliment one way or another.  But whatever the case, they were all  in the hospital when they died.

On the other hand, we also know many who came down with Covid who didn't die.  In fact, almost everyone we know came down with Covid, including us.  It could be serious and some of us were hit hard by the symptoms.  But almost none of us went to the hospital.  I think only one we know of went to the hospital who didn't pass away.

Three we know had it bad.  Real bad.  Close to death bad.  This includes two close family members - one who was fully vaccinated and the other who wasn't vaccinated.  There were times we thought we were going to lose them.  But they stayed home and fought it off.  And both have medical issues, including one with serious respiratory limits.  Yet they didn't die. 

Everyone we know of who died died in a hospital.  I have no way of knowing if they were on ventilators or not.  I think one was, a young fellow who was a classmate of my oldest.  He went to the hospital early December and was on a ventilator through most of the month, sadly passing a week or so before Christmas.  Yet everyone we know who lived stayed put and stayed home.

I won't say I'm not trying to say something, because I clearly am.  We've watched as the medical community has fumbled the ball a dozen times with this.  And that's without the politics of it.  Just the initial promise of what the vaccinations would do versus what they actually seem to do - based on what we know right now - is staggering.  When my wife and I thought of this, and then I saw the above article, I must admit it did little other than reinforce our initial observations.  And suspicions. 

I admit this was in bad taste

But it still made me laugh:

Because let's face it, there is some truth there and we all know it.  Though you could replace Dr. Fauci with a news logo and it would be just as true. 

Speaking of Fred Phelps discussing gay rights

I saw this Twitter thread from Fr. James Martin regarding vaccines:  

You can feel the contempt and refusal to listen.  That Fr. Martin seems to adopt the 'Science is 100% right 100% of the time' principle also appears clear.  Which is odd.  I don't expect science to always be right.  I know it's been shocking for people to watch the scientific community 'make the sausage' when it comes to Covid.  The scientific community has been wrong about many things since this virus first popped on the scene.  Yet our modern sloganeering about science, which is based on anything but science, has given people a false sense of what actual science is all about.  And it ain't about always being 100% right 100% of the time. 

Of course those who choose to be vaccinated, or wear masks, or social distance, or stay home are fine with me. I completely understand and I support their right to take care of themselves as they see fit.  But we now know that you can get Covid even when vaccinated, and you can spread Covid even when vaccinated,  especially with Omicron.  And based upon one report where 167 fully vaccinated and 157 unvaccinated were in the ICU due to Covid, it's appears the old 'plague of the unvaccinated' slogan might be dead on arrival. As have so many claims made since the beginning of the Covid era. 

Therefore the decision to vaccinate is increasingly a decision for yourself and yourself alone.  To deny the obvious means you're only willing to deny the obvious, not 'follow the science'. And that makes me wonder how concerned you really are about the science, or vaccines, or even the people involved. 

Whatever the case, I'm glad he's not our priest.  I don't think I knew a Protestant fundamentalist pastor with such contempt for those in his church who wouldn't agree with him.  I wonder if that's what Pope Francis is thinking when he calls out fundamentalism. Nah. 

On the other hand, there is always hope:

Hardcore vaccine proponent Deacon Greydanus draws the line at dancing on the graves of the unvaccinated.  The call to whip it out and piss all over dead people who dared question the latest infallible science gets a Barthian Nein!  

I would have liked it if Deacon Greydanus actually admitted that some of the advocates for his side can be pretty wretched to the core.  After all, I notice how easy it is for some to find a single case of crazy opposition to the vaccines and use it to paint everyone who questions the vaccines the same color. 

Nonetheless, I'll take it.  Proud of Deacon Greydanus for calling out wretched, especially when it's someone clearly on his side.  Even if he doesn't go to great lengths to portray it that way. 

Dr. Fauci explains the problem with people who don't like him

Yep.  The reason people don't like him is because he follows the science and is right.  We can't handle the truth he articulates, therefore we don't like him.  It isn't hard people.  Like all Science*, except for when he's wrong, he's always right.  And if we understood that, we'd like him because we would also be right.  It's our fear of the truth that messes with things.

BTW, I've seen variations of this over the decades and this is a liberal distinctive.  Whenever liberals don't get what they want from the electorate or population at large, it's because we're dumb or ill informed or misinformed or something.  It's never because we've done our homework, run the numbers, laid out the info, and concluded that the liberal in question is wrong. Nope.  It's always because of some deficiency on our part.  Always. 

*To clarify, when I capitalize Science like that, I usually mean science misused and abused in our society for reasons that have little to nothing to do with actual science. 

Are we finished blind trusting scholars and experts and scientists yet?

As I said here, never forget that the majority of German experts, scientists, doctors, teachers, preachers, intellectuals, artists, filmmakers and delivery truck drivers remained in Germany and did the Nazi government's bidding. Never forget that as you look at this article at The Atlantic. 

It turns out that, by its own words, "many psychologists wrongly assumed coercive attitudes exist only among conservatives'.  Meanwhile, many wrongly believed that people who turn copper pennies into copper wires are only known to be Jewish.  Also, many wrongly believed that women are thought to be intellectually inferior to men.  By the by, it's also known that many wrongly believed that all blacks like watermelon and fried chicken. 

These are, quoth The Atlantic, the "many" psychologists.  Those who are part of the thriving multibillion dollar a year mental health industry.  That industry in which we put all of our modern hopes and dreams to fix all of humanity's problems.  The same industry that has convinced us no behavior is anything but a mental issue, rather than a case of character, morals, values, behavioral choices.  

Except, apparently, coercive attitudes, which many believe are capable of being embraced only among conservatives - however conservatives happen to be defined.  

Again, most 'psychologists' in Germany were all about the Master Race attitudes toward the German peoples, the Jews, the Gypsies, and everyone the German government with the big paychecks wanted.  I'm sure the liberal dominance of our society's big institutions of wealth, power and parties with T&A have nothing to do with those psychologists concluding this about conservatives, or deciding it would take an impressive amount of scholarship to suggest otherwise.  

Trust in God.  Trust in Christ.  Trust in the Gospel.  Even if the Church isn't pointing us that way right now, that is who we better trust in, because if you're trusting in anyone or anything else, you deserve whatever 'many psychologists' will likely say about you. 

The end of the Jedi

In a reminder that science and smart can be as far removed as Kosher and ham, an editorial in the Scientific American reminds you of what it takes to get people dedicated to studying science for the betterment of humanity to turn their skills to nuclear weapons and gas chambers instead.

It's a lot of leftwing bilge and idiocy, racism and ethnic cleansing.  Star Wars is problematic because Jew White people evil!  Oh, and violence when not glorying the Leftist state, as the riots, destruction and death of the BLM protests did.  Of course Vader was also an evil dig at disabled people?  That's a new one.

But the Left is ever interested in finding new ways to prove everyone else was wretched and evil. I'm sure there could be hundreds of clues and triggers proving just how Star Wars makes Himmler seem like a saint. That's the modern Left.  No inquisitor, witch hunter or lynch mob ever came close to the Taliban like self righteous hatred and destruction of - everything and everyone that the Left opposes.

But again, these are scientists. The ones who will be building the computers, medical advances and technology of tomorrow. And given what I'm seeing, the ones who will happily set those aside when the call comes to invent new STEM driven solutions to deal with the new undesirables. 

Remember, we celebrate those scientists, intellectuals, artists, film makers, poets, ministers, doctors, and educators who fled Nazi Germany or stayed to fight the great fight.  And well we should.  But never forget the majority in those professions and others remained in Germany and turned their professions, arts, skills and industry to the service of the Nazi regime.  Never, ever forget that. 

Life in the world of Sciencedom

Merlin gets it

The one God comes to drive out the many gods.  The spirits of wood and stream grow silent.  It's the way of things.   Excalibur, 1981. 

So said Merlin in the movie Excalibur.  One of many old tropes in which the Enlightened march of Christianity and the Western way came to drive out the barbarism and paganism of the old world.  

Well, let's try that now given developments over the past few years:

Science comes to drive out the old Christian god.  The spirits and demons grow silent.  It's the way of things. 

I'd say that's accurate.  Whether it should be accurate or not isn't my concern.  But I'd say it is accurate for our time.  Science is, in many ways, the default god of our time; science is the religion, science is the church, and scientists are the priesthood.  

Whether or not they should be, or science is really this and not is irrelevant.  I'd wager in the minds of many - perhaps most - Westerners, this is the fact.  Science long ago dispelled religion as an archaic superstitious attempt to answer questions of the world.  Science is now the answer to everything. 

Certainly people outside the Faith hold this view and are open about it.  Science and scholarship utilizing the methods of science have long debunked ancient religious myths and folktales.  Moses, David, and Jesus are now no more real than leprechauns, minotaurs and banshees.  The spirit world has faded into nothing but viruses and molecules, and everything that was explained by the spirit world is now explained by science. 

That's the non-believer.  Within the halls of the faithful, many have more or less accepted this at face value as well, with the caveat that there's still God of sorts, and eternity is as good as always.  But in most cases, the Bible is no more than a collection of myths and fairy tales no different than the Aeneid or the Iliad.  More than one of my old liberal Protestant colleagues held to such a viewpoint. 

Others, of course, don't go so far.  But they'll certainly concede that science has opened up an entirely new way of seeing things.  Gone is Jesus casting out demons.  Epilepsy you see.  Gone are Adam and Eve.  Those are just ancient representations of some vague moment when our ape ancestors evolved into the current version of humanity.  Gone are many old tales that clearly came from a primitive past outside of the realm of scientific inquiry and our modern knowledge of how things really work.  

And those are the faithful Sunday to Sunday believers who still hold to the physical Resurrection or the Virgin Birth.  It's just other parts of the Christian vision of the world they're willing to rewrite or dismiss as ancient tales from an ancient world perspective because, well, Science. 

So given that, it hasn't been difficult for this new age of Science to become the new religion.  An age of Sciencedom you might say.  And like being a pagan in old Christendom, being a Christian in Sciencedom is becoming increasingly difficult.  Sure, it took some time for the Christian faith to eliminate most vestiges of old pagan beliefs.  It's taken less time for Sciencedom to do the same thing to a growing list of Christian beliefs.

What about those who have been the faithful, who have clung to the reality of people walking on water and rising from the dead and crossing Red Seas?  Given the speed with which so many of them are now throwing out old priorities, old moralities, old teachings on everything from the nature of humans to the exclusivity of the Gospel message to traditional Christian morals, it makes you wonder just how much they really had resisted the new gospel of Science after all.  

Again, I'm not saying this is what science is, or that science should be used this way, or that it's an affront to science or not.  Nor am I saying it was the fault of science and it was science that made a bunch of devout believers question everything.  

I know full well that many in high places of Western intelligentsia were already questioning even the existence of the One God long before Industrialization came into play.  It could be that the faith has been wavering for a while, and now that the institutions of Sciencedom are beginning to push harder, we're seeing just how many had remained faithful to the old time religion, and just how many had already begun to lose faith. 

Well done Canadian Catholic leadership

So a Canadian archbishop has stepped forth to remind the world that to live is gain, to die is a bitch.  He's essentially banned all forms of worship for those who haven't received the Covid vaccine.  Which vaccine or if it matters doesn't appear in the story.

This happens as an elderly coworker of my son fights for his life.  He caught Covid which apparently set off a major heart attack.  Far worse of a heart attack than my wife experienced.  At this point they don't know if he'll make it.  May God bring healing and a fast recovery against all odds.  His name is Bob.

He was vaccinated.  Sadly, he bought into the hype promoted by both the media and medical pros.  If you receive the Vaccine, any Vaccine, then you're free, Free, FREE!  Hie to the parties and concerts and arenas and festivals for safe is safe as can be.  Except for those evil unvaccinated types.  Never mind that, by now, we all should know that it's just such large gatherings in tight quarters for extended periods of time that are the number one cause of Covid spreading. 

Not to mention that the elderly population continues to make up a whopping 80% of Americans who have died of Covid.  But sadly, he missed all that because it isn't focused on.  Propaganda, rather than education, is the name of the game.  He had the vaccine, and so he could do anything and everything - even go to Mass apparently!  And so he did anything and everything.  And so, God bless him, he is dying in ICU.

None of this is to say don't get the vaccine.  I've explained our hesitancy, but that's us.  I certainly understand why others choose to get it.  But please listen to one local doctor interviewed a couple weeks ago on one of our local news stations.  Of all medical pros, he was the honest one.  If you're vaccinated, it's not a sure thing.  You can still get Covid, as we're seeing.  Likewise, if you're vaccinated but embark on endless parties, gatherings and crowded forums, you're probably going to get Covid faster than someone unvaccinated who's self-quarantined.  As my son's girlfriend - who has been vaccinated - said, they oversold it. 

Granted, the likelihood of serious illness appears less for the vaccinated.  But those numbers are changing, at least without resorting to more boosters and more follow up shots.  As this happens, however, it does suggest we take another look at those thousands of cases of 'rare but serious' side effects, or the over 7500 who have died after coincidently taking the Covid vaccine.

But whatever, even if you are vaccinated, it isn't a Get Out of Covid Free card.  That's not the fault of the unvaccinated.  It's because we have a vaccine rushed into production to deal with a new virus about which we still know very little and are learning about with each passing day.  The over selling of it for political gains is one of the many tragedies of this pandemic.  Second only to religious leaders joining in with the worst elements of this crisis. 

In follow up news to the military readiness to attack Trump supporters

I see the Surgeon General of the United States is calling Covid misinformation an 'urgent threat'.  Ever notice how many things nowadays is categorized under the heading 'urgent threat' or similar?  It's as if they're saying they fully support our rights and freedoms as long as those do not pose an urgent threat.  Out of dumb blind luck, however, almost anything that questions a leftwing narrative is an urgent threat.

Of course the joke here is that you can't have misinformation when the last thing that has defined the Covid era has been consistency of messaging.  If there was some consistent narrative at all, I could then figure what was and wasn't misinformation.  

For instance, my sons predicted weeks ago that within a week or so of July 4th - when President Biden promised we would be liberated from Covid - you'd see news reports of Covid spikes and the beginning of talks about returning to restrictions and even lockdowns.  Given that's what dominated the news this morning, I'd say they're not too far off. 

We all know that Covid, like climate, health, opioids, or anything today, is about one part science, and five parts politics.  I couldn't tell you what to think of Covid unless I just said whatever they say today is now gospel truth and I obey.  If I think more than that about what has been said over the last year or more, almost none of it makes sense. 

In fact, if I begin asking questions like why was my mom not tested for Covid when we had to take her to the ER with chest pains, shortness of breath, and general weakness, I begin to wonder why the Covid rates are really down.  Heck, they didn't even ask if she was vaccinated.  But then, that could be misinformation because I noticed things.  And we all know that misinformation is an urgent threat.