Monday, June 30, 2008

Sometimes I wonder.

After watching young people swoon over first Sinatra and then Elvis and now Hussein you start to wonder. What have we raised? Worse, we read of people practicing witchcraft, reading their astrology signs daily and claiming that ghosts exists.

Whatever happened to the belief that man would keep improving the world through science and that logical thought was necessary for a successful and happy life?
I mean we have gone to the Moon, stamped out or controlled numerous diseases that had devastated mankind, improved crop yields, increased the ability to communicate while reducing the cost to a fraction of what it was just 20 years, made entertainment available in multiple forms 24 hours a day and yet we have this.

MEYRIN, Switzerland (June 29) - The most powerful atom-smasher ever built could make some bizarre discoveries, such as invisible matter or extra dimensions in space, after it is switched on in August.

But some critics fear the Large Hadron Collider could exceed physicists' wildest conjectures: Will it spawn a black hole that could swallow Earth? Or spit out particles that could turn the planet into a hot dead clump?


Well, according to an AOL poll, 61% say doing this basic research is not worth the risk.

Even more startling, or let's say more indicative that modern America is full of under educated and over propagandized people, 72% say that mankind will destroy the earth versus a natural disaster doing the trick... That there is a third position.. nothing happening for billions of years is not even considered.

Perhaps science and its child, engineering, has done too good of a job. At one time to communicate to people around the world you had to use letters, newspapers, telegrams, telephone or broadcast over a commercial radio. All of these required education and skills acquired in formal settings. The nearest thing to the Internet was amateur radio which was licensed to insure the user didn't interfere with others. Said license required passing a test that proved the applicant was technically astute, could send and receive in Morse code and understood the rules of broadcasting over a shared medium.

Contrast that with a teenager today hopping on the Internet, joining a chat group and blabbing to the world. But I won't pick on just teenagers. There are plenty of adults doing the same thing. And I have no problem with this.... except it seems to lead to people thinking that the ability to type the right commands and produce desired results on a Mac or PC means that the person is technically smart.

Wrong. They know how to drive the bus, but not how to build one. They can't write the code or design the hardware. Yet they think they are smart....

These are the people who think mankind can stop the natural cycle of the sun and ocean currents to control the weather.

These are the people who won't allow the third world to use DDT to control Malaria, leading to the deaths of millions.

These are the people who fight man made genetic changes in food crops that resist disease and increase yields, feeding millions.

These are the children of parents who, in the 60's, opined, "Food is."

These are the future.

Haven't we educated them well??



3 comments:

  1. Maybe the teachers are not educated themselves. I belong to a church whose Popes would never allow the use of condoms to prevent Aids and HIV contamination. A whole continent is affected. I don't even want to read the numbers. I cannot watch anymore the TV programs showing the sick children. I don't understand why those charities do not promote birth control and protection.

    I'm not anti-catholic. I'm just infinitely sad by so much ignorant cruelty at the top.

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  2. Your choice but I would leave the church. It will do no short term good, but if enough leave it will do long term good.

    Of course you could pull a Martin Luther, write a lenghty note and nail it to the church's door.

    ;-)

    Come to think of it, I recommend the latter.

    I find that many of the charities have been taken over by the Left who see the indigenous people as somnehow noble in their suffering and ignorance. Therefore the "West" is not allowed to bring them forward, but to help keep them in their current state.

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  3. I said "my" church because it is my family church. I read Martin Luther. There's a lot to be desired. Calvin is not much better...I tried Baptist, Methodist, High Anglican, Low Anglican...In my old age, I stay home. Still believe in God. And pray that He puts patience and forgiveness in my heart for others. After all I'm a sinner too!

    I so agree with you about charities that my few extra pennies are now given to medical facilities which have provided care for some of my problems.

    As always, thank you for your attention.

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