Hmm…I think there’s a difference, though, Lib. Flashlights and lighthouses use reflection to intensify a light that they are emitting themselves, not reflecting a light from another source entirely. Some people use mirrors in their homes to reflect a dim light and make the room brighter, but that doesn’t mean the mirror is a light. You could call it a light SOURCE, but I don’t think you can call it a light.
I agree with you. If science is presented in a way that is meant to make people who believe in scripture look foolish, I can see why people would take offense. You could easily believe in the science of the moon not being its own light, and still take offense to the idea that God is being dismissed.
To me, that’s backwards. The sun is a light SOURCE — it’s where the photons originate. But both the sun and the moon are lights, as in “something that makes things visible or affords illumination”. (from d-dot-c).
I’m starting to hope that you can wage war on science with any sort of popular support for only a relatively brief time before people start to see that you’re just fucking crazy.
I see this from the opposite perspective. The fact that some people got up and stormed out, with at least one of them shouting about the bible, after what has been reported as a simple one-line aside in a lecture makes me think that it was a set-up. I would guess that some number of people came to the lecture prepared to be upset and chose that line as their signal. We really do not know what Nye actually said, so the issue of whether his statement was scientifically or philosophiaclly correct can only be guessed at. We also do not know the context in which he said it, so we have no evidence that he was actually being disrespectful of people of faith–there is no record that there was significant booing or departures among the 1700 members of the audience, only a comment that “a handful” or “a few” or “a number” of people (depending on which blog paraphrased the story) got up at one time and left.
Similarly, we have no evidence that the audience at Waco was filled with biblical literalists who chose to be offended by what they perceived to be an attack on their faith or by ignorant masses who failed to understand his point.
I see a tiny demonstration by a small group of offenderatti being reported (with less than thorough accuracy) in blogs being picked up and repeated (with no further attempt at accuracy or completeness) by recent bloggers hoping to laugh at some nebulous number (implied to be large) people in a Southern town with a Protestant-oriented University. The main twits appear to be the first tiny number of protestors and the later (also not large number of bloggers).
I do have to say, though, that since the moon is not made of cheese as was once believed, but of rock and metal and other relatively low-calorie materials, the moon could be considered to be a kind of lite.
Not if that which you hold dear is retarded, and creationist beliefs are retarded. It’s like getting upset because a scientist says the sun doesn’t really “rise” and “set,” upsetting your belief in a geocentric universe. Stating a demonstrable, scientific fact (that the Genesis creation stories are not literally true) is not taking an “attitude,” it’s what a scientist is supposed to do. it’s the ones who walked out who took the attitude.
I don’t do it for the same reason I don’t go around correcting people who speak of the sun going "up " or “down.” It’s understood to be figurative language. When I was teaching, though, I made sure to make it clear that the sun wasn’t REALLY moving up and down and that the moon wasn’t really generating any light.
The problem with Mr. Nye’s little theory, of course, is that since there is no such thing as a photon, there can’t be any such thing as reflection, either.
What we call light is merely God’s decision to show us things as we pass through the world He made (or his decision not to, as in the case of the mailbox I totalled while parking a while back, though the local constabulary called it “seeing through a glass, drunkly” which is a base canard).
Astrophysicists make much of the notion that 90% or more of the universe is similarly concealed from us – so-called “dark matter” – but persons of faith know the truth: it’s just God, or mostly Him, anyway. He used to reveal Himself pretty regularly, but hasn’t been seen much at all lately. This leads us inevitably to an obvious conclusion: God’s feeling fat (so might you, if you comprised nine-tenths of the mass of the universe). And let’s face it: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me?” Ours is a God with self-esteem issues. So if we, scientist and theologian alike, want to see what is hidden, we’re going to have to apply a little gentle encouragement.
(From the Wholecloth Book of Hymns, #238):
The Christian God is a Zaftig God
The Christian God is a Zaftig God
And there’s nothing wrong with that.
We like a God with some meat on His bod
No we don’t think Thou art fat.
We know it’s hard when mean kids pray “Dear Lard”
Pay no attention – they’re all wrong.
With a little care, and a thought for Thy hair
Thou wouldst look fine in a sarong.
Our Lord is grand with a special and
Unconventional beauty.
Omni-sci-ent and Omni-po-tent
And a great personality.
So, to recap: The existence of the Moon proves there’s no such thing as photons and that God could stand to lose a few pounds.
Unfortunately, the Scopes Trial was way back in 1925 yet the contempt for evolution and science in general is still alive and well among the fundamentalists.
It is in the sense that retards and hair-trigger religious crazies on the conservative right are involved in both. The differences are that the war on science has yeilded actual casualties in the classroom, asinine school board decisions and lawsuits.
The War on Christmas has primarily involved rants by lunatics like John Gibson and Bill O’Reilly. Christmas has chugged along pretty much undeterred.
They also share the similarites that I hope those fighting against science and those proclaiming that there is a war on Christmas both go fuck one another.
Wow. Yeah, the far right certainly has its share of crazies, but as you so aptly demonstrate, so does the far left. I wish I could give you assurances that using “light” to mean “something that makes things visible or affords illumination” will not be the downfall of science or civilization, but since you’re foaming at the mouth and all, I’m afraid you’re too far-gone.
This is the same city where some Equality Riders were arrested, and told that God stands in their courtroom, and the judge will fulfill God’s will, so a preplanned or spontaneous demonstration of fundies doesn’t surprise me.
Is that anything like the War on Christmas?