# Bullshit (Teaching Skepticism in Schools) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 25, 2017, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-teaching-skepticism-in-schools/780689 "2017-02-25T02:45:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![sear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sear)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-teaching-skepticism-in-schools/780689/61 "2017-03-14T12:16:49Z")
> [@](#): > > " You say you “don’t know for certain” whether human industry is causing (one should say “is a major factor in”) recent climate change. But how on earth could you " wp #57 I didn’t mean to suggest such thing was possible. Instead I was striving for the broader more relevant point that it often is not. Thus it is often necessary to act on, to make major decisions without complete information. Scientists deal with this. Teachers deal with this. Politicians deal with this. Investors deal with this. Combat military commanders deal with this. Parents deal with this. Who doesn’t? > [@](#): > > " It might, for instance, strike you as too much money to spend a billion dollars on building a seawall or ten billion on replacing a coal-fired power plant " wp #57 Understood, even accounting for the duality of sincere belief, vs vested interest advocacy \*. But your well-chosen example is within bounds of reasonable quibble / negotiation. If the president made a prime-time address announcing that we’d all have to abandon our homes within 12 hours, and spend the rest of our lives roasting squirrels under a bridge for survival; all while Bejing’s air is so thick with coal smoke you can’t see your hand in front of your mask, I might tend to think that was excessive. I’ve read comments posted from energy industry experts. Some of them have complained bitterly about the high per $kW/hr. $cost of wind-turbine energy. BUT !! Since those comments were first posted, the per kW/hr cost of wind-turbine electric has been trending downward, and the % of our commercial electric power provided by renewable sources has been trending upward. Do you think that’s unreasonable? & Thanks for your PBS / NPR comments. Not to contradict you, but to inquire: Our First Amendment right on religion specifies that “congress shall make no law”; and thus for example, Uncle Sam isn’t allowed to drop a little loose change into the collection plate at the local house of worship. So what of our First Amendment right to free speech? Maybe even if there’s no quid pro quo on the subsidies yet; are those subsidies not an invitation to it? Perhaps never a more likely or more severe risk than during this Trump administration? > [@](#): > > “Any time money is involved, strings are attached.” Bill Maher PS regarding editorial authority / integrity: Institutions like The New York Times, and offices like the U.S. presidency can build up credibility over time. But when the Bush (younger) administration didn’t have a legitimate casus belli against Saddam / Iraq, the Bush administration just made one up. And Bush was willing to trash the personal integrity Secretary Powell had built up over a lifetime, in one fraudulent presentation to the U.N. general assembly. > [@](#): > > “Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt, that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.” > U.S. President Bush (the younger) televised address to the U.S. March 17th, 2003 That’s a lie Mr. president. - Remember all the tobacco / cigarette moguls individually swearing an oath before open session of congress that they didn’t believe tobacco caused health problems? ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-teaching-skepticism-in-schools/780689/62 "2017-03-14T18:59:31Z")
I believe that is the point we are working around. It needs to be taught in school. Crane [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bullshit-teaching-skepticism-in-schools/780689.md?page=3)