Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Scruffy-Looking NERF-Hurters

I finished Michael Crichton's "State of Fear" this morning. I think I've found my new hero; someone willing to stand up and say "You know, we just don't know enough to be so gol-darned sure of ourselves. The Save-the-Planet and the Rape-the-Planet crowds are equally stupid."

He calls into question the nature of scientific research these days; how far too many studies are paid for by special interests, so how can we be surprised when the studies reach conclusions favorable to the patron? (The study funded by M&M Mars that determined that chocolate is good for you comes to mind.) The studies paid for by environmental groups are just as likely to be biased as the studies paid for by industry.

Have we really, as a society, forgotten how to think, how to question? Could it be my four-year-old has more journalistic acumen than a network anchor? If more people asked "Why?" more often, perhaps we wouldn't get so much bad science--and bad reporting of bad science.

At any rate, I'm certainly tired of all the doom and gloom we get inundated with every day. Are we seeing the truth, or just what someone wants us to see? What would be the benefits of our believing them? Could someone out there have an agenda? I'm no journalist, but I played one in college enough to know that there is no such thing as an unbiased media. As long as there are more stories to report than there is time to report them there will be bias. There has to be.

Anyway, I'm rambling around on this soapbox, and most soapboxes aren't big enough to support much rambling, so I'll shut up. For now.

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