Monday, March 15, 2010
Conservative or Progressive; what badge do you wear ?
This post is a result of a great bit of openness on qanda about our prejudices around these two useful extremes. Tonight was a surprise, but a welcome start to exploring whats too often been a closed book .
The trouble I find with Catherine Deveney's s camp is they do have a faith but they don't admit it . Cathereine too, like polys is happy to identify "the problem" but is not committed to a consensus view of "how to solve it " . The ABC too have a problem, as does Robin Williams - they either don't know or don't care about the politicization of scientific research and debate in this country.
To speak with certainty about the gas exchange equations is not something many can do . The ABC have done thinking Australians a disservice by not allowing Australian geologists and earth scientists a proper voice, giving rather the noise to meterologists, modellers and Gore ( Interestingly the progressives believe too much in modelling solutions but for another day )
Has anyone been careful enough WITHIN CSIRO to make sure The spokesman for CSIRO is independant?
Questions now over The CSIRO go to the heart of the cringeing carelessness and PC desire for certainty ( whats the problem) that has stultified debate ( over what to do mostly) in this country for at least 20 years. Does CSIRO need a bigger lab or a bigger microscope?
ABC journos and journos in general have thought they are supporting scientific research when they, because of their world view( i shall dare to call it progressive ) are often undermining sound science in practice. Why you ask ? - because their world view is inherently and deterministically dismissive of the past and have too much faith in the new . Take Catherine's and Dawkins's easy and over confident dismal of 2000 years ago and Catherines over compensated faith in the present gurus . Many Modern progressives have often taken on the faith of evolutionary determinism and don't know it . Mind you , plenty of neo -liberals are just as dangerous in their blind promotion of "progressive forces "
The quickly bypassed words of faith that both Deveny and Shorten alluded to in their shared but unwritten advocacy for a form of optimism is very interesting . Its the critical question of the hour " how does our faith (pol/rel)breed an optimism that works".This is the key to finding more consensus amongst Australians in 2010. Hanging it on each other and our badges is too easy .
Been reading a wonderful OLD book recently by Rollo May, where he points out that what most of us need to do to revive our optimism in politics ( se Neibuhrs classic comment) is to recognise those in both camps who are concerned about the evil in our favoured institutions but who are radical enough to reset the sails from within what will always remain mere shells and badges.
I hope that Miranda Devine and Waleed Aly will look more into this paradox of divisions and find the sustainable methods of sound science practice and how they can again lead to the sort of conservative and progressive optimism that i and most people can be reasonable comfortable with . Don't want to get too comfortable do we? Copyright EA15th March 2010
The trouble I find with Catherine Deveney's s camp is they do have a faith but they don't admit it . Cathereine too, like polys is happy to identify "the problem" but is not committed to a consensus view of "how to solve it " . The ABC too have a problem, as does Robin Williams - they either don't know or don't care about the politicization of scientific research and debate in this country.
To speak with certainty about the gas exchange equations is not something many can do . The ABC have done thinking Australians a disservice by not allowing Australian geologists and earth scientists a proper voice, giving rather the noise to meterologists, modellers and Gore ( Interestingly the progressives believe too much in modelling solutions but for another day )
Has anyone been careful enough WITHIN CSIRO to make sure The spokesman for CSIRO is independant?
Questions now over The CSIRO go to the heart of the cringeing carelessness and PC desire for certainty ( whats the problem) that has stultified debate ( over what to do mostly) in this country for at least 20 years. Does CSIRO need a bigger lab or a bigger microscope?
ABC journos and journos in general have thought they are supporting scientific research when they, because of their world view( i shall dare to call it progressive ) are often undermining sound science in practice. Why you ask ? - because their world view is inherently and deterministically dismissive of the past and have too much faith in the new . Take Catherine's and Dawkins's easy and over confident dismal of 2000 years ago and Catherines over compensated faith in the present gurus . Many Modern progressives have often taken on the faith of evolutionary determinism and don't know it . Mind you , plenty of neo -liberals are just as dangerous in their blind promotion of "progressive forces "
The quickly bypassed words of faith that both Deveny and Shorten alluded to in their shared but unwritten advocacy for a form of optimism is very interesting . Its the critical question of the hour " how does our faith (pol/rel)breed an optimism that works".This is the key to finding more consensus amongst Australians in 2010. Hanging it on each other and our badges is too easy .
Been reading a wonderful OLD book recently by Rollo May, where he points out that what most of us need to do to revive our optimism in politics ( se Neibuhrs classic comment) is to recognise those in both camps who are concerned about the evil in our favoured institutions but who are radical enough to reset the sails from within what will always remain mere shells and badges.
I hope that Miranda Devine and Waleed Aly will look more into this paradox of divisions and find the sustainable methods of sound science practice and how they can again lead to the sort of conservative and progressive optimism that i and most people can be reasonable comfortable with . Don't want to get too comfortable do we? Copyright EA15th March 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
New minor parties in Australia
For a little discussion about the possiblities and the impossible dreams of politics in March 2010 , click here .
