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Re: [Phys-L] political yes, partisan no



On 03/04/2017 08:24 PM, Lulai, Paul wrote:
I guess my concern is not about how secretary pruitt, cruz, perry, or lamar
smith think. I am more concerned about how this will make it easier to
create new people that have these attitudes.

Yes, that's the right way to frame the question. In debating, there
is a basic principle: You're not trying to persuade the opposing
debate squad. They will never concede. Your job is to persuade
the audience and the judges.

In that spirit: Will the march make science look political? Yes.
That's OK with me. What in this world isn't political? Science
has been political for a long time. Scientists may wish it were
apolitical, but wishing doesn't make it so. Some scientists may
not be very skilled at doing politics, but they can learn.

Note the distinction:
-- If there is a scientific problem, we should deal with it by
scientific means.
-- If there is a political problem, we should deal with it by
political means.

The bad guys /want/ us to hide in our laboratories. We have
to put them on notice that we know how to do science /and/ we
know how to do politics.

So, as usual, it comes down to details. We don't want just any
old march; we want a march and other activities that generate
the *right kind* of publicity.

Suppose we have a bunch of folks holding signs that say
-- Truth Matters
-- Reality Matters
-- Earth Matters
-- There Is No Planet B
http://www.natgen.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/No-Planet-B.jpg (large)

I don't think that is likely to create any new science-haters.

I would go even farther than that. Many people have no image
of scientists other than as movie villains. Dr. No. Dr. Evil.
Dr. Strangelove. Dr. Frankenstein. The recent Hidden Figures
movie is a tiny step in the other direction, but nowhere near
sufficient. So almost any publicity that makes us look human
would be a step in the right direction.

Recently I was talking to a group of elementary school teachers.
All female. Not one of them recognized the name Marie Curie.
This is a problem. No amount of lab work is going to solve
this problem. No amount of talking amongst ourselves is going
to solve this problem.