wow, it's getting *extra* weird up north

[rmd]

more from new hampshire:
HB1457:

Require science teachers to instruct pupils that proper scientific inquire results from not committing to any one theory or hypothesis, no matter how firmly it appears to be established, and that scientific and technological innovations based on new evidence can challenge accepted scientific theories or modes.

what the fuck, people. "no matter how firmly it appears to be established".
PERIODIC TABLE OF ELEMENTS? TOTALLY A THEORY! EARTH AIR FIRE AND WATER! ALSO A VALID THEORY!
teach the controversy!

ETA: I mean, saying "new evidence can overthrow old theories" is totally an important part of science education. But the "not committing to any theory no matter what" is what strikes me as sketchy and evolution-hating.

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

*makes a disgusted face*

[radioactiverich.livejournal.com]

Yeah and on top of all that, there's a fucking typo in the bill. "proper scientific inquire"? Does anyone actually read these things before they propose them?

[rmd.livejournal.com]

proper communication results from not committing to any one spelling or grammar, no matter how firmly it appears to be established.

[keren-s.livejournal.com]

Hey state legislators: leave the science teaching to the science teachers!

[sparkymonster.livejournal.com]

On last night's Maddow (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/) Rachel Maddow discussed this. And by discussed I mean she mocked and made the WAAHHHT face.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Huh, I didn't think Cow Hampshire was prone to that sort of crazy.

[ceo]

Hmmm. There's a guy in a ski forum I'm on, who is massively opposed to the Cannon Mountain ski area being owned and operated by the State of New Hampshire (it's part of Franconia Notch State Park). Last summer he gleefully posted some photos of erosion and construction debris on the upper mountain and tried to pin it on incompetent management, and he's also been railing about how they don't allow hiking in the ski area. He seems to think the hiking issue is a particular injustice to NH veterans, in whose honor the park was apparently originally established way back when.

Then the other day, he posts the text of SB 0217, which by some strange coincidence addresses precisely the same issues that he (and nobody else, as far as I know) had been getting his panties in a twist about. So I'm getting the sense that there are plenty of NH legislators that will happily introduce or co-sponsor any piece of wingnut twaddle some random yahoo sticks in front of them.

[adb-jaeger.livejournal.com]

So I'm getting the sense that there are plenty of NH legislators that will happily introduce or co-sponsor any piece of wingnut twaddle some random yahoo sticks in front of them.

Pretty sure that's not limited to NH.

[jim-p.livejournal.com]

No, but NH has the largest state legislature in the country (400 representatives, 24 senators), with a constituent:legislator ratio of about 3000:1. Thus (a) plenty of opportunities for wingnut twaddle to be introduced, and (b) a fairly low bar to clear to get one's legislator's attention.

[clauclauclaudia]

There's a degree to which it is their job. In Massachusetts it's explicitly so. Courtesy of the Massachusetts Bar Association:

Under the state Constitution any citizen may file a proposed piece of legislation with the General Court through his or her representation or senator.  This “right of free petition” is unique to Massachusetts.  In addition, there is no prohibition upon an individual’s right to continually refile a bill year after year.

I don't know what NH procedures are like, but each bill could represent literally one crazy here in the Commonwealth.

[pale-chartreuse.livejournal.com]

NH is getting a slew of this type of thing right now. They also just passed a law saying that colleges cannot forbid carrying a gun on campus.

It guess that a bunch of Tea Party types were elected to the State legislature last time around and there has been just enough time now to see the results? It's conservative, but it doesn't look like typical New Hampshire conservative (which tends toward more of a "Get off my lawn!" type of attitude).

[rmd.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I expect New England conservatives to be kind of like New England baptists: much more sane (imao) than their holy roller cousins. (Although New England has more crazy Catholics than most of the rest of the country, in my experience.)

[drwex]

I replied in your other post with some news article links, but my sense remains that this is one of those jokes that got out of hand.

[frobzwiththingz.livejournal.com]

...But the "not committing to any theory no matter what" is what strikes me as sketchy and evolution-hating.

Great Ghu, how completely *fucked* we are, that our current social and cultural context can cause us to be made queasy by a completely correct and appropriate statement.

Right now there are research teams who think that there is evidence for particles moving faster than light. Most people think the evidence so far is probably erroneous, experimental error of some sort, but it *is* being looked at seriously, because, well, science never actually proves anything about the universe. It's only a method to determine if your models are reliably predictive or not.

"Truth" is left to religion or mathematics.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

I think it comes down to what they mean by "committing". I think science (and science education) is well-served by keeping in mind that what we have is the best available description/model of how the world works, sure. But I'm so used to hearing about attempts to legislate science education in a way that devalues actual science, that even an accurate statement like that makes me nervous.