Skeptics Say, ‘Do Your Own Research.’ It’s Not That Simple

Faith & Science Conversation
102

I disagree that a person can say “The Bible says it; I agree with it; that settles it” and be deemed to have any level of intelligence at all. People who barely graduated from high school are all of a sudden lecturing people on the science of vaccines. it’s appalling. Scots-Irish who are educated turn out just as intelligent as anyone so we don’t disagree on that. It’s just that education is not typically emphasized in Appalachian and Deep South regions. And the know-nothing Christianity often interferes with educational aspirations.

It’s more so why bother with these people because you can’t convince them of anything. Half of these families with dead family member still are anti-vac.

Be not mocked; God is not deceived. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

It’s called casting one’s pearls before swine.

“I didn’t mind working in the Covid Wards until the vaccine became available. Then I had to deal with these “anti-vaxxers”. Rude, stupid, ignorant, etc. They are either anti-govt, anti-vaccine, or anti-covid. Either way they are very simple minded and have no idea how to critically think.”

This is a typical example of “Christian scholarship” which is simply a waste of time but it will sell thousands to the Bible says it; I believe it masses. Um, there aren’t any eyewitnesses to any part of the Bible. This is exactly how “Christian scholarship” should be dealt with. Nobody on the wiki page even bothered to debunk it due to excessive fatuity.

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103

William, I am sorry to hear that you have such a low opinion of the Deep South. I have lived there all my life, except when stationed elsewhere in the military, and I have a very different view from yours.

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Very nice. The pot has called the kettle black.

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105

No you haven’t, unless you are expiring shortly. And that’s supposed to be a positive argument? XD

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106

Born and bred. Greatest day of my life was getting the hell out of Charlotte,North Carolina, a complete barren hell-hole of a city. Anti-gay, anti-trans, anti-everything. Thankfully, I was able to study under Van Seters at UNC and then make my escape. You are a non-critical thinker about the South but it is racist to the core as are most fundamentalists. I lived in Columbia, Atlanta and Virginia as well. All racist to the core.

My family is all still down there but I never go.

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107

I am from Charlotte, too, born in Presbyterian Hospital.

I also have lived in Atlanta and Virginia.

But, unlike you, I love and value my family there. I don’t always agree with them, but I love them as God has called us to do.

I will PM to you the surnames of my relatives so we can see if we are cousins.

As for my being a non-critical thinker, once again we disagree.

I am sorry you have such a low opinion of good people.

A few of the Indian artifacts that I found in Charlotte in my childhood:

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I think for the big one is a knife, although it could be a hoe. This was good framing land.

Also, William, I thought about your claim that Deep South people are uneducated. My four children and their 3 spouses,with all but 1 being from the Deep South, hold 18 4-year or higher college degrees. Southerners aren’t as ignorant as you think. My close relatives hold multiple patents, and I hold one. One cousin was awarded a Noble Prize.

Southerners aren’t stupid. They are just inaccurately disrespected by prejudiced people. I have experienced geographical chauvinism many times.

I will post a picture of a drill that I found in Charlotte when I find it.

Edit: Here it is

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Technically, this was found in Mint Hill, in the outskirts of Charlotte

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Tell us how you really feel. Sounds like you must have had some traumatic experiences there, so perhaps your feelings are understandable, but your generalizations are quite unfair and inaccurate. First, even those of us who are of Scot-Irish ancestry have little Scot-Irish in us at this point. Most of what is attributed to being “Scot- Irish” is really just the individualism typical of rural Americans regardless of descent. To attribute behavioral characteristics to a particular ethnic group is quite… racist.
Next, while racism is common in the South, unfortunately it is common everywhere for the most part. The good thing is that it is much improved. If you were to go back home, you would see mixed race families in pretty much every restaurant and every church, with not so much as a second glance given. Even in most fundamentalist leaning churches. It is a lot different that it was 60 years ago.

Putting on my moderators hat, this line of discussion is disturbing and may exceed the boundaries of gracious discussion, so please let us dial it back a bit on the personal judgements and stick to the facts and issues at hand.

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109

I love you for fatuity alone!

110

Seems like it, Klax.

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111

Science is littered with the casualties of hubris.

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112

I called it. From one of my previous posts:

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113

One of the trends I have seen in conspiracy theories is to try and portray the con men as persecuted martyrs instead of actually addressing the misinformation they are spreading. We are also seeing an attempt to deflect away from the nonsense by using red herrings, like the Lab Leak theory. These types of strategies to cover up the misinformation sets off a lot of bovine excrement alarms amongst those who have seen this type of nonsense many times over.

Guess what? Experts can lie and spread misinformation just as easily as non-experts. Persecution complexes do not mask misinformation. Whether a virus comes from nature or the lab does nothing to change the facts about vaccine and therapeutic efficacy. There is a big difference between disagreements among scientists and putting the public at risk through the use of misinformation.

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114

You seem to have misread my posts and drawn incorrect conclusions from them.

My point was that people with expertise should not be censored and deplatformed.

Experts censored and deplatformed cannot spread information or misinformation as well as those with unencumbered access to posting on social media.

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Doctors who give bad medical advice or commit malpractice will lose their license, and for good reason. Why shouldn’t the same standards be applied to experts who likewise put the health of the public at risk through misinformation?

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116

You mean the standards of notice and hearings and a known appeal process?

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No, I mean the same ethical standards. The deflection into process only highlights the indefensible nature of the ethical position.

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118

Aren’t professionals accused of ethics violations given the rights to a hearing, with evidence presented, and a known appeals process?

Or are they simply censored by an anonymous “fact checker” of unknown qualifications?

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Again, the deflection into process is quite telling.

You may not be aware that no such process is needed when a company decides what content they want on their servers.

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120

If a company is a publisher, that makes sense.

If the company wants the special protections of a platform, that is a different situation

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Do you think it is ethical for an expert to use their position as an expert to spread misinformation that puts people’s’ lives at risk?

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