Using the panel discussions of the most
recent World Science Fiction Convention in Spokane, August 2015, I will jump
off, jump on, rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION
given in the pdf copy of the Program Guide. This is event #3207 . The link is
provided below…
Science Reporting: Science plays an
important part of our lives. Our ability to understand science is dependent, in
part, on how science is reported in the news. An on-going trend is the loss of
science beat reporters, but also the rise of professional scientists as
bloggers. How well is science reported in today’s new media? How might this
change? What are sources of science news that you can rely on? Anne Hoppe (m), Frank
Catalano, Janet Freeman-Daily, Charlotte Lewis Brown
(This essay is not in direct response to this event -- it just sparked a line of thought!)
When I think of
the best science reporters – not the smartest, or best in their field, or with
the most letters behind their names, or the most insistent that they are
“right” – I think of Isaac Asimov.
“…professor of
biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction
and for his popular science books. Asimov was prolific and wrote or edited more
than 500 books and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. His books have
been published in 9 of the 10 major categories of the Dewey Decimal
Classification.” (Wikipedia)
We have no
Asimov today. In fact, I can think of no scientist-author-newspaper columnist
anywhere…one that’s not condescending, that is. Currently, AGW warming
alarmists have set themselves at the very forefront of science reporting
hecklers. The people they heckle, unfortunately, are people who are NOT
scientists. Try this on for size: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/justin-stoneman/post_868_b_720398.html
This one’s about
obesity and stupid Americans. Or how about this one: http://news.discovery.com/space/astronomy/1-in-4-americans-dont-know-earth-orbits-the-sun-yes-really-140214.htm
about how stupid Americans don’t know that the Earth orbits the sun. Or this
one regarding democracy: http://blog.sfgate.com/politics/2012/03/09/scientists-say-america-is-too-dumb-for-democracy-to-thrive/.
How about the simple fact that we’re psychologically messed up: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201407/anti-intellectualism-and-the-dumbing-down-america.
And then there’s the Democratic Party’s American “whipping boy” – the GOP is
stupid (by implication anyone who is a Republican is stupid…so roughly half of
the US) http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/12/18/obama-calls-gop-stupid-on-climate-change-even-far-right-european-parties-agree-video/.
This article,
however, is both NOT par-for-the-course and well-done: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/opinion/sunday/playing-dumb-on-climate-change.html?_r=0
Not ONCE did
Asimov begin with “Americans are so stupid” or “The GOP is so stupid” or any
other deprecatory statement of ANY group of people. He educated. He wrote
clearly and on everything. He educated without malice and with a sense of
humor. He wrote quizzes that people actually took – my local “newspaper” still
does them! (http://www.startribune.com/isaac-asimov-s-super-quiz/129322923/)
As for his essays, “Though perhaps best known throughout the world for his science
fiction, Isaac Asimov was also regarded as one of the great explainers of
science. His essays exemplified his skill at making complex subjects
understandable, and were written in an unformal style, liberally sprinkled with
personal anecdotes that endeared him to a legion of faithful readers.”
Even as
intelligent as he was; even though he knew he probably knew more than most of
the people he met, he responded this way in the Fall of 1989: “I RECEIVED a
letter the other day. It was handwritten in crabbed penmanship so that it was
very difficult to read. Nevertheless, I tried to make it out just in case it
might prove to be important. In the first sentence, the writer told me he was
majoring in English literature, but felt he needed to teach me science. (I
sighed a bit, for I knew very few English Lit majors who are equipped to teach
me science, but I am very aware of the vast state of my ignorance and I am
prepared to learn as much as I can from anyone, so I read on.)” (http://chem.tufts.edu/answersinscience/relativityofwrong.htm)
Would that more
science writers took Asimov’s stance; spoke more eloquently; AND judged less
harshly, maybe the whole GMO issue, and AGW issue, and stem cell issue, and
vaccine issue, and every OTHER issue regular folk respond to with fear; might
never have come to BE issues if more science writers worked at educating people
gently rather than with the “I HAVE A PHD AND SO I KNOW MORE THAN ALL OF YOU
STUPID [choose your group] PEOPLE SO YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”(I
actually had a person write this to me because of a blog post.) that I’ve seen
so often in so many paper and online publications.
So, is there any
science writer out there with the “spirit” of Asimov?
(PS – I picked
the quote above because I am certain that scientists and writers who are most
critical of “the rest of us” automatically assume that they would “of course”
be with Asimov in laughing at stupid people. But I can’t find a single
reference to him completing the statement with, “Except for scientists and
people who think other people are stupid.” I’m pretty sure that “society”
includes all of us – and I’m pretty sure Asimov would have included himself in “society
(‘the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community.’)”)
No comments:
Post a Comment