Count Down -
we hear many numbers bandied about in the media, from the amount of asylum
seekers and refugees about to "flood" Europe, to the number of deaths from
heart disease in a given population, or the percentage of sugar and salt
in processed foods, or the
cost of space
exploration. Most of these numbers are not questioned and, if
repeated often enough, become "common knowledge" and are then used as the basis
for all sorts of opinions and decisions, some extreme and far-reaching.
How can these statistics be checked, how do we know what context in which
to place them, how true are they? The ancient crack about lies, damned lies, and
statistics, like all cliches has a strong element of truth. John Brignell's
Number Watch site aims to do something about this. His mission statement
is uncompromising and angry. "This site is devoted to the monitoring of
the misleading numbers that rain down on us via the media. Whether they
are generated by Single Issue Fanatics (SIFs), politicians, bureaucrats,
quasi-scientists (junk, pseudo- or just bad), such numbers swamp the
media, generating unnecessary alarm and panic. They are seized upon by
media, hungry for eye-catching stories. There is a growing band of people
whose livelihoods depend on creating and maintaining panic. There are also
some who are trying to keep numbers away from your notice and others who
hope that you will not make comparisons. Their stock in trade is the
gratuitous lie. The aim here is to nail just a few of them." A general
aim with which 80 heartily agrees.
Count Company
- there is another old cliche that says you can tell something about a person
from the company they keep. With a website the links page, if one exists,
can be very revealing. (This ploy is useful for Quack websites in
particular) It is even more informative if these links are categorized, as
Brignell's are. He has Good Guys, Bad Guys, Weird Guys and the inevitable
miscellaneous. In the first group are names familiar and unfamiliar, from
James Randi to the Flummery Digest. The Bad Guys include a UK government
statistics site and Greenpeace. The Weird Guys include Kevin Warwick (Capt.
Cyborg, more about him another time) and Uri Geller (Capt. Cutlery, of whom
far
too much is known already, in 80's view.) Even without dealing directly
with each one on this list an impression of Brignell's stance is
fairly clear, whether based upon numbers or some other criteria. He is
obviously unconvinced of the reality of Global Climate Change (he terms it
Global Warming, which is inaccurate) He is also a defender of smoker's
rights, describing a British anti-smoking site, ASH, as the "epitome of
zealotry". He has little time for groups such as The Union of Concerned
Scientists, describing it as "Not exactly detached", or Friends of the
Earth, and and questions whether the UK
Climatic Research Unit, at the
University of East Anglia, is "proper science or propaganda".
Partial Count
- Brignell gives the impression of a man angry at what he perceives to be
a misuse, often a wilful misuse, of numbers to promote government,
environmental and health scare propaganda. In this he performs a valuable
service, but just as any other commentator it is not the pure numbers that tell
the story - it is how they are selected and presented, and on this score
Brignell is as culpable as some of the targets of his wrath. In introducing
his Good Guys he makes the point that "Inclusion is based on the treatment
of numbers and is not an endorsement of any political views expressed."
This kind of dispassionate selection is a fine ideal, but 80 was left with a
definite impression of a right-wing tendency, disclaimer or not. Your
opinion may differ.
Brignell's pages are a mine of information, but selective information, for
with the sheer amount of data available no other course is practical. When
using his pages it is well to remember that a lot of what you are reading
reflects his beliefs and prejudices, as much as this site reflects 80's foibles.
This is in no way an ad hominem attack but an observation that is pretty
obvious. A recommended site - but use with care, everyone has an agenda.
(Totally unrelated, bar a tenuous numerical connection, do take a look at
The
Numbers of The Beast)
Not the Hand of God
- there are many possible sins in which to indulge, some defined by
religion and some by accepted social mores. The worst ones must surely be
those that involve cruelty to others , whether physical or mental. We see
more than enough evidence of this kind of "sinning" all over our war-torn
globe and many groups bravely opposing such wrongdoing, Amnesty, Human
Rights Watch and others. But there are other sins, that while offering no
actual physical harm, are considered equally abhorrent by some groups, who
devote, what seems to 80, disproportionate time and resources to very petty
activities. Take this bunch, in
this report from Wired "
"Rick," a
20-year-old Krispy Kreme employee from Washington, says he has a serious
problem: He masturbates. He recently befriended several other Christian
men who share his belief that masturbation is sinful, and together they've
pledged not to "defile themselves" for 40 days...They encourage each other
to remain steadfast by e-mail and instant messages." Now 80 may have
things wrong here, but isn't this a slight overreaction, verging on the
unhealthy? What is their problem, apart from what Monty Python used to call
"twanging the wire"? Rick even keeps a blog of the struggle against
temptation, "I'm only a few days into it, but I'm really seeing how used
to it that my body really is, and how I am addicted to it. As difficult as
it is, I'm contending not only for myself, but the men that are on this
fast with me, to be strong, and beat this addiction. Let's do it guys! We
can be holy." Rick, take your hands out of your pockets and
get a life.
Severing Satan - these men have
been inspired by the xxxChurch, who
struggle with the porn that is rife on
the internet. The aim of combatting vile stuff such as child pornography
is laudable but some of the anti-masturbation rhetoric is laughable
"Remain calm and tell yourself, 'You don't own me, masturbation! I'm
taking my life back!' (or something of that nature). If that doesn't work,
you can pursue alternatives like chewing gum, blasting John Lennon's song
'Cold Turkey,' eating chocolate or whatever helps you best (not
masturbation)." (This may work for some, Cold Turkey and chocolate sounds
like a heady mixture.) According to Wired "The ministry is based on
Matthew 5:27-30, which condemns lust and recommends amputating body parts
that cause a believer to sin, "for it is better that you lose one of your
members than that your whole body go into hell."" So, if you can't break
that nasty habit, is genital amputation the next stop? The "hip" style of
the xxxChurch has angered more staid Christians, who accuse them of being
anti-Biblical. But as this site says "Yes, it is better to masturbate,
because at best it corrupts only one person. It certainly is the lesser of
two evils." - the greater evil being another Christian obsession, that of
fornication. But THAT is a whole other story............
During the in-depth study of self-abuse necessary to write the above
paragraphs 80 found an absolute gem - a talk by none other than the great
Mark Twain, entitled
Some Thoughts on the Science of Onanism. (Onanism is in fact a
misnomer for the solitary sin. Onan's actual sin was to practice the
so-called withdrawal method of birth control. For which, of course, a just
and merciful God killed him. In passing, a true story of a biblically
knowledgeable acquaintance, who kept a pet canary. The bird was a messy
eater, so he named him Onan, as he repeatedly "spilled
his seed on the ground" Genesis 38:8-10)
Quote - "My body was not designed to masturbate. My body was designed to be used
exclusively to glorify God. To use it in any other way is to rob God of
something that is his by right, for there are no morally neutral actions."
Taken from the
Deliverance From Demons website starring the Rev. Bill McGinnis, who
must be fun company. The page is accompanied by the most painful dirge, so
turn your speakers down if have any musical taste whatsoever. An added
attraction here is a " Deliverance From Demons
First-Aid Kit "and "A Prayer, a Binding
and a Curse"on terrorists, cunningly disguised as amateurish
doggerel.
Lost Worlds
- if the sales and promotions of
books by the likes of Graham Hancock and
Robert Bauval (which, irritatingly, many bookstores put in the archaeology
section) are anything to go by, cult or pseudoarchaeology must be quite a
lucrative pastime. It helps if, like Hancock, you have a very readable,
journalistic, writing style and are prepared to be, for want of a better
word, selective, with your source materials. Needless to say websites
espousing the kind of wishful-thinking that passes for research in this
field abound. 80 has looked at a few before (Don't Mention Atlantis) and
found the devotees of this stuff quick to anger and very defensive - the
amount of correspondence received is rivalled only by another select group
- the creationists. Sadly there seems to be no connection between the two
- the creationists assert the Earth is only six thousand years old or so,
while cult archaeologists (CA) believe there were civilizations
flourishing well before that date. These early cultures were destroyed,
possibly by flooding at the end of the last glaciation, but remnants of
their technologies and writings were the source of the civilizations of
Egypt, Mesopotamia and Central and Latin America. This idea has been
around for a long while in various forms, including Erich von Daniken's
version where the the founders of these lost cultures were aliens. Another
"explanation" of their origin is the A word - Atlantis. In fact no
explanation is necessary, as there is no credible trace of these people,
except in the minds of those who either already believe they existed, or
are happy making a good living from perpetuating this fantasy. On the subject of
fantasy, Jason Colavito, writing at Skeptic.com, makes a convincing case
in
Charioteer of the Gods
for the Cthulhu stories by H P Lovecraft being the inspiration for von
Daniken's "theories". (Colavito's own website,
Lost Civilizations
Uncovered, is very much worth a visit for a critical view of CA) All of
which preamble was triggered by a look at
The Morien Institute web pages.
The introduction here is interesting, pointing out that the spectacular impact
of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet with Jupiter in 1994 demonstrated that life on
Earth, and ancient civilization in particular, would be devastated by such
impacts occurring here. Having said that, they imply that it is only
"from this perspective that the true history of human civilisation will
ever be fully understood." Which is surely over the top.
Druidic Dross
- scrolling down the page shows the sort of things that interest The
Morien Institute and which put them squarely in the world of CA. The
first image/link is to a piece on some Welsh standing stones, where they
manage to find celestial alignments. This is fairly unremarkable, but they
don't leave it there. They postulate unsubstantiated connections with
Druids, to whom the stones would have been ancient monuments, as they long
predate that religion/culture. By now we are off to faerie land with
references to "druidic astro-mythology" and "the druidic library extant in
the ancient enchanted landscape of Wales". Despite these claims, the only
proofs offered are the speculations of a Welsh poet (and not a very good
one, going by the example given). The truth is we know little or nothing about
Druids (the modern versions are Victorian in origin) and even that
information comes from their arch-enemies, the Romans, so is liable to be
somewhat biased. But Morien haven't finished yet with supposition posing as
fact, talking of "Celtic bards who laid the foundation of inner wisdom that has come
down to us as the Arthurian Tradition." Obviously by now they, and we,
have left behind anything resembling archaeology or history at all.
Finally a note of frustration or even anger is sounded at those who do not
endorse this fantastical view of the past and the dreams of the poet who
took the "druidic title" Morien. "But these condemnations, which continue
today, are invariably made by so-called 'experts' and 'scholars' who fail
miserably to grasp the very simple concept of the 'landscape as
narrative', who have never even attempted to read it, and who have never
experienced the rising of the new-born sun at the sacred places of the
ancient Welsh druids. May their eyes be opened, before the the last
vestiges of the Druidic Heritage of ancient Cymru (Wales) is lost forever
amidst the rantings of those who can only condemn what they fail to
understand ..." 80 can feel a druidic curse coming on...............
Schoch And/Or
- some of the other links are more in well-trod CA country - one being the
Robert Schoch theory that the
Sphinx is far older than archaeologists
think. He believes some of the rock shows weathering consistent with a much earlier, wetter
climate. Schoch, a professor of geology, has yet to convince the
archaeological world. Here is a
good
discussion of this, with Schoch's ideas not faring too well. Other
explanations for the erosion he mentions are more convincing. Schoch's
theory makes the Sphinx old enough to be a relic of the CA world's ancient
precursor civlization, making it popular on sites such as this. Another
link uses an old CA technique - that of assuming what you are trying to
prove, thus "were the numerous underwater
megaliths built during the last ice age?" While megalith
literally means big stone it does imply an artfact. The example cited is the
Yonaguni rock formation off the coast of Japan. Like the submarine
features in Bimini, there is no reason to suppose that these structures are
anything but natural. Schoch's name comes up here too, where he hedges his
bets by saying the structures are geological, but later worked over by an
ancient civilization. The formations are undeniably interesting and
deserve closer study, but claiming them as ancient monuments is not
justified on current knowledge. The link to a piece about the
Nazca lines
is comparatively unsensational. These amazing markings in the desert are
definitely mysterious, but even the fact that many appear to be
astronomically aligned adds nothing to The Morien Institute's case for
advanced knowledge among the ancient Nazca. There are so many lines, some
now sadly damaged, that it would be impossible not to array them with one
or another
celestial object or landscape feature. How they drew them without flight
(although hot air balloons
using what were considered reasonably authentic fabrics have been
successfully flown, it proves nothing) would seem to imply some pretty
impressive surveying skills, coupled perhaps with a technique for
accurately scaling up smaller, preliminary designs, plans, to a size that
stands out in the landscape. What these perfectly human and commendable
skills are supposed to imply, beyond the obvious, 80 is at a loss to know.
There is no doubt there were some exceptional
ancient engineers, to use
L Sprague de Camp's
term, who serve as an inspiration even today. We humans have long been
expert at using the laws of physics, even if not codified or linked beyond
immediate benefit, to our own advantage, real or merely perceived. It is
the scientific method that makes it all a more structured business these
days - we always have been the "cleverest" of the primates - even to the
point of being often too clever for our own good.
The Real Deal
- The Morien Institute's site is large and well presented with plenty of
information, a lot of which, even on a cursory inspection, is suspect. The
habit of assuming what you want to be true is true, and then drawing
together "evidence" from sites, monuments, etc. that are far removed from
each other in time and space, is nothing to do with archaeology but
everything
to do with wish fulfilment. The theory that there was a sophisticated global
civilization that perished, for whatever reason, at the end of the last ice
age is unsupported by any evidence that stands up to scientific scrutiny.
Building techniques, languages and mythologies show no such connections.
The sky, especially in areas still relatively unpolluted by haze and
lights, contains roughly 2,500 stars visible to the naked eye from any one
point. If you
cannot wring an alignment with an earthly feature out of that lot then you
are just not trying. As was said earlier, websites that espouse the
cult/pseudoarchaeology fantasies abound, but only a brave few are out there
refuting this non-science nonsense. Jason Colavito's
Lost Civilizations
Uncovered, mentioned above, has some very good essays as does
In the Hall
of Maat which also features lively discussions. One of the best resources
is Doug's Archaeology Site. Unlike many other real archaeology pages, Doug
Weller's has a large list of links to not only the genuine thing, but also
lists articles galore that comprehensively rebut all manner of CA
silliness. Also worthy of note is The Antiquity of Man which has "three
focus areas: Ancient Egypt (covering the Predynastic and Early Dynastic
periods, up until the end of the Fourth Dynasty), hominin evolution, and
exposing the vacuum of pseudoscience" and the aptly named
The Wild Side
of Geoarchaeology Page which deals with the age of the Sphinx, Atlantis
and Lemuria and much else. If you have a friend or acquaintance who is an
avid reader of Hancock and the rest, do them a favor and point them to
these sites. If their mind is still open then these pages will also open
their eyes, although CA seems to be sustained by faith rather than rational
argument or evidence. Real archaeology about real people and real cultures
is such a huge and fascinating subject it is amazing that so many people
go for the cheap thrill of the tawdry pseudo version.
Miscellany - anyone living in
the UK (or anywhere else for that matter) who is of a determinedly secular
frame of mind should take the time to visit the
National Secular Society's
(NSS) pages. Here you can keep abreast of the ongoing struggle to combat
religion creeping (and sometimes stomping) into schools, politics and
other places where it should never be. 80 found connections
from the NSS to other groups fiercely opposing the attempts of religionists
to impose their superstitions on what is increasingly, and thankfully, a
secular society in Britain. One such is the
Humanists page where much good
information is to be had, including some of great practical use - Humanist
secular funerals in particular. Also found here is
Humanism in Four Minutes - a
transcript of a speech which explains just that, and serves as a good
introduction. Recommended. Putting the case for rationalism in India is
not an easy job - until recently it was even harder as the previous
government, the BJP, was riddled with a nationalistic Hindu
fundamentalism. In Pakistan it is still possible to be condemned to death
for blasphemy, although such harsh laws are now
under review.
Rationalist
International (RI) covers the world, but there is definite emphasis on
matters in India, Pakistan and nearby countries. RI describes itself as "a
forum for rationalist ideas and positions of world-wide concern. It aims
at representing the rationalist view where public opinion is formed and
making the voice of reason heard and considered, where decisions are taken
which will shape our future." In addition to current news on the site
there is a substantial and downloadable archive. Recommended.
Quotes
These first two should be required reading for those that wish to
curtail hard-won civil liberties, citing the "War on Terror". That means
you, George, and your pal Tony.
"Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice;
nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and
publicity."
Lord
Acton
"The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free
is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities." Lord Acton
"It has become almost a cliche to remark that nobody boasts of ignorance
of literature, but it is socially acceptable to boast ignorance of science
and proudly claim incompetence in mathematics."
Richard Dawkins
"Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think
and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because
of, the lack of evidence." Richard Dawkins
"We should take astrology seriously. No, I don't mean we should believe in
it. I am talking about fighting it seriously instead of humouring it as a
piece of harmless fun." Richard Dawkins
Dawkins was recently
misquoted in a newspaper article on a recent
book, namely
Percy Seymour's absurd Scientific Proof of Astrology
(See
Recycled Rubbish), which implied that Dawkins in some way approved of
this claptrap. His attitude is obvious from the above quote.
