On a trifling note:
Three minor-type weird things happened over the weekend, all internet related and all related to speech and access:
On a trifling note, I started a FB thread about The Girls’ swim party for their birthday. Had a lot of nice back and forth with friends until someone turned the conversation weird about body parts and ‘things you don’t want other people to know’. Huh? This is a thread about my eight year-old girls’ birthday party and that’s where you take this? Sheesh. I ended up deleting the thread.
Regarding gatekeepers:
I was removed and banned from a FB page about nuclear waste in SC. It’s a decidedly anti site but I work at an intersection between nuclear power and environmental science and the topic is important to me. I read posts politely, agree often, and comment with another perspective infrequently. This time the topic was green energy. I commented that an operational nuclear plant produces no greenhouse gas and that our local GE plant has converted all of its grassland to solar cells and it’s a damned ugly sight. The group owner fell into an apoplectic fit and wrote something about shoving nuclear waste down my pie hole (I love that word!) and banned me. Oh well. It’s a private group and they get to have their say but let’s just all agree that it swings in one direction only.
The other thing, which is understandable based on a recent post, is that my comments on Perry Marshall’s Cosmic Fingerprints site aren’t passing moderation. (And if you ever wondered about his bias, I think it’s pretty obviously wrapped up in the site’ name.) It’s possible that it takes days there to clear comments but that seems unlikely to me. I say that it’s understandable because I really don’t have much to add to his site. His expertise is in car speakers and Internet marketing and not biology and, like other creationists, he passes off opinion as hard fact. It’s probably a lose-lose for both groups if I comment. He seems indisposed toward what he doesn’t understand and I have only a fringe interest in creationism and Sasquatch. I monitor comments on my posts, too, for probably the same reason that he does. For a time, I considered not allowing comments but I really enjoy reading what readers have to say. And I really would like people to understand evolution and see it as something that frees rather than enslaves.
Cheers!
