Hi Tristan, I’m afraid I don’t get the logic in the article you sent. In this case the farmers who are crying for the attention of the people in shiny palaces have voted for one who lives in golden mansions.
For me the really worrying thing here is how can so many people be misled by a false prophet who lies and misbehaves so much. It is a systemic problem in our society. We never before had so much access to information, and yet it is so easy to mislead people. People understood what Trump was and they basically said: “I don’t care”! We are living in a world where people don’t care about facts, they just say “I know it to be true”. As scientists whose job and mission in life is to further and pass knowledge, it is very serious that we are in this post-truth era. It affects us all when we talk about climate change, evidence based treatments in our hospitals, GM debate, etc. Instead of making this about Trump, I would like to pose a different question: How are we going to deal with the anti-expert movement that is now so prominent in our society? Cheers, Elton > On Nov 10, 2016, at 8:15 AM, Tristan Croll <[email protected]> wrote: > > In the interests of promoting understanding... the link below is to an > article on what is ostensibly a comedy website and contains a bit of coarse > language, but nevertheless is quite possibly the most insightful exposition > of the situation I've come across. The two-sentence synopsis: don't think of > this as the forces of hate, fear and ignorance winning. Think of it as a cry > for attention from a large number of people who are seriously struggling and > (mostly correctly) see their problems as being ignored by the system. Writing > them off as ignorant and hateful isn't the answer. > > In agreement with various others, this is my first and last post referencing > politics or religion on this forum. > > http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-reasons-trumps-rise-that-no-one-talks-about/ > <http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-reasons-trumps-rise-that-no-one-talks-about/> > > On 2016-11-10 08:00, Marjolein Thunnissen wrote: >> Dear Bill, >> I fully agree with you, awareness has to be spread and one should not >> ignore politics completely, especially when there are so strong >> anti-intellectual (anti-science) statements out there. >> best regards >> Marjolein >>> On 10 Nov 2016, at 04:17, William G. Scott <[email protected]> wrote: >>> Dear Edward et al: >>> I agree we shouldn’t engage in partisan arguments on the CCP4bb. >>> However, I think it is a mistake, and perhaps a missed opportunity, >>> to ignore politics completely. >>> For example, Newt Gingrich is currently in the running for Sec HHS. >>> He has previously written editorials in the NYT and Wall Street >>> Journal advocating doubling the budget of the NIH. >>> I think it is incumbent upon us to make our voices heard if such an >>> opportunity arises, regardless of what one may happen to think about >>> the individual’s political orientation, as it could potentially be >>> of enormous benefit to the scientific community. >>> Yours faithfully, >>> William G. Scott >>> Director, Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology >>> Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry >>> and The Center for the Molecular Biology of RNA >>> University of California at Santa Cruz >>> Santa Cruz, California 95064 >>> USA >>> http://scottlab.ucsc.edu <http://scottlab.ucsc.edu/> [1] >>>> On Nov 9, 2016, at 9:02 AM, Edward Snell <[email protected] >>>> <mailto:[email protected]>> >>>> wrote: >>>> As a Brexit and Trumpet affected person having a foot in both >>>> countries ,this topic is too far off the normal discussion on CCP4 >>>> and probably better taken up privately. CCP4 is not a political >>>> discussion site. With CCP4 the signal is unusually high and the >>>> noise low when compared to any discussion board. I for one would >>>> like to keep it there. Political views aside, we’re all trying >>>> to achieve the same scientific goals. Let’s remember that and >>>> keep that the focus. >>>> Edward Snell Ph.D. >>>> President and CEO Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute >>>> Assistant Prof. Department of Structural Biology, University at >>>> Buffalo >>>> 700 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, NY 14203-1102 >>>> Phone: (716) 898 8631 Fax: (716) 898 8660 >>>> Skype: eddie.snell Email: [email protected] >>>> <mailto:[email protected]> >>>> <image003.png> >>>> Heisenberg was probably here! >> DR. MARJOLEIN THUNNISSEN >> Head User Office >> MAX IV Laboratory >> Lund University >> P.O. Box 118, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden >> Visiting address: Fotongatan 2, 225 94 Lund >> Telephone: +46 46 2224668 >> Mobile: +46 766 32 04 17 >> www.maxliv.lu.se <http://www.maxliv.lu.se/> [2] >> Links: >> ------ >> [1] http://scottlab.ucsc.edu <http://scottlab.ucsc.edu/> >> [2] http://www.maxlab.lu.se/ <http://www.maxlab.lu.se/>
