This Comic strip often takes a pointed view of popular perceptions. For example, today's Cow and Boy strip: This seems all too familiar. One side framing an issue for debate, and the other sidestepping the frame because it doesn't fit their world-view. We see a lot of this out in…
If you’ve been following this blog for the past few weeks, you know that I attended the National Conference for Media Reform in Memphis Tennessee (Jan 12-14). The conference, sponsored by Free Press, drew more than 3,500 participants. Free Press offered a reduced admission fee to those who agreed to…
Here's a long and thoughtful article by Gary Kamiya on Salon, titled "The Readers Strike Back." The article is as long as it is thoughtful. Kamiay brings out the many ways in which unedited, immediate and intense reader feedback (especially at newspapers & e-zines) affects writers and their craft. Here's the before…
I’ve recently been digging into the family of blogs that goes under the umbrella name: scienceblogs.com. Here’s the general mission: Our mission is to build a community of like-minded individuals who are passionate about science and its place in our culture, and give them a place to meet. The Science Blogs are…
Isn’t it striking how many highly intelligent freethinkers are ineffective speakers and writers?
Not all of them, mind you. Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins are notable exceptions in my mind. They both get right to the point using ordinary words. They both look at their audience while speaking. Harris is one of the more affable speakers out there, while Dawkins excels at communicating with an earnest intensity. Their approaches to delivering their ideas explain their popularity. They stand out from the crowd with their ability to convey their ideas. Many other freethinkers (all of them intelligent, sincere and committed to following evidence where it leads) could greatly improve on the way they deliver their ideas. By failing to work on their delivery, they are losing opportunities to communicate their valuable ideas.
I base this conclusion on my viewing of the presentations at the La Jolla conference, “Beyond Belief: Science, Religion, Reason and Survival.” You can watch videos of the sessions here. I briefly discussed the conference here.
While watching some of the presenters, however, I imagined being a fundamentalist; In short, I imagined feeling threatened by the ideas of the La Jolla freethinkers. If I were a fundmentalist, I might think I disagreed with the ideas of the scientists and philosophers while I was actually much more repulsed by the manner in which those ideas were presented.
For instance, some of the freethinking scientists and philosophers appear arrogant. They might not actually be arrogant, though they appeared…
