A Little Help?

I need a little help but the current climate is such that one cannot even ask for help in some circles without being branded as "unhelpful." I find that attitude unhelpful so I want to talk this through with you.

You are an educated atheist and you find yourself fielding questions from creationists all the time. It's frustrating and time-consuming. First, you don't know how many of these people are ignorant and how many are just trolling. Second, you aren't an evolutionary biologist so why are they asking you? Third, why don't they look it up themselves instead of being lazy? You tell them to get on Google and just look up the answers instead of wasting your time. I get it - I really do. You don't owe these people one minute of your time. Any information you give them is a kindness on your part - especially since there is a good chance that most of them aren't really interested in learning about evolution or atheism.

But what about the ones who are? You've sent them to Google but they probably don't have enough information to do a good search. If they are particularly uneducated on the subject (as so many Americans are), then they don't know a good source from a bad source. They may google the subject and come up with all kinds of nonsense that is palatable to them but completely untrue. Furthermore, if they do find a reputable source of information, how are they going to digest it? A lot of evolutionary science is very technical and intimidating. Not every article is written with the layperson in mind. It's possible that our honest inquirer may find a good source and then despair at ever understanding it.

How can we fix this? First, we need professional people who are willing to field the same questions repeatedly. Usually, these are writers, speakers, and other activists who are dedicated to a subject (or set of subjects). Second, we need educated laypeople who are willing to do the same kind of outreach but with a more personal touch. Third, we need a list of good sites and sources that are easy for new inquirers to find and understand.

Now let's back this up and apply it to the subjects of sexism and racism. As a woman, I've lived with sexism my whole life but I didn't know squat about feminist theory until recently. I'm still pretty ignorant about the subject. And as a white person (albeit one who grew up with a best friend of color), I'm still terribly ignorant about racism and its effects. In fact, I'm so awash in white privilege that I often don't even know what to ask, much less how to ask it. How can I overcome this?

I need professional people who are willing to speak out. I need laypeople who are willing to help me learn. And I need a place to go to find reputable sources about these subjects so I can do my own heavy-lifting.

Should I expect every professional or layperson to answer my every question? No. They don't owe me any help.

Do they want me to be a good ally for their cause? If so, then I have to know where to go to find the good information and I need people I can talk with about this so I don't go making a fool of myself and hurting others. If I'm going to be your partner in this fight and help educate others, then someone will have to invest in me!

So what I'm saying is this: there are honest actors out here and we need a little help. Telling us to just "google it" isn't always going to cut it. There's too much misinformation and pseudoscience out there to just expect that we're going to find the good stuff on the first try. And we need people who are willing to deal with those of "good faith" I'm not saying everyone should have to do it. I'm not saying we have a right to demand anything of you. I'm simply saying that some of us want to do better and we really hope you will see something in us that is worth investing in.

A Southern Girl Goes to Skepticon

Skepticon has come and gone . Those of you who were unable to go may already be sick of hearing about it. Fear not - I have pictures for you so you can experience it vicariously. Mind you, these aren't the pictures you're going to see all over the internet. If you want to see the pics of all the famous folk, you can find them most anywhere. I'm going to show you Skepticon through a different perspective - that of a first-time Southern female visitor with a lot of anxiety.

The first thing I noticed is that Arkansas and southeast Missouri are dirt-poor and heavily Christian. Jobs seemed to be very scarce and the homes were in disrepair or completely abandoned. Many of the buildings looked like they didn't make it out of the early 20th century but churches abounded and, with them, so did pro-life signs.

This is the sign that just blew my mind. God's stimulus package? What the ever-living hell does that mean? I can kind of understand the billboards that said, "End Abortion" or "Don't Kill Your Baby" but what is this? I thought red state Christians were against the stimulus any way.

I felt nervous going through these areas, as if every horror flick about a couple on vacation that I'd ever watched was going to come true. If there was a place in the South to make someone disappear, this was it. I was actually glad we didn't have any religious or political stickers on our car.

Once we got to Springfield, however, all that anxiety melted away. We got to the hotel and I instantly fell in love with it. For the Skepticon rate of $89.00 a night, we got a 5th floor room in this beautiful 9-story hotel. All the rooms opened into the interior of the hotel and looked down upon a lounge, bar, water fountain, and restaurant.

Looking up from the bottom floor

Glass elevators

Rock garden surrounding part of the lounge

Fountain separating the lounge and the restaurant

For a small-town Southern girl, this was luxurious! We raced upstairs to our room, eager to get our stuff unpacked and get started. This is the scene from our room:

Springfield, MO

I'd never been to Missouri before, let alone Springfield, so I was taking in everything. While Nathan checked to see if there was a Gideon Bible (I had found a dollar in the last hotel Bible I'd found but there was no Bible in our room), I checked out a laminated paper that was left on our bed.

Hotel Prayer

Ok, it was kind of pretty as generic blessings tend to be. I wondered if this was standard practice or if we just got prayed for because we were with Skepticon. We had a chuckle, took it as a nicety, and got about the business of being skeptical!

We'd gotten a late start due to a delay in picking up my medication that morning so we missed some early talks, especially Matt Dillahunty's talk that I'd really been wanting to hear. We raced across the street to the Expo Center and got in to hear the second half of Greta Christina's talk and to see all of JT Eberhard's talk which ended in a marriage proposal to Michaelyn and had many in tears. I never ceased to be amazed by the sharp minds we have in our community but I must admit that JT's ability to bring things down to earth where even the most stubborn believer can understand it is incredible.

We didn't go to the Gastropub Friday night but we did sit in the lounge and talk to some wonderful people. We were sitting by Matt Dillahunty, Beth Presswood, and Rebecca Watson. You know how you sometimes start seeing these people as larger than life? As heroes or giants that can't be reached? I didn't feel that way at all. They were extremely kind and generous, down-to-earth people. I spoke with Beth for a while and was so impressed with her genuineness. 

Then he walked in. 

Earlier in the day, he had appointed me as the Keymaster on Twitter and told me to prepare the way but there was no way to prepare for his coming.

PZ Myers was in the house...late but fashionably so.

For someone who has such a reputation as being shrill, hateful, and vicious, that man is very gentle, soft-spoken and sincere. We spoke briefly and he said that we should have him down to Mississippi to speak sometime. Somehow, someway, I'm going to make that happen!

The next day we got up early (for me) and headed over to the Expo Center again to mingle, buy some stuff, and listen to some more talks. This is what greeted us at the door:

Credit: Beth Presswood

Talk about stereotypes! I really wouldn't have shown up to protest in overalls. But these protesters seemed to be pretty kind and I overheard one of our crew say, "We're all really nice people." I was glad that they were trying to emphasize our good qualities.

Credit: Meg Rotenberg

I stayed away from this guy because I didn't really want to discuss how I came to be living in "adultery" or why this was the best option for me. I didn't think he'd understand.

We went inside and checked out all the vendors. I bought some stickers and a necklace from EvolveFish as well as some Surly-Ramics from Amy. CFI and the AHA gave out some free goodies. I met Ed Brayton and Debbie Goddard, both long-time heroes of mine as well as some Facebook and Godless guild friends. We talked for so long that we didn't have time to eat a proper lunch. By the time we got seated for Sean Carroll's talk about the Higgs Boson, I was starting to crash. Nevertheless, I learned more about fields and particles in that time with Sean that I ever had.

At this point I had to make a choice: if I stayed for Jessica Ahlquist's talk, I was going to fall asleep and I wouldn't have enough energy to make it to the Gastropub or any talks later that night. I did not want to miss Jessica's talk but I chose to sacrifice that one in order to recharge my batteries. I'll definitely be picking it up on YouTube when it's available!

So after my nap (damn my disabilities!), we went back over for PZ's talk on genetics and evolution as well as Rebecca's talk on evolutionary psychology. Now that I had my fill of science, it was time for Gastropub!

We took the hotel van over and I managed to bang my head on a steel bar trying to get in. By the time we got to the pub, my head was ringing and all I wanted to do was sit and relax. I took a picture of the pub but tried to get only the flags on the ceiling since I didn't know whether some of the people at the pub might not be out.

Farmer's Gastropub

The place was loud beyond belief. As one who rarely ever drinks and doesn't tolerate loud noises well, this was a challenge. Yet I was grateful for this place where people could gather and make choices that they weren't allowed to make back home. Namely this:

and this...

It probably sounds crazy to those of you who live elsewhere but the Mississippi county we live in is dry. You can't legally buy alcohol or even possess it. So when I show you this, it's not to glorify drunkenness but instead to glorify choice (although inebriation is fine if that's what you want).

Although I didn't get up and mingle with anyone, I did see a friend I'd met the day before. You should really check out this guy and his blog/podcast The Skeptic Wire. Tell him Tweenky D sent you.

Greg Perrine of The Skeptic Wire

Despite leaving early and taking all my meds early, I overslept the next day and missed Matt's second talk. I can't tell you how sorry I was to have missed those talks and to have to leave early and miss the afternoon talks as well. I'll be catching up on them on YouTube, no doubt.

So we packed our stuff and left that rainy, Sunday morning. Although I didn't get to participate fully, I have no regrets. I had a great time and met some wonderful people. Everyone was kind to me and I felt really safe and comfortable. I say this to encourage any of you who want to go to a conference but have doubts - just fucking go!  The organizers work hard to put this stuff together and they want you to have a good time. Hell, almost all of us want you to have a good time. I daresay you won't find a group of kinder, smarter, more confident, more outgoing, and more interesting people than you'd find at Skepticon.

I slept for a few hours on the way back thanks to the rain but I did get some pictures of a little town whose name I love but whose looks make me fear: Ravensden.

Ravensden, Arkansas

I love crows and ravens. They are some of the smartest creatures around. I'd love to have a statue like this in my front yard.

However, this is the good side of the road. The rest of the area is filled with scary places like this:

It was operating on a Sunday and it smelled funny. Even a Southern girl like me couldn't help but imagine stuffed city folks. I have got to stop watching horror shows on Netflix late at night.

And of course no Southern trip is complete without seeing a dead deer. When you don't have a proper grocery store for miles around, you have to take matters into your own hands. Isn't the South amazing?

I plan to go to Skepticon #6 next year and be better prepared. I'm also hoping that my physical and mental health will continue to improve so I can participate more. But let me tell you, my first time was awesome! I felt a lot of love and respect from everybody - from the folks roaming around with hot pink hair, to the guy in the utility kilt, to the Matt Smith lookalike, all the way to our Overlord PZ. These skeptics are fantastic!

Get the Lead Out, Alex Jones

I listened to 5 minutes of Alex Jones on the radio last night - 5 precious minutes that I will never get back. I don't know which "expert" he was talking with but I knew as soon as he trotted out the old "Fluoride lowers your IQ" study, that this guy was scientifically illiterate.

As if to confirm my hypothesis, this "expert" then started talking about how we need "a little" arsenic and lead in our bodies. He finished up this dangerous nonsense with the statement, "Our DNA is made of lead."

Lead is Pb on the Element Table. Here's a photo of it on the chart:

Image: HowStuffWorks.com

Now, here is a picture of DNA. See if you can spot the Pb in there:

Image: Scientific Psychic

Nope, I couldn't either. Whoever that guy was doesn't know diddly squat about biochemistry. Furthermore, this is his 3-step plan to cure sickness. When you contract an illness, do these things:

1.) Fire your doctor.

2.) Sign up for his website/newsletter.

3.) Buy their natural supplements 

Why do this? Because "healing is easy," folks. You don't need any science. Just pop some quacko vitamins and everything will be o-tay.

I am not going to sit here and claim that the pharmaceutical companies are saints. We know they can be very corrupt and, at times, even unsafe. But if you think quackery is a good alternative to science, you're just wrong. It's bad enough that quacks make statements that are scientifically wrong but then they want to sell your their overpriced, unregulated shit on top of that. You cannot guarantee the content or purity of anything that is not FDA approved: homeopathic remedies are mostly just sugar water and those vitamins you take could have any level of any substance in them and you'd never know until it started making you sick.

It's great to look for things that you can do to naturally improve your health (like moderate diets and exercise) but you're taking a huge risk with this kind of quackery - an industry that has so little regard for truth that they will even tell you that your DNA is made of lead in order to sell a subscription and some pills.

Let the buyer beware indeed.

The Price of Faith

 

A Baptist church recently returned from a mission trip to Africa and, unfortunately, they brought something deadly back with them: hemorrhagic fever.

This is a very serious, often fatal disease. Think Ebola and you're on the right track. Risk factors for the illness include prior infection, being white, female, or young. There is no cure.

Science-based treatment was able to alleviate the symptoms and give these people a greater chance of survival. Fortunately, every victim survived but they can never go back to Africa lest they run the risk of dying next time. It's a tragic story.

But what's also interesting is the idea that these people went to Africa to do something they thought was good and their god gave them no protection. Faith was no shield. Belief made no difference. They were just as subject to the harsh whims of nature as anyone else - nay, moreso!

Perhaps some would say that "God had a plan" for them. I think it's painfully obvious that nature had a plan: survive. Yahweh didn't send mosquitoes to infect his missionaries so he could test their faith. Mosquitoes did what mosquitoes do and the rest is all science. There's no great purpose to their suffering. There's no great plan to be fulfilled. There is just human misery and death.

At this point, the only thing I can hope is that these people will continue to recover and suffer no long-term effects from this illness. And I also hope that they will choose not to go back to Africa and put themselves at risk for their silent god. Let these people have a long and happy life with their families and if Yahweh wants to tell the rest of the world about his plan of salvation, well, let him do it himself.

Bryan Fischer's Fishy Poll

Our favorite nut it as it again, claiming that 83% of doctors are considering quitting because of Obamacare. 

If that sounds insane to you, it should. Fischer's numbers are nowhere near as meaningful as he'd like to think. Let's take a look at the survey on the Doctor Patient Medical Association's website. The item in question is this one:

As you can see, 60% agree + 20% undecided does not "83% are thinking of quitting" make. But the problem here is more insidious than a simple misinterpretation of the data. This survey was taken in 2011 over a one-week span by fax to random Ohio doctors. That does not make for a very representative sample of American doctors, particularly when you consider that only 2.9% of those who were sent the survey (a total of 133 doctors) actually responded. We can't really take away much from this survey at all because it's not scientific. It has a target audience with no controls and a very small sample size.

For Bryan Fischer to use this survey to claim that "83% of doctors are thinking of quitting" is irresponsible and disingenuous.