‘Family values’ trump science and evidence under Bush administration.
Category: Latest News
Welcome to our archive of news stories relevant to the project of fighting fashionable nonsense. The stories are drawn from the electronic pages of the world’s media. On this page, you’ll find links to those stories that have been featured on Butterflies and Wheels during the current year. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find links to separate archives of stories from previous years.
We’re always pleased to hear about news stories that you think should be featured on Butterflies and Wheels. Just send an email here, if you want to point one out to us.
A note about links
Inevitably links go out of date. We suggest, therefore, that you make hard-copies of the stories that particularly interest you.
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Who Else?
Of course, the Sugar Lobby is exactly the right group to tell the WHO whether sugar is healthy or not, having no financial interest in the matter.
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Gays and Lesbians Denied Human Rights Protection
What of inalienable rights in a world of cultural relativism?
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Anti-Science and Pseudo-science
Loyalty, deference and solidarity replace rational thought and evaluation of evidence.
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Statistics? What Statistics?
Crime figures go down but three out of four people still think they’re going up.
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Deep in Denial
David Aaronovitch says much of the Left considers America far worse than Saddam’s human rights record.
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Back and Forth
Child-rearing has been a site of fashionable nonsense for at least a century.
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Robotic Reactions
Mush-headed sentimentality and reluctance to think about religious motivations prevent clear thinking after September 11.
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Interview With Steve Jones
A conversation about gender, sex, males as parasites, and dinner parties.
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Oh That’s Who Likes Goddesses!
Saddam Hussein ‘wrote’ a ‘novel’ and, er, borrowed a painting of a ‘goddess’ for the cover. Very spiritual, she looks.
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Then Again
Or maybe the WHO is not over-reacting to SARS after all.
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Compelled to Read This
The New Scientist reviews What Philosophers Think and finds it necessary reading for scientists.
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Nobody Go to Toronto!
Could the WHO be over-reacting a tiny bit?
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Get a Grip, Ontario Doctor Says
SARS is nasty but it’s not the plague.
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Appeals Panels Versus Teachers
Teahers’ union calls for an end to panels that can force schools to take back pupils expelled for violence or threats.
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Students Just Sliding By
Survey of New York high school students finds them feeling unchallenged.
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Could Do Better
Matt Ridley is making good progress in agreeing with Steven Rose, Steven Rose says.
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Theory
Don’t you wish you’d been there? No? No, nor do we.
External Resources
- Burke on Ruddick
‘if one is more knowledgeable, there really is no basis for rejecting any of their insights, as I was struggling to do.’ - Longer Version of Lisa Ruddick’s Essay
On professional deformation in the humanities. - Professionalism and its Discontents
Lisa Ruddick questions professional norms that rule out certain domains of thought.
- Burke on Ruddick
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Fund Vocational Training Too
Engineering and technical apprenticeships should have as much money and esteem as academic subjects.
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We Need Reductionism
Thomas DeGregori on the scientific advances ‘reductionism’ has made possible.