tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post7248276196437124999..comments2023-11-05T08:01:10.010+00:00Comments on Think of England: You can say what you like about Dawkins...Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-75760122833502652982007-03-30T01:06:00.000+01:002007-03-30T01:06:00.000+01:00MonixTrue, but evey when we disagree I admire his ...Monix<BR/><BR/>True, but evey when we disagree I admire his style.Duckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08852569465893563139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-37271514254808450512007-03-29T17:42:00.000+01:002007-03-29T17:42:00.000+01:00Mike, I could only agree that intellectuals create...Mike, I could only agree that intellectuals create unfree societies if we limit 'intellectual' to priests, magi etc.<BR/><BR/>The liberal or Enlightenment intellectual tradition, which I think we are talking about here, though without explicitly limiting it to that, created free society or at any rate co-evolved with it.<BR/><BR/>If you take intellectual to mean anybody who thinks for a living, Harry Eagarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04196202758858876402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-43856534369100564182007-03-29T16:44:00.000+01:002007-03-29T16:44:00.000+01:00DuckBrit, in this context, is singular and persona...Duck<BR/>Brit, in this context, is singular and personal. We don't all agree with his views all of the time.monixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16631194815411019266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-28783094963219083132007-03-29T16:42:00.000+01:002007-03-29T16:42:00.000+01:00Once every argument that can be made has been made...Once every argument that can be made has been made, only style matters.<BR/><BR/>You Americans haven't got this far yet, cos a you're young and excited people, intcha?Brithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-30182352614716284182007-03-29T16:27:00.000+01:002007-03-29T16:27:00.000+01:00Yes, in comparison to Dyson's rambling and confusi...Yes, in comparison to Dyson's rambling and confusing, though not aimless question Dawkins reply was refreshingly concise, if evasive. I'ts all about style for you Brits, innit?Duckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08852569465893563139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-29642480061986379642007-03-29T15:04:00.000+01:002007-03-29T15:04:00.000+01:00Oh come, come, Duck. I thought Dawkins rather gene...Oh come, come, Duck. I thought Dawkins rather generously rescued the guy by giving his long, aimless, rambling, confusing speech a neat punchline.Brithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-69149620838906406772007-03-29T14:31:00.000+01:002007-03-29T14:31:00.000+01:00Harry,In my experience, scientists are leftist to ...Harry,<BR/><BR/>In my experience, scientists are leftist to libertarian. Academics in general skew left.<BR/><BR/>Also, Hoffer would agree that intellectuals precipitate their own demise by creating non-free societies.Mike Beversluishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14961178961504470702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-2482487797969589342007-03-29T13:38:00.000+01:002007-03-29T13:38:00.000+01:00If Dawkins and New Scientist (of which I have no f...If Dawkins and New Scientist (of which I have no familiarity) were content to just say "this is interesting" then there would be little controversy around them, save for the neanderthal religionists who find their claims hostile to their literalist worldviews. But he goes beyond that. He didn't answer Tyson's question. Educating, as he said, is persuasion. That's more than saying "this is Duckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08852569465893563139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-55633328112153764272007-03-29T10:06:00.000+01:002007-03-29T10:06:00.000+01:00Harry:Yes, the mind boggles at the notion of a tab...Harry:<BR/><BR/>Yes, the mind boggles at the notion of a tabloid editor's code.<BR/><BR/>As for Piers Morgan, if there is such a thing as a git anywhere on this planet, Morgan is that git.Brithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-87037765670061212572007-03-29T05:42:00.000+01:002007-03-29T05:42:00.000+01:00I had never heard of Piers Morgan but followed Bri...I had never heard of Piers Morgan but followed Brit's link. As an American newspaperman, I was astonished to discover that British editors have a code of conduct.<BR/><BR/>Cannot imagine what's in it.Harry Eagarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04196202758858876402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-5112029951797545922007-03-29T05:37:00.000+01:002007-03-29T05:37:00.000+01:00I'd have thought that scientists are distinctly le...I'd have thought that scientists are distinctly less left wing than non-scientist academics.<BR/><BR/>Hofer, who is usually trenchant, needs a good shaking. If free society has not been good to the intellectual, the unfree society has been a good deal less good to him, usually not letting him exist at all.<BR/><BR/>A rather odd thread, this. Perhaps it depends upon which scientists you read. I Harry Eagarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04196202758858876402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-39715107803311141612007-03-29T04:39:00.000+01:002007-03-29T04:39:00.000+01:00Also, concerning environmentalism:"The intellectua...Also, concerning environmentalism:<BR/><BR/>"The intellectual craves a social order in which uncommon people perform uncommon tasks every day. He wants a society throbbing with dedication, reverence, and worship. He sees it as scandalous that the discoveries of science and the feats of heroes should have as their denouement the comfort and affluence of common folk. A social order run by and for Mike Beversluishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14961178961504470702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-86513866068093526622007-03-29T04:31:00.000+01:002007-03-29T04:31:00.000+01:00"The fact is that up to now the free society has n..."The fact is that up to now the free society has not been good for the intellectual. It has neither accorded him a superior status to sustain his confidence nor made it easy for him to acquire an unquestioned sense of social usefulness. For he derives his sense of usefulness mainly from directing, instructing, and planning-from minding other people's business-and is bound to feel superfluous and Mike Beversluishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14961178961504470702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-88250205333119475062007-03-28T19:06:00.000+01:002007-03-28T19:06:00.000+01:00So why are scientists and academics predominantly ...<I>So why are scientists and academics predominantly left-wing? My personal suspicion is that it's motivated by financial jealousy: academics see their less talented contemporaries earning far more money than themselves, in the world outside the university, and, consciously or unconsciously, they seek a means of political retribution.</I><BR/><BR/>That's a slightly narrower version of Robert joe shropshirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12183662262318452612noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-10962018685963645532007-03-28T18:50:00.000+01:002007-03-28T18:50:00.000+01:00Mark:I'm glad you said that. I thought I was the o...Mark:<BR/><BR/>I'm glad you said that. I thought I was the only one who can't stand Bremner any more.Brithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-57745699567772963512007-03-28T17:50:00.000+01:002007-03-28T17:50:00.000+01:00What's a 'phillipic'?What's a 'phillipic'?Gordon McCabehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09151162643523937086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-70426257092485867232007-03-28T17:28:00.000+01:002007-03-28T17:28:00.000+01:00"it's motivated by financial jealousy: academics s..."it's motivated by financial jealousy: academics see their less talented contemporaries earning far more money than themselves, in the world outside the university"<BR/><BR/>I think you might well be making the mistake of taking them at their own estimation. They might - might - know a lot about a little, but the ones who have anything interesting to say about anything else are few and far Recusanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11446741817585462393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-65769159721313122132007-03-28T14:59:00.000+01:002007-03-28T14:59:00.000+01:00That's an interesting point about New Scientist. I...That's an interesting point about New Scientist. In the 1980s and 1990s it seemed to have a very strong left-wing bias, and I always wondered why this should be so for a scientific magazine. The conclusion I came to is that the majority of scientists (and academics, in fact) are left-wing, hence New Scientist simply responds to the demographics of its audience. <BR/><BR/>So why are scientists andGordon McCabehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09151162643523937086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-46567863544160587782007-03-28T13:40:00.000+01:002007-03-28T13:40:00.000+01:00It's funny to me that he mentions New Scientist, a...It's funny to me that he mentions <I>New Scientist</I>, as I subscribe and pretty much every issue has some howler of political bias. The best were back to back editorials, the first "it is wrong to question AGW!" and the second "it is wrong to stifle dissent about science!". It seems apropos that Dawkins would like a magazine with such flexibility to make its ideological point.Susan's Husbandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02862667802025231163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-35000816250941594532007-03-28T11:40:00.000+01:002007-03-28T11:40:00.000+01:00Are you proposing Piers Morgan as a contender for ...Are you proposing Piers Morgan as a contender for 'Most arrogant man on the planet' award? He might be a close runner up.monixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16631194815411019266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-65619306508998358292007-03-28T11:23:00.000+01:002007-03-28T11:23:00.000+01:00I wouldn't go that far.I wouldn't go <A HREF="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3713857.stm" REL="nofollow">that far.</A>Brithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-16815826363474249962007-03-28T11:07:00.000+01:002007-03-28T11:07:00.000+01:00Can I say what I like? He may be articulate, direc...Can I say what I like? He may be articulate, direct and amusing but he is the most arrogant man on the planet. He makes Mugabe look like a diplomat.monixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16631194815411019266noreply@blogger.com