The ugly truth of science

[alice wellintown]

Could say he same for the zealous defense of science here, it reminds me of
the defense of the Catholic Church against accusations of child abuse. And,
those who toss stones have entered the ring of the lottery. Monte is a
stone slinger.
On Sunday, June 16, 2013, Christopher Simon wrote:

>  I think that direct personal attacks make Monte's point, for him/her, no?
>
> Anyways, the anti-science diatribes here seem far too close to those found
> in fundamentalist religious circles; characterizing science as one
> single-minded body that has a consistent agenda, one bent on eradicating
> humanism or the arts, and has been doing so for upwards of a hundred years.
> I think you would be hard pressed to find a body (at the risk of making the
> same over-generalizing error) that has done more to further the quality if
> the human condition than the sciences.
>  ------------------------------
> From: alice wellintown <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml',
> 'alicewellintown at gmail.com');>
> Sent: 6/16/2013 10:01 AM
> To: pynchon -l <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', 'pynchon-l at waste.org');>
> Subject: Re: The ugly truth of science
>
>  Monte, the stick up your ass is taller than the Empire State and you're
> too fixated on me and what gives me the authority to post what I'm posting.
> Take it easy, dude. You read more like MalignD everyday.
>
> Happy Father's Day
>
> May all our children at war return to their fathers and may all our
> fathers at war return to their children, healthy, and as soon as possible.
>
> And God Bless Our Terrific Scientific Nation.
>
>
> On Sun, Jun 16, 2013 at 8:51 AM, Monte Davis <montedavis at verizon.net<javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', 'montedavis at verizon.net');>
> > wrote:
>
>> No, Joseph. When Alice wrote here two weeks ago (the entire post):
>> "Science
>> is the project of little men who are easily enslaved and who crave
>> authority, though it is, at the same time, and necessarily so,
>> rebellious."
>>
>> It was, as she explained ten days later,  a "playful allusion to Reich's
>> _The Mass Psychology of Fascism_." Maybe to Reich's _Listen, Little Man_
>> as
>> well; Alice is very well read. It's not a quotation, paraphrase, or
>> summary:
>> in fact, Reich's "little men" were average citizens of mass society,
>> insecure and ignorant and seeking certainties in the fascist leadership of
>> Great Men. Fortunately, they could find freedom and autonomy in the genius
>> and mail-order apparatus of a scientist -- psychoanalyst-turned-"orgone
>> biophysicist" Reich -- and what could be farther from whacked-out,
>> messianic
>> pseudo-science than that?
>>
>> ... But I digress. The sentence and the thought are Alice's very own, and
>> they're PLAYFUL. Trust me on this.
>>
>> When Alice tells us that scientists "take comfort.. in mouse/clicking a
>> village to dust..."
>>
>> Or that science "hides its brain surgery butchery behind its rocket
>> science
>> superciliousness..."
>>
>> Or that "the scientists took over and they don't believe in anything
>> except
>> hubris and machines..."
>>
>> These aren't attacks, as you think. They aren't unfounded stereotypes, as
>> you think. They don't cast blame, as you think. They're the free play and
>> penetrating insight of a cultured mind. Trust me on this.
>>
>> How could they be attacks? Alice is "a science person" herself -- one who
>> will surely "kick [my] ass in the science ring," and no doubt yours and
>> JZ's
>> too, as soon as she gets around to it. She won't specify a scientific
>> discipline specified, won't offer any of her experience or attainments,
>> and
>> has *never* written here of science and scientists except in contexts of
>> condescension and contempt -- but she's a "science person." Trust me on
>> this.
>>
>> She's "married to a famous scientist" -- and trust me, what a marriage of
>> true minds that is!
>>
>> She loves her science (whatever it is -- don't ask because we've been over
>> all this, and the whole subject is boring, and why are we so angry
>> anyway?)
>> as much as her poetry. Trust me on this.
>>
>> She's also a world-class ballerina, a Formula One winner, a nominee for
>> multiple Nobel prizes, founder/patroness of an orphanage near Antofagasta,
>> and life chair of the Department of Omnicultural Studies and Plasma
>> Physics
>> at Miskatonic University. Only a little man like you could mistake her
>> for a
>> sad, strange online poseur and troll. Trust me on this.
>>
>>
>
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