1. Forum
  2. Usenet
  3. NZ.GENERAL

  • Food for thought

    From Tony@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jan 8 23:35:36 2023
    XPost: nz.politics

    If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us that something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we’re up for grabs for the next charlatan –political or religious– who comes ambling along.

    It wasn’t enough, Jefferson said, to enshrine some rights in a constitution or a bill of rights. The people had to be educated, and they had to practice their skepticism... otherwise, we don’t run the government, the government runs us.

    – Carl Sagan

    Our government could do well to read and digest what Mr. Sagan said or wrote. But they won't.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Crash@21:1/5 to lizandtony@orcon.net.nz on Tue Jan 10 14:27:20 2023
    On Sun, 8 Jan 2023 23:35:36 -0000 (UTC), Tony
    <lizandtony@orcon.net.nz> wrote:

    If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us
    that something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we’re up >for grabs for the next charlatan –political or religious– who comes ambling >along.

    It wasn’t enough, Jefferson said, to enshrine some rights in a constitution or >a bill of rights. The people had to be educated, and they had to practice their
    skepticism... otherwise, we don’t run the government, the government runs us.

    – Carl Sagan

    Our government could do well to read and digest what Mr. Sagan said or wrote. >But they won't.

    To be fair most politicians don't like skeptical questions. They
    might accept that skepticism of what they say is inevitable and must
    be faced. However we must always be wary of politicians who seek to
    suppress skepticism about what they say, who pretend to ignore it or
    refuse to respond to it.


    --
    Crash McBash

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Willy Nilly@21:1/5 to Tony on Tue Jan 10 02:30:56 2023
    XPost: nz.politics

    On Sun, 8 Jan 2023, Tony<lizandtony@orcon.net.nz> wrote:
    If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us
    that something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we’re up >for grabs for the next charlatan –political or religious– who comes ambling >along.

    The "Ethical Skeptic" gives the following recipe for deciding which
    viewpoint is most likely valid:

    "Among competing alternatives, all other things being equal, prefer
    the one for which discussion or research is embargoed."

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)