[ExI] Religious Idiocy Triumphs Over Science Yet Again

[Dan TheBookMan]

On Wed, Dec 9, 2015 at 3:08 PM, Will Steinberg <steinberg.will at gmail.com>
wrote:

> John, it's imbecilic for you to call the beliefs of the native Hawaiians
> imbecilic.  And just rude.
>

I wouldn't call them imbecilic so much as uninformed, though my guess is
there's more going on here. My guess is it's nationalism. That the beliefs
are being clung to more tenacious not so much because they believe them as
the beliefs are used to distinguish them from what they view as the
colonizing culture. I don't know enough about this case, but that my guess.
In other words, since science, etc. is seen as part of the colonizing
power's culture, then they're going to cleave more tightly to what they
feel are beliefs their ancestors held before contact with the colonial
power.

I have only respect for the culture of a people who crossed the Pacific in
> fucking canoes; they've got your stock beaten there.
>

Um, I'm not sure that's a reason to respect every last aspect of a culture.
Every culture that's still around has survived. I'm sure you would be
mighty critical of, say, neo-Nazi culture in the US or of Far Right
ultranationalist culture in Croatia or Slovakia. Am I wrong?

Okay, I'm not equating native Hawaiian culture with those cases, but if
you're just going to go on the diaspora across the Pacific is a big deal,
then we can study that without giving in to every demand made by those who
claim to speak for that culture. (You're also ignoring that whatever
aspects of the culture allowed them to spread might not still be around now
to any degree. What aspects that allowed people to migrate from Europe to
North America are still encoded and worth allowing to trump this or that
project?)


> And those beliefs have valuable insights on humanity and nature.  Myths
> are some of the only well preserved commentary on prehistoric existence.
> You could learn a lot from them and maybe become less obstinate.  Drop some
> acid dude.
>
Those insights can be gained more by studying the culture itself rather
than accepting its edicts. For instance, we can study Ancient Greek culture
without having to go out and, say, kill people for blaspheming their gods.
Or where do you draw the line? The issue here is whether a telescope should
be built on top of mountain that already has several telescopes. This isn't
about, say, bulldozing an archaeological site or forcing Hawaiians to give
up their language and customs as practiced in their homes or communities.
How far can their edicts go here? (And I'm guessing this is more their
elites saying this rather than the rank and file. I don't know for sure,
but I've often seen cases where some spokespeople appoint themselves to
speak for everyone in a group.)

Regards,

Dan
  Sample my Kindle books via:
http://www.amazon.com/Dan-Ust/e/B00J6HPX8M/
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