Easter-broke

Ugh. See if you can make it through this profoundly moronic column from our glass-half-full friend at the New Republic. Easterbrook 'lashes out' at science, whatever that means, gloating about the fact that "science" can't answer questions like "What came before the Big Bang" and hasn't come up with a means of detecting dark matter yet. He roots his smugness in the sort of infantile 'gotcha' logic typical of a cranky fifth grader or a serial heckler. And yet, its not a fifth grader/tinfoil hat wearer problem. It is the attitude that many educated people across this country are encouraged to take towards science and inquiry. Whether creeping anti-intellectualism, or the campaigns of religious zealots hellbent on winning losing arguments, or the conservative intellectuals who provide the zealots strategic political cover, it is a shameful cultural trend unfortunately epitomized by the leader of the free world.

And furthermore, it is reprehensible that such a thing should appear in a magazine of opinion and thought like The New Republic, as though the editors feel the need to be fair to both physics professors and Pentecostals on the issue of black holes. This is what cultural regression looks like, people, and it should sicken anyone with a marginal respect for the value of reason over banging one's head against a wall.

But don't take my word for it. Prof. DeLong and his comments section pointed the way.