The thirty years war occurred between 1618 and 1648, and 8 million people died. And yet, in the estimation of Berlin, writing in 1988, it had profound effect on German cultural identity up until the twentieth century. Of course, Berlin is in love with his value pluralism theory, and would select historical interpretations that might sustain it.
It just so happens that China has far more recent examples of historical trauma to build its nationalist myths. To an extent, Uighur histories may detract from that effort.
I think one can really get bogged down in semantics when trying to understand “belief in science” vs. “accepting facts.” There is a methodology to science that applies to every day experience. The stove is glowing red; is it hot or not? We can experiment by touching it, or we can accept the fact (or believe) that glow=hot.
So you can believe or accept that observation and experiment is a valid road to truth, irrespective of specific facts. Perhaps you can “believe” that glow=hot without knowing about why it glows or what the mechanism is. Or is that “accept?”
Whilst Murdoch Senior has pledged support for Donald Trump, James Murdoch has reportedly contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the campaign of Mr Trump’s Democratic rival, Joe Biden.
James Murdoch’s departure from News Corp would, our correspondent says, appear to grant even more influence to his brother Lachlan who is generally thought to share his father’s more conservative views.
I saw her once when she came to a professor in the department’s lab meeting. I think she just likes being near people who are the most famous in their field. I think she’s one of those people who would talk to anyone with any power and tell you after that they’re just so interesting and thought provoking. I would have no problem believing that she, a generally liberal person, might be fine with her husband’s conservatism.
I don’t know if the linked essay is too pat. Perhaps when rationalists are bothered by a “belief in science”, they are really being irked by a “faith in science”, where “faith” is a theological concept.
This happened to me. I didn’t put this in the victory thread because…well…I’m not feeling it.
Artwork…This Week
Hey All-
I’m glad to report that we got a GREAT response on our call for artwork for the petition. Unfortunately, we had to cut off new submissions because of the volume. We’ll be rolling these out over the next couple of weeks.
We’re keeping it very simple for the first graphic This is from Lucy Gothro. (this was submitted as just a sketch outline, but something about the simplicity made it endearing!). You can donate to her at: https://www.paypal.me/miztrixie
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR ARTISTS, FOLKS. ART CAN CHANGE THE WORLD, AND THEY DESERVE YOUR SUPPORT!!
We’ll be rolling these out every few days…so stay tuned. Generally: If you are an artist, and are inspired to do any sort of piece about the student loan problem, please send it our way. We love that!!
This Week:
The petition now stands at over 538,000 signatures. We got a huge push last week. I would love to see that happen again, and it will if YOU STEP UP. Will you please paste the link to it in at least ten places where it will be seen? Can you do this today…Right now?? Please just do it. Also, if you could email a news organization, and tell them to report on the petition, it would REALLY HELP.
So I Google my paternal grandfather’s name, Francis Gothro, followed by USMC, cos he served in WWI.
I get an Ancestry.com page that has other Gothros…and they served in the Confederate Army. Now, it’s not a common surname, but I know they’re probably kin of some distance because my line came from Acadia - the ancestors of those who travelled to Louisiana and became Cajuns. I’m…kind of shocked, but not…?
One of them is named Danzion. Kinda cool name, eh?
