Pages

October 24, 2008

Elitist Nominations


A call has gone out to round up some volunteers to join our swarthy crew of Elitist Bastards.  Volunteer?  Nah.  What kind of bastards would we be if we didn't just shanghai them and drag them along on our voyage under force?

Our first victim is Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer.  Since that unfortunate "accident" with our own Lt. Snook and the French Navy, we've been in need of a hand with the sextant.  It's Plait's own fault we've come for him.  He self-declared his elitism back in June and has continued to here and here, practically chumming the water for us!  And he doesn't just say he's an elitist, he steps up and bashes on moon hoaxers, anti-vaccinationists, creationists and cretins while simultaneously praising the beauties and wonders of science.  He's also influencing our young!  He has recently been named President of the James Randi Educational Foundation and wants to work on curriculum to spread science and reason to the masses.  Arrr!

Our next capture is Doug Johnson of the Blue Skunk Blog.  Out with his wife in lovely Montana (or so we hear it's lovely, only a land-lubber like Johnson would venture that far into the interior) he had a self-described glimpse into darkness and wonders how we can protect our children from "info porn,"  the kind of crazy ideas spouted on these intertoobs that lead the uninformed to conspiracy theories, hoaxers, psychics, gurus, tricksters and "alternative" medicine.  He proposes opening up the web to our students in schools, allowing them to read more than just books and instead of blocking sites we're unsure of, teaching them to be responsible, safe and critically thinking digital citizens.  Arrrr!

And not to forget our current election, John Hodgeman might need to join our crew based on this enlightening interview in which he calls this election "a referendum on reality."  He says the Republicans running are guilty of the same kind of conspiracy theory-baiting and would have you believe that "Barack Obama really loves terrorists and any reasonable person knows that's not true."  ARRR!

Go get 'em!