You are just saying that because…

You are just saying that because… July 29, 2007

Am I the only person getting tired of hearing the views, arguments and evidence of opposing viewpoints dismissed with phrases like “you are just saying that because you are a secular evolutionist” or “that just goes to show how biased the media is”. The latter, of course, is equally asserted by both sides – which I take to be a positive sign in terms of what the media is doing, but rather dismaying in terms of the filter that so many people today seem to have that prevents them from even feeling the need to listen to what others have to say.

This is one reason why it is so crucial that those of us who are educators teach critical thinking skills. If it is in theory possible to critique science as ‘just another viewpoint’ that depends on power and privilege, isn’t it every bit as possible that postmodernism is trying to undermine science and distract us from its ability to offer relative certainty precisely in order to rob it of power it deserves to have and shift that power to others? Or are they just saying these sorts of things because they’re postmodernists? 🙂


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