tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440286750138199044.post8723782282758844845..comments2024-02-28T05:38:56.763-08:00Comments on Science Digestive: The Hiss of Piss on a BonfireDean Burnetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15054744507490592341noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440286750138199044.post-42245944089899125702011-02-27T16:02:45.009-08:002011-02-27T16:02:45.009-08:00I don't want to go to child-friendly PopSci ev...I don't want to go to child-friendly PopSci events, ta ever so, all the same. Anytime between about 4 & 17, I might have been up for it, but having reached my majority, reckon I'm entitled to prefer events aimed at adults.<br /><br />Preaching to the choir - I've been in a lot of choirs & as a rule they were comprised of folks interested in choral singing. No-one seemed to find that odd. Why single out SitP for hosting events aimed at persons of a sceptical bent?<br /><br />One other point, the idea of "ethnic diversity" as passed down from on high by middleclass white boys is tosh. My own immediate family contains considerable ethnic variation thanks to adoption. Oddly, despite clearly apparant anomalies, it rarely occurs to outsiders that we sibs might not share the same genetics. By contrast, a girl I knew in my teens was the genetic child of her Afro-Caribean parents & came in for all kinds of identity botherations because her very light pigmentation made her appear what monitoring forms love to call "white european".<br /><br />When it comes to ethnic diversity, the faces you see aren't perforce the faces you're looking at.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440286750138199044.post-78040232896035941632011-02-27T12:54:53.897-08:002011-02-27T12:54:53.897-08:00I think the start of Alom's piece describes th...I think the start of Alom's piece describes the London "scene" rather well. The rest of his 2010 Guardian piece wanders into some areas that annoy me a little (and clearly you a lot), but I can see his point as well. The fixation with education/young people is his job.<br /><br />I'm guessing that some of the regional SiTP meetings, by virtue of being more recently established, haven't yet fallen into the trap of becoming a smugfest for a small elite group who want to hear "science" and knob-gags. Long may that continue. London isn't the centre of the universe.<br /><br />Next time I'm in Cardiff or Aberdeen, I'll drop by to check it out. Though I know many people enjoy London SiTP, it's not my thing, and I'd like to see how others having taken the concept in their own direction.JDMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00585338304470593003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440286750138199044.post-70934262228743052092011-02-27T12:43:47.329-08:002011-02-27T12:43:47.329-08:00Couldn't agree more Dean. You also get the cr...Couldn't agree more Dean. You also get the criticism for holding it in a pub in the evening excludes parents who need to get a babysitter. No problem, set up a Skeptics in the Coffee house. I may not go as I'll be at work, I don't have a problem with it.Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14195003492084088327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440286750138199044.post-19453968305180935902011-02-27T12:30:43.014-08:002011-02-27T12:30:43.014-08:00Couldn't agree more, Dean - not that I'm e...Couldn't agree more, Dean - not that I'm exactly unbiased, seeing as it is such a pleasure to come to Cardiff every month!<br /><br />I think a lot of our attendees *are* learning new things. And even if they are not, what on earth is wrong with getting together to chat with like minded people? As a rare rationalist in benighted Pembrokeshire, meeting other rationalists does not happen often and it keeps me sane. It also allows us to share ideas on good and bad ways to communicate critical thinking to the public. And if the public do not want to hear, then why, they may do something else! :P<br /><br />By the same standards being asked of SITP, all churches should be closed down. Having sat through a great many sermons out of politeness to friends or boyfriends, I find a lot of what is said in churches very bigoted and objectionable, but I am not so intolerant as to criticise Christians' wish to get together four or eight times more often than skeptics do. Nor, I should imagine, are most of us.<br /><br />And for the record, I am stunned by the number of people who have rushed up to me at the bar at SITP and said "This is a wonderful idea! I'm gutted not to have heard about it before! Cardiff has just been crying out for something like this for ages!"<br /><br />So, to put it in the most skeptical ane eloquent way possible . . . . nyah!Alicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14217937730862636923noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440286750138199044.post-57810341408509545262011-02-27T10:24:48.668-08:002011-02-27T10:24:48.668-08:00Hello, I have said this before, I completely agree...Hello, I have said this before, I completely agree with your blogpost. I set up Skeptics in the Pub in Aberdeen, I was new in the city, it seemed like a good idea and I wanted to meet some like minded people who might become my friends. I think 'Skeptics in the Pub' and 'activist' movements should be separated. One is entertainment the other is a form of 'education' (there is no reason why the education shouldn't be entertaining OR branch out from people involved in Skeptics in the Pub but they are different). We are an open group and get a wide range of people attending for debate (old, young, male, female, gay, straight, scientist, non scientist, scottish, english, welsh, european, american). We do not spend any time taking the piss out of people. We explore ideas and debate reasons why things happen. <br /><br />We have yet to have a 'celebrity' speaker so we have not experienced this side of skepticism yet. <br /><br />Basically, we meet to debate and have a night out. If someone has an idea from the night to take further as a form of education or activism against something they feel is wrong in the world they could use the skeptic 'network' to help them out. Skeptic in the Pub events, activism, education and people that call themselves 'skeptics' are all different and shouldn't be lumped together.Heather Doranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01743182952112081912noreply@blogger.com