For the Members of Central Ohioans
Our 10th Year of bologna detection!
<=== “What you think you know may not be so.”
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Volume: Number 10 ___
Issue: Number 6 ___
Date: JUNE 2005
Founded by Ann Pratt in 1996
Skeptics’ Forum – The Public Is Welcome
No Meeting this Month!
It's the *CORI SUMMER HIATUS*
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vintage vacation postcard)
*MEETING: The next membership meeting will be
OCTOBER 1, 2005
LOCATION: TBA . . .
*TOPIC 1: WHITHER CORI – Is it time to fold the tent? See Editorial, P. 2.
*TOPIC 2: TBA . . .
BUSINESS: Follows presentation.
LUNCH: Follows Meeting; attendees are invited to gather at a nearby venue.
IN THIS ISSUE: "FYI"
EDITORIAL: WHITHER CORI?
RATIONALLY SPEAKING: Massimo Pigliucci on “Holy Books”
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
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QUOTE / UNQUOTE
“The most original authors are not so because they advance what is new, but because they put what they have to say as if it had never been said before."
– [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]
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"It is the weakness and danger of republics that the vices as well as virtues of the people are represented in their legislation." – [Helen Hunt Jackson
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FYI
At this writing – founding member / CORI Program Chair Carl Miller has suffered an episode involving his heart. He was admitted to the hospital Tuesday. Mrs. Miller reports that he is doing well and expected to return to their home soon - perhaps by the time you read this. 
(Carl resisted the ride in the ambulance initially because the EMTs wouldn't let him bring his satchel . . .)
I’m sure Carl would love to receive your good wishes for his optimum recovery.
E-mail me @ [email protected] if you would like Carl’s contact info.
<=== It’s OK to call Carl at midnight but please do not disturb him before noon
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Editorial – Rev. Art
Whither CORI?
There are a couple of proposals on the table. We meet once more the first Saturday in October, which happens to be October 1. We are NOT meeting in June due to the sudden illness of our Program Chair – Carl Miller. (See FYI, above.)
In one of several discussions between founding member / founding Newsletter Editor / longest-serving CORI President, Charlie Hazlett and your editor, we reluctantly reached the conclusion that it may be time to present the membership with the usual options (again). If no one will present themselves to stand for the office of president – along with the other offices - maybe we should fold the tent … discuss what to do with the treasury … and have a big group hug . . . then gather the chairs and stack ‘em for the last time . . . and go to lunch.
The other proposal is not . . . yet. We’re still an organization and perhaps one or several of members, past, present or future will step forward and present a plausible agenda. Speaking of the Future? Let’s all meet Jeff Beachy - (See: “Letter to the Editor”)
(Technically - CORI isn’t dead until the treasury is dispersed! Please bring along information concerning candidates for endowment at the October 1 Meeting . . .)
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Rationally Speaking –
a monthly e-column
(Click thumbnail to view Massimo's Banner)
© by Massimo Pigliucci, 2004
On Holy Books –
The Qu’ran in the Thundermug saga continues …
OK, so Newsweek made (probably) a mistake in reporting, based on an anonymous source, that US interrogators at the infamous base in
Guantanamo Bay have desecrated the Koran, allegedly by flushing it down the toilet. It was bad journalism, though no worse than what the American media have accustomed us to for the past several years. Even the use of anonymous sources is neither unusual nor necessarily a bad idea (Watergate might not have been sorted out without the anonymous source famously referred to as "Deep Throat").
What is most interesting about the Newsweek debacle is the reaction of the US government, and perhaps even more so the underpinning of the widespread outrage at what the American weekly has allegedly caused as a result of its mistake.
Take the reaction by US government officials. The attack on Newsweek was all-out, with allegations of damaging American reputation with Muslims across the world. As if that needed any help since the Bush administration has gone to war on the basis of what turned out to be false information about alleged weapons of mass destruction; information, of course, provided by an anonymous source ("curveball"), and that former Secretary of State Colin Powell shamelessly paraded as "fact" in front of the United Nations.
It is in fact astounding, and more than a little worrisome, that the Bush administration is so eager to attack the press and use it as a scapegoat for its own foolish foreign policies. It is downright scary when so many right-wing media pundits are ready to jump on Newsweek for being "unpatriotic" (code word for doing or saying anything they don't like). It is funny (in a dark humor sense) when the magazine is labeled as part of the "liberal media conspiracy" (a convenient rhetorical fiction invented by the extreme right), even though Newsweek has run plenty of stories that favorably covered the war on Iraq and the actions of the US military. It is dangerous when almost everybody (except an op-ed piece in the New York Times) ignored the statements of an American general (a member of the same military that Newsweek has allegedly purposely bashed and engendered) to the effect that the riots that killed several people in Pakistan had nothing to do with the publication of the incriminated article.
But let us consider the broader picture for a moment. Suppose for the sake of argument that the short, inaccurate, article in Newsweek really was the spark that led to murderous riots half a world away. In what reasonable sense are the author of the piece and editor of the magazine responsible for such a sad outcome? The reasoning behind the accusations raised against Newsweek is that we actually expect people to become violent because a book they care for has been flushed down the toilet. We may not (at least officially) condone such reaction, but we put the responsibility square on the shoulders of the journalists, rather than on the people who so easily resort to violence. You see, if not OK, it is at least understandable when religious zealots riot or kill to defend their twisted understanding of their faith. It must have been a similar feeling that prompted the former Pope, John Paul II (the one now being considered for fast-track to sainthood) to refuse to apologize for the Catholic Church's killing of Giordano Bruno in 1600. You know, Bruno may have been right about the fact that the earth is not the center of the universe, but after all, he was a heathen...
But wait! Isn't precisely this sort of religious intolerance that brought about the attacks on the US on 9/11 2001? There may have been reasons why the terrorists did it, and these reasons surely had something to do with American foreign policy in the Middle East during the past several decades. But reasons are not the same as justifications. The terrorists who attacked the twin towers in New York and the Pentagon were fully to blame for having decided that the way to resolve cultural and political conflicts is to kill innocent people. Similarly, the only culprits in the Pakistani riots are those religious bigots and overzealous security forces who went ahead and did the rioting and killing, regardless of what real or imaginary "offense" to their religion they may have used as an excuse for their senseless actions.
Here is another way to put the point. Imagine the headlines: "Creationists flush a copy of Darwin's Origin of the Species down the toilet. Dozens killed in the resulting riots on university campuses." Of course, you will never see such a headline, except perhaps in The Onion. The reason is not just that not even the most ardent secular humanist actually regards Darwin's writings as sacred, but that the whole ethics of science and humanism is about tolerance for other people's views. To paraphrase Mel Brooks, a sense of humor is the humanist's best defense against the universe. Unfortunately, the one thing religious zealots seem to sorely lack is precisely a sense of humor. Yet surely God, the most perfect of all beings, appreciates a laugh here and there, even at Her own expense. After all, didn't she create the Platypus?
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Don’t call THEM blahhgzzz!
Why blog? Why not?
(Click)
Please Visit “Charlie’s Corner” http://www.hazlett.net/cs
Try “Charlie’s Recipes!” http://recipes.hazlett.net/
Please Visit “Rev. Art – Minister of Rants” http://revart.blogs.com/
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Correspondence
Please add your info to the *CORI* *MAILING* *LIST*
@ the NEW and IMPROVED CORI Website:
Thanks for your help!
[- Charlie Hazlett ]
(Click)
To contribute to the Bulletin or to comment –
Contact Rev. Art Hites, Editor @ [email protected]
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Letter to the Editor
Dear Charlie,
Unfortunately I will not be able to attend this Saturday's CORI meeting.
I do hope CORI continues in the fall as I would very much enjoy meeting
you and other rationally-minded persons. So, even though I have yet to
meet my first member, I hope the organization flourishes, rather than fizzles.
Jeff Beachy
<=== You're welcome, Jeff!
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FALLACIOUS ASSAULTS!
WHAT IF . . . ?!?
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Van Gogh on Prozac !
Have a great Summer! During the hiatus we will share any necessary info
with the membership by e-mail. We will “Go Postal” only if Jim Burgtorf
catches a female Yeti in one of his humane traps . . .
Come September, we’ll endeavor to ship your CORI Bulletin by all means at hand, as usual. We hope to see all the usual suspects plus a few more, all tanned and rested, October 1!
