Yes, it does! And close to 2,000 fellow San Antonians agreed with this lady forcefully enough that they braved blustery winds and threats of rain yesterday to
march in support of science, facts, and the value of evidence and clear-thinking in public life.
(I know that 60° sounds downright balmy to some of my readers, but the cold front that arrived just before our march yesterday was kind of a shock to folks who normally expect 90's at the end of April!)
I myself didn't actually march, since I was volunteering and stayed at my post by the water tent. (If those 90's had materialized, there would have been much more demand for the bottles in our coolers than we eventually saw!)
But I had a good view of the pre-march "pep rally"...
...as well as the post-march crowds and speeches...
The handsome building serving as a backdrop for the march headquarters is
San Pedro Playhouse, a small theatre providing the city with high-quality quirky as well as standard repertoire productions. It's located in lovely
San Pedro Springs Park, the oldest park in Texas and touted as one of the oldest in the country. A perfect setting for this Earth Day confab.
And it was exhilarating getting to meet, greet, and visit with like-minded folks of such passion and creativity. The creativity was very much in evidence on the signs...here are some of my favorites:
 |
| one of the best...in intention and execution |
 |
| one of several signs chiding our embarrassment of a Congressman |
 |
| well, duh! |
 |
| some signs were more militant than others |
 |
| another sign pointing out practical benefits |
 |
this group was new to me, but a friend is a member
and she told me about it |
 |
| a couple of clever commentaries |
 |
| yes, she did co-discover DNA |
 |
| love the physics humor |
Some of the folks had signs of a more personal nature...
 |
| Really? |
 |
| how much easier it would be! |
The enthusiastic and hard-working young organizers of our march were very pleased with the turnout. And I was happy and proud to work with them. It's encouraging to meet young people who seem capable of repairing at least some of the damage done by my generations' inability to craft a worthy future for them.
11 comments:
Hear hear! We had over 400 turn out for our totally peaceful march in our small, conservative, town. One of the signs that got the most applause was, "No Science--No Beer!"
One of mankind's first chemical successes! Our gathering was also totally peaceful and largely non-partisan, except for a few Trump and Smith signs.
you should try to meet, greet, and visit with non-like-minded folks sometime; that's often more enlightening
8-p
I'm kind of surrounded by them a lot of the time. That's why not having to deal is at least a little relaxing 8-). And there were plenty of different viewpoints on display at the march, people with different causes and different axes to grind.
PLUS, I'm ok with different opinions (although I'm not very good at arguing my position). But different facts are a different kettle of fish. 2+2=4, F=ma, E=mc squared...we should be able to agree on stuff like this!
I am also almost constantly in touch with, meeting, greeting, and visiting with non-like minded folks. Our walk was very non-partisan. The chant as we walked was, "Science is neither red or blue, I like facts and so should you." :)
you know I really don't see people doubting formulas or atomic weights (perhaps I should get out more), what I see is people not liking the others' policy positions, and resorting to name calling and condescension, this time science being the mcguffin on which one team has seized .....and mobs chanting, well that always makes me want to oppose whatever just on general principle, doubly so if it rhymes (and I never could stand Bill Nye, even outside of politics)
What most of the people I talked to were most concerned about was the attitude that facts don't matter, or that you can tailor them to fit your preconceived ideas of what needs to be done. I'm sure there are some scientists who do this, but as a whole, I think the system of peer review and consensus building works. What's concerning is when the folks who make policies ignore these consensuses (consensi?). I didn't hear any chanting at our march 8-)
consensus is how you build policy, not how you find fact; and peer review is great when it works, but people are social animals and trends and fashions infect every aspect of life sad to say...."facts don't matter" is nothing new nor partisan, sales pitches always tout the positives and ignore the negatives, and that is the true bipartisan consensus
and yes this whole kerfuffle is about sales, it's always sales
People are social animals ... thus we like
to march, in this case to encourage political support for science-based concerns. This march is a sales pitch of sorts. The march was a reaction to the current political changes away from science and even reality-based governance in the U.S. Facts matter!
Well said,Julie!
Post a Comment