Sense about Science
June 16th, 2009 Posted in General, General Science, Health, Internet, PoliticsHi all,
Okay, so I haven’t written for two months. Apologies for that. I’m afraid other things have been hihger priority recently.
However, I’m just writing a brief note to urge everyone to sign up on the Sense About Science petition There’s loads of information there about the main case, of which those in Britain will no doubt already be aware, concerning journalist Simon Singh.
This petition is vitally important to get British libel laws changed. Currently, our libel laws are the worst in the developed world, stifling freedom of scientific debate and allowing mega rich corporates to walk all over legitimate dissent. Simon Singh is being sued because he had the tenacity to comment that Chiropractic therapy is incapable of curing childhood asthma. Unfortunately, he used the term “bogus”, which the clueless judge took to mean “deliberately fraudulent” and not its actual meaning, understood by English speakers worldwide, as merely “false”.
So, I’d like to go on record as saying that the use of chiropractic to treat childhood asthma is totally unproven by science, completely and utterly impossible by any known laws of science, and, frankly, daft. But I’m not suggesting that all chiropractors are aware of this obvious fact – I’m sure many of them are stupid and/or deluded instead, as those are the only logical alternatives.
Anyway, sign the petition. Please. It’s very very important.
Oh, and it doesn’t only affect British people – thanks to the Internet, anyone in teh world can be sued in an English court for writing something against English libel laws that then gets published in England.
Yes, that’s retarded. I know. We all know. Let’s fix it.
