Oh, for the love of Odin,
Ogmius, Zeus and Tāwhirimātea
What a strange world we’re living in - a Boschian nightmare of surreal and disturbing attitudes, opinions and beliefs.
Beliefs can be an inspiring thing
But I feel we might have wandered a bit too far down Belief Boulevard these days.
On the one hand we have the emergence of a new religion - they call it “science”, but it bears about as much resemblance to normal pre-covid science as a skateboard does to a Ferrari. They both have wheels is about the extent of the similarity. And even then, the new covid skateboard has square wheels.
On the other hand we have some academic folk in New Zealand wanting to promote Maori belief on an equal footing with science (I mean normal pre-covid science - it’s kind of confusing these days which version of science one is talking about).
The NZ government working group on NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement) proposed curriculum changes to “ensure parity . . . with the other other bodies of knowledge credentialed by NCEA”. They went on to include the obligatory de-colonization statement:
I am probably profoundly strange, but whenever I hear the word “de-colonization” I think enema. Decolonization is a word that needs vigorous flushing from the mathematical and empirical sciences.
This has caused all sorts of problems for a few academics who, quite rightly, objected to the notion that the Maori (or any indigenous) pantheon of Gods and associated beliefs should be seen in any way as “equivalent” and “equally valid” to scientific inquiry and knowledge (the screenshot above is taken from the letter they wrote which caused all the fuss).
These academics, again quite rightly, went on to highlight the value of such religious beliefs and thinking as being important for culture and community - they merely objected to such beliefs being thought of as being of equal value in a scientific sense.
The Vice-Chancellor of Auckland University, not surprisingly, came out as a supporter of team de-colonization. You can see her full comments here. The opening paragraph rather sets the tone:
A letter in this week’s issue of The Listener magazine from seven of our academic staff on the subject of whether mātauranga Māori can be called science has caused considerable hurt and dismay among our staff, students and alumni.
Of course it can’t be called science, you fucking prune. Of all the many fucks going on right now in the world, I couldn’t give a single one of them for any “hurt” caused by rejecting the notion that mātauranga Māori is in any way on a par with science. Sorry to be so blunt.
I apologize for the swearing too - you may have noticed I do that a lot when I’m angry.
She then goes on to say the following:
We believe that mātauranga Māori and Western empirical science are not at odds and do not need to compete. They are complementary and have much to learn from each other.
You can believe that all you like, you buffoon, but the notion there’s an equal exchange of value to be had here is absurd.
The beauty of science is that we don’t need “magic” explanations. And with the possible exception of Isaac Newton, nor does it need the kind of wisdom distilled from several centuries worth of sitting under a billabong tree (yes, I know - wrong country and different indigenous people - but the point still stands). Us human beings might need such wisdom in our day-to-day lives, but science most emphatically does not.
And don’t get me wrong - I’m not dissing religion here at all. There is a spiritual side to us that is not really addressed by science. I’m dissing the notion that our religious beliefs have any profound impact on, or value for, science.
I can sum up science’s “belief” quite simply for the modern world. Here’s is Rigger’s Re-statement of Rationality
If your idea don’t come true, it’s a big pile of poo
That’s it really. The whole “religion” of science summed up in a single principle. If your ideas don’t match what we see in reality, they’re wrong. Change them for new ones.
Sadly, we seem to have lost our way with post-covid science - which has significantly more in common with mātauranga Māori than it does with science proper (the pre-covid stuff).
Lockdowns worked? Of course they did - if by “worked” you mean having absolutely no discernible effect on the data when considered as a worldwide whole.
Ditto masks.
What about the vaccines? Surely they worked? Pfizer told us how wonderful they are. Here we are nearly 2 years in - rising cases and deaths, more lockdowns, testing and masks needed - despite all those “successful” vaccine rollouts.
The solution? More of the same shit that didn’t work the 1st/2nd/3rd/4th . . . time round. That’s post-covid science for you - keep repeating the same old failed ideas until reality changes. Nothing wrong with our ideas - it’s reality that’s the problem here.
And people wonder why Woke ideologues are the most fanatical Covid cultists.
Subjective reality, destruction of language, fascist domination.
Viruses gonna virus, leftists gonna left.
It is a profoundly racist worldview which asserts than science, math, or great works of art and literature are "Eurocentric" or "white supremacist." The great tools of understanding the universe and the human condition transcend time and individual identities. And then there are lots of cool smaller bodies of knowledge that have helped people survive and make sense of the world around them for generations-- which plants are safe to eat, which materials are best for building, the ebbs and flows of nature-- that aren't universal but are, in most cultures, passed down from one generation to the next.
A major problem here, I think, is that education systems, taking on the role once assumed by family and community, are seeking to claim the latter bodies of knowledge are not just equal in importance to the former but superior. They are certainly easier to learn and teach, which is why they appeal to so many teachers and students. But we are beginning to see the results in many parts of the world of what happens when even the supposedly elite portion of the population is scientifically and mathematically illiterate: we are gulls, easily taken in by those who likely DO know what they're doing.