Santa Barbara Humanist Society Newsletter for November 2001

• Meetings
• Membership Notes
• Social Scene
• Getting to Know You - Ethel Trione

• Web Site of the Month
• Notes of Interest
• Here and There - This and That

We usually meet on the third Saturday of each month at 3.00 PM at Jefferson Hall, 1525 Santa Barbara Street, Santa Barbara, California, except for this month when it will be on the second Saturday (10th) and our Solstice parties in June and December. It is not necessary to be a member to attend a Society Meeting.

DARRELL ADAMS

SHELA JONES

NANCY WAHL

REFRESHMENTS AT MEETINGS - Cookie Sign-ups for the upcoming meetings. Anne will call you one week prior to the meeting to remind you of your date. Please bring 4 to 5 dozen small but nice cookies (half each if two are bringing). If for some reason you have to miss your date please arrange with someone who has another month. Thank you for your cooperation:

There are lies, damn lies, and statistics. - Mark Twain

This month's column continues my focus on the issue of critical thinking by examining the how the mass media affects our ability to think clearly about important issues.

Recognizing the critical thinking lapses of others can be easy. But before criticizing the critical thinking lapses of others, we should begin our exploration of this topic by considering how well we practice it ourselves on a day-to-day basis. While Humanists and Freethinkers (rightfully, I think) pride ourselves on our no-nonsense world-view, we would be remiss to think that we are not subject to the same pitfalls that bedevil others.

Most of us get our daily news from TV, newspapers and - increasingly - the internet. Such sources of news gather, digest and report the news in ways that can substantially interfere with our ability to think critically about the underlying issues unless we are explicitly aware of the potential reporting problems.. Here are some examples of how typical media reports provide information in an uncritical manner:

• "News" about the future: A considerable number of news stories are about what might happen in the future but are presented as hard news stories. Of course, possible future scenarios are important but seldom are the underlying assumptions behind these forecast scenario made explicit. Equally important, rarely if ever does the futureist make his "agenda" clear. Many times the prognosticator has a vested interest in a specific course of events.



• The problem of extremely large and small numbers: Numbers outside our normal experience can be very hard to put into context. The best example of nearly incomprehensible large numbers is the federal budget. As Senator Everett Dirksen said, "A billion here and a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money." Consider the life-cycle cost of an aircraft carrier. It is indeed measured in billions of dollars, a number that, by itself, may not have much meaning. The cost has more meaning when it is noted that a few thousand schools could be built, staffed and maintained for the same amount of money. An understanding of extreme numbers can be enhanced by expressing the number in terms that we are familiar with in our everyday life.

• We had a wonderful meeting (full house too) listening to a very informative and humorous Joe Nickell speak on his investigations of the paranormal. After the meeting many, many of us went to the Fish House Restaurant for a great evening of conversation and good food. Don't miss the upcoming meeting and plan to attend the dinner afterwards.
  
  
• Last month I mentioned in this space that our January speaker would be the inventor of the Gossamer Albatross, Paul MacCready; this was in error. He is scheduled to speak to us at our March meeting.
  
  
• We are still looking for a speaker for the January meeting and are considering instead an open forum for our members to discuss philosophy, humanism etc.
  
  
• In February we have invited Prof. Shirley Mullen, who will discuss The History of Skepticism - sounds interesting but I'm skeptical.
  
  
• March may bring a Special Event featuring Mr. Ford Green, a professional de- programmer of sect/cult members. Your board is also considering inviting William Edelen back to Santa Barbara next year. Stay tuned!
  
  
• All members are invited to attend any board meeting. The next meeting will be at the Garden Room of the Samarkand, on Monday 12, at 4:30 PM.
  
  
• Continue to bring your canned goods to the meetings. The Chairman's Hamper needs to runneth over. Thanks to all.

1. Who said: "It is best to read the weather forecast before praying for rain?

2. Who almost single-handedly brought the availability of birth control to the United States against severe opposition of many religious leaders?

3, Who said: "All churches ... are human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit"?

4. Who said: "I come to bring not peace, but a sword"?

5, Who said: "I don't believe in God. because I don't believe in Mother Goose"?

6. Who said: "My earlier views on the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation have become clearer and stronger with advancing years, and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change them"?

7. In what year did Robert G. Ingersoll die?

8, Who called Thomas Paine a "filthy little atheist"?

9. Who said "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those that know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science"?

10. Who said: "Religious doctrine that is insulated from disproof has little reason to worry about the advance of science. The grand idea, common to many faiths, of a Creator of the Universe is one such doctrine - difficult alike to demonstrate or to dismiss"?

11. Who said: "This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it"?

12. Who said: "Of all the tyrannies that afflict mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst; every other species of tyranny is limited to the world we live in; but this attempts to strive beyond the grave"?

13. Who said: "Heaven for climate, Hell for companionship"?

14. Who said: "The Bible. That is what fools have written, what imbeciles commend, what rogues teach and young children are made to learn by heart"?

15. Who said: "There have been saviors in every age of the world. It is all just a fairy tale, like the idea of Santa Claus"?

16. Who said: "I do not believe in the immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it"?

17. Who said: "How can you have order in a state without religion? For, when one man is dying of hunger near another who is ill of surfeit, be cannot resign himself to this difference unless there is an authority which declares 'God wills it thus.' Religion is excellent stuff for keeping people quiet"?

18. Who said: "I would suggest the taxation of all property equally, whether church or corporation"?

19. Who coined the phrase: "The United States or America"?

20. Who said: "I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world"?