Sunday, November 27, 2005
Witch Hunt
I went to Café Scientifique Tuesday Nov. 15th to complete a journalism assignment. As with anything in life we carry our predispositions. Before I arrived to the Wynkoop I had it in my mind’s eye that I was going to hear the details of this new monstrous science dubbed Genetic Engineering. The flier had quotations from a CEO in the field who embraces the technology. It also had quotations from an activist against this up and coming science. I walked through 30 degree Denver winds expecting to witness a verbose debacle beyond the intellectual confines of my comprehension. To my dismay there was no such debacle.
See to understand what took place one has to understand what the Café Scientifique is. It’s more a place of discussion. It’s based on this old café idea where people would get together and discuss current events. This idea is akin to what Starbucks did with their, “The Way I See It” cups. They printed cups with quotations from colorful personalities and people were to read these ideas and discuss them over coffee. In my limited perspective on it the company’s purpose miserably failed. Every single time I walked into a Starbucks I didn’t see one soul immersed in heated discussion over what they read on their damn cup. I don’t think I saw anyone even look at the words on the cup. In Café Scientifique this discussion concept is taken to a more tangible level because they invite experts from a science filed and have them give their brief introduction on the topic and then open the meeting to discussion from everyone, expert or not. I can unabashedly say I like Starbucks. It’s not my favorite coffee but I enjoy it. Starbucks does good things for their employees they do good things for the environment but none-the-less they are still under the cooperation umbrella so I don’t foresee them taking on such a cool endeavor as having people conjugating in tangible discussion in their commercial outlets.
This meeting taught me the power of elegance. I thought I was going to hate genetic engineering by the time I left and I was going sign up for something to help the cause that hinders this renegade science. Suzanne Wuerthele the guest speaker and genetic engineering committee for the Rocky Mountain chapter of the Sierra Club was as ineloquent as it got. Her inability to sell her message forced me to favor what she opposed. Mind you, the message of her purpose was initially subdued by the nature of the Café so her authority and purpose was then shifted onto her presence and verbal grace. This lacked in its intended goal much like the Starbucks, “The Way I See It” cup did. Here let me quote Wuerthele:
“The Sierra Club is very concerned with Bio-tech because we think there should be more???? until we understand how to fully assess the risks and impacts. There’s kind of an exception to that and that’s the medical stuff and I think that is due partly because the Sierra club is not really gotten into the issue and they tend to think about the environmental issues a little bit. Where I’m coming from tonight is I think there is a lot of valid interesting discussions and feedback on the subject.”
So I’m glad these activists form the Sierra Club haven’t had a chance to look at that medical stuff because then they might be responsible for fully understanding something before they deem it a problem. Maybe they’ll get to that stuff once they spend a little bit more time on the environmental thing.
Another twirk in her speech event was the fact she keep attempting to segue into a conversation with the audience. As you can see from Wuerthele’s quotation she said that she was interested in discussion and feedback. Many times in the night she would say something to the effect of, O.K. I’m going to stop talking and hear what you have to say. Then she never gave the audience a chance to participate. After the fourth time she did that, her request for our feedback became a twirk because it felt insincere.
Once the discussion got underway I listen to the reasons against embracing genetic engineering and I was 100% swayed for embracing it. It seemed that the medical possibilities and the practical need for farmers to gain efficiencies gave too much fuel to the pro case. One guy went into this crazy monologue about natural selection that was intelligent until he reached this anticlimactic fulcrum where he suggested that we should just inject these genes into ourselves and forget about changing our foods. Then some other guy shouted, “Why don’t we grow wings and fly away?” To which Wuerthele gave a nod of approval and said, that is not as far fetched as you might think. Hokey
I listen to the “Chicken Little” fear of not embracing new science and I wonder how Copernicus felt? How did Galileo feel? Was Columbus scared to fall off the side of the earth? What was behind the reasoning of Martin Luther King Jr. in saying: Hey white skinned people, black skinned people are your equals. In this Civil Right’s example I can guarantee there was so much traditionally inherited bigotry that there were people who couldn’t even fathom the notion of something being wrong with calling a black man “boy” and kicking him out of his way. Why was it wrong? Where was the evidence for this morality??? It wasn’t taught to him through the conventions of his society. Today I sit at home thankful that these pioneers of thought raged against everything traditional and embraced where their unique paths took them.
From the head of a coin there is always the tail as there is tale to more than one side of every story. There are people in the world who neglect the validity of spirituality because they have the rigid cells of science to toil with. There are the people who use the innocent curiosity of exploration and use it to carry out the gluttony rage of exploitation. There’s the people who gain new found freedoms only exert their power to dominate other groups of people. No protection from these atrocities has been gained from running away from them.
If the Sierra Club wanted to call themselves activists then they would actively pursue this science to glean the powerful secrets it has to furthering civilization. If the Sierra Club wanted to call themselves activists then they would spend their time, money and effort to embrace these sciences and learn the ways to protect people from the harmful bi-products it inheritably contains. The cat is out of the bag. There is no turning back. To me their pensive behavior sounds like nothing more than an old tired cliché of the Witch Hunt.
So now that I wrote my F U blog to the Sierra Club which they will never see. I will blast The Spits “Witch Hunt”…how can such a fun song be so pertinent to my serious mood?
I went to Café Scientifique Tuesday Nov. 15th to complete a journalism assignment. As with anything in life we carry our predispositions. Before I arrived to the Wynkoop I had it in my mind’s eye that I was going to hear the details of this new monstrous science dubbed Genetic Engineering. The flier had quotations from a CEO in the field who embraces the technology. It also had quotations from an activist against this up and coming science. I walked through 30 degree Denver winds expecting to witness a verbose debacle beyond the intellectual confines of my comprehension. To my dismay there was no such debacle.
See to understand what took place one has to understand what the Café Scientifique is. It’s more a place of discussion. It’s based on this old café idea where people would get together and discuss current events. This idea is akin to what Starbucks did with their, “The Way I See It” cups. They printed cups with quotations from colorful personalities and people were to read these ideas and discuss them over coffee. In my limited perspective on it the company’s purpose miserably failed. Every single time I walked into a Starbucks I didn’t see one soul immersed in heated discussion over what they read on their damn cup. I don’t think I saw anyone even look at the words on the cup. In Café Scientifique this discussion concept is taken to a more tangible level because they invite experts from a science filed and have them give their brief introduction on the topic and then open the meeting to discussion from everyone, expert or not. I can unabashedly say I like Starbucks. It’s not my favorite coffee but I enjoy it. Starbucks does good things for their employees they do good things for the environment but none-the-less they are still under the cooperation umbrella so I don’t foresee them taking on such a cool endeavor as having people conjugating in tangible discussion in their commercial outlets.
This meeting taught me the power of elegance. I thought I was going to hate genetic engineering by the time I left and I was going sign up for something to help the cause that hinders this renegade science. Suzanne Wuerthele the guest speaker and genetic engineering committee for the Rocky Mountain chapter of the Sierra Club was as ineloquent as it got. Her inability to sell her message forced me to favor what she opposed. Mind you, the message of her purpose was initially subdued by the nature of the Café so her authority and purpose was then shifted onto her presence and verbal grace. This lacked in its intended goal much like the Starbucks, “The Way I See It” cup did. Here let me quote Wuerthele:
“The Sierra Club is very concerned with Bio-tech because we think there should be more???? until we understand how to fully assess the risks and impacts. There’s kind of an exception to that and that’s the medical stuff and I think that is due partly because the Sierra club is not really gotten into the issue and they tend to think about the environmental issues a little bit. Where I’m coming from tonight is I think there is a lot of valid interesting discussions and feedback on the subject.”
So I’m glad these activists form the Sierra Club haven’t had a chance to look at that medical stuff because then they might be responsible for fully understanding something before they deem it a problem. Maybe they’ll get to that stuff once they spend a little bit more time on the environmental thing.
Another twirk in her speech event was the fact she keep attempting to segue into a conversation with the audience. As you can see from Wuerthele’s quotation she said that she was interested in discussion and feedback. Many times in the night she would say something to the effect of, O.K. I’m going to stop talking and hear what you have to say. Then she never gave the audience a chance to participate. After the fourth time she did that, her request for our feedback became a twirk because it felt insincere.
Once the discussion got underway I listen to the reasons against embracing genetic engineering and I was 100% swayed for embracing it. It seemed that the medical possibilities and the practical need for farmers to gain efficiencies gave too much fuel to the pro case. One guy went into this crazy monologue about natural selection that was intelligent until he reached this anticlimactic fulcrum where he suggested that we should just inject these genes into ourselves and forget about changing our foods. Then some other guy shouted, “Why don’t we grow wings and fly away?” To which Wuerthele gave a nod of approval and said, that is not as far fetched as you might think. Hokey
I listen to the “Chicken Little” fear of not embracing new science and I wonder how Copernicus felt? How did Galileo feel? Was Columbus scared to fall off the side of the earth? What was behind the reasoning of Martin Luther King Jr. in saying: Hey white skinned people, black skinned people are your equals. In this Civil Right’s example I can guarantee there was so much traditionally inherited bigotry that there were people who couldn’t even fathom the notion of something being wrong with calling a black man “boy” and kicking him out of his way. Why was it wrong? Where was the evidence for this morality??? It wasn’t taught to him through the conventions of his society. Today I sit at home thankful that these pioneers of thought raged against everything traditional and embraced where their unique paths took them.
From the head of a coin there is always the tail as there is tale to more than one side of every story. There are people in the world who neglect the validity of spirituality because they have the rigid cells of science to toil with. There are the people who use the innocent curiosity of exploration and use it to carry out the gluttony rage of exploitation. There’s the people who gain new found freedoms only exert their power to dominate other groups of people. No protection from these atrocities has been gained from running away from them.
If the Sierra Club wanted to call themselves activists then they would actively pursue this science to glean the powerful secrets it has to furthering civilization. If the Sierra Club wanted to call themselves activists then they would spend their time, money and effort to embrace these sciences and learn the ways to protect people from the harmful bi-products it inheritably contains. The cat is out of the bag. There is no turning back. To me their pensive behavior sounds like nothing more than an old tired cliché of the Witch Hunt.
So now that I wrote my F U blog to the Sierra Club which they will never see. I will blast The Spits “Witch Hunt”…how can such a fun song be so pertinent to my serious mood?
# posted by Nick D @ 5:04 PM 
