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Rowena Hopkins

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  1. I used to get worked up about this topic but now I just find it tedious stating the obvious. Gay marriage does not hurt anyone. Banning gay marriage does. If we are civilised nice kind people who would like to be treated fairly I suggest that we treat others as fairly. Is there really any arguement beyond that? Rowena
  2. Here follows the final paragraph of a weekly column written by a Canadian Minister in our regional paper. In it he argues for the sanctity of life, puts forward the arguement that it is a little bit rich for one of "the most violent societes on this planet" who consider it a right to carry arms to be getting all noble about this particular case and concludes with the following "What is really at issue in the Terri Schiavo case is not the sacredness of life at all but a fear of death. Her parent's desperate pleas to keep their daughter alive seem to be motivated out of grief; they are unable to let their daughter die. Her mother sums it up when she said "She is my life". Although Chrstianity values life, biological life is not the totality of human existance. For Christians, death is not the end of a life but a new stage and new beginning. The fear of losing a loved one is natural and understandable but ultimately selfish. Terri Shaivo has nothing to live for but everything to die for. If we believe that upon death she wll pass into God's presence then why would anyone argue that a vegetative state is better than communion with God?" It strikes me that this whole situation is not about Terri and what she would want, but what her relatives, the church and politicians can get out of it. Terri's parents don't want to let their little girl go. Terri's husband wants to move on with his life. The Church and politicians want to score points. None of us can possibly know what Terri would want, we can only guess based on what we would want and what we consider to be the right thing to do. I personally would want to be put out of my misery and as a result of this whole debate am going to have that put in writing. It would be bad enough having my parents pitted against my husband, but to have complete strangers acting like they have a stake in me - please! Rowena
  3. so, who wrote the bible? If humans (the great destroyers) do have souls then so do dogs (loyal and obedient), worms (natures great recyclers) and birds (singing their hearts out at their pleasure at livng every sngle day, not just once a week). What on earth do human being have going for them that makes them the best candidates for possessing souls...other than the fact that we define our own beliefs and therefore get to choose who gets them. Religion is all very well and good if it makes people happy and leads to good things being done. In actual fact so many wars have ridden on the back of religion, so many women have been mistreated (in most religions women are possessions of men - only the woman has to say 'to honour and obey'- vessels for babies and not in control of their own reproductive capacity - lack of contraceptive options and lack of access to abortion) and hatred has been preached (anti-semitism by muslems, homophobia by nearly all religions the lst is endless). If this is the result of belief then I feel the world is better off without it. As for Santa, if you truely believe in him then you will ignore the ignorance of hs detractors, Rowena
  4. The trouble with trying to prove yourself right as an atheist is that you can't and neither can you prove religion wrong. Relgious people demand proof that atheists are correct whilst atheists are not allowed to demand proof from religious people because it is all about 'faith' and 'belief'. It does seem that we are setting off on an unfair footing. Ultimately if someone told me that they believed in father christmas and that they knew he existed because they felt it in their heart and he made them feel whole then it would be impossible for me to prove them wrong without insulting them personally i.e. by trying to prove that they were in fact bonkers. My husband, raised a Catholic, feels that I have something missing from my life. I, raised nothing in particular, do not feel that there is anything to miss. I am perfectly capable of making the kind of moral dececions expected of good christians (etc) without having to back up my views with quotes from the bible. I don't kill, steal, rape or degrade people because it wouldn't be a nice thing to do and I wouldn't want someone to do that to me. My parents raised me to have this outlook on life without the need to convince me that I would go either to heaven or hell if I either obeyed or disobeyed them. I choose to do the right thing because it is the rght thing to do and not because I expect reward or to avoid punnishment. In addition I don't have to be subjugated as a women as most religious texts demand. Rowena p.s. now apparently I, am a simple human being, am not able to decide what is right or wrong, but I'd say that I can take a pretty good guess! p.p.s. the bible was written by men and so the ten commandments etc were written by men.
  5. Yep, that was the other thing that really got my goat in Rwanda. The pity of my students that I had not 'found' God. It never ceased to amaze them that I could be a happy atheist who loved nature and people and life but didn't need religion as an emotional prop to stop myself going off the rails. I found it somewhat ironic that a bunch of children considered themselves to be more wise and knowing than their teacher who had experienced far more of life than they had and also read more than one book! Some even offered to pray for me - I politely asked them not to and asked them to do some work instead. This would clearly benefit them and would have made me leap around joyously and perhaps believe that I had found heaven on earth. I simply couldn't imagine being so condescending as to go up to someone I respected (and apparently they did respect me ;-)) and tell them that they are somewhat lacking, that I pity them in their sad state and that they were going to go to hell unless I (their subordinate) saved them. How smug and how proud. And if heaven is full of religious serial killers I surely don't want to go there;-) Rowena
  6. My first brush with religion and science came in my second week of unversity when i was writing an essay about geological time - relative dating vs absolute. After a few hours of trawling through papers I rushed down to a colleagues room and announced "Plant Earth is 4.55 billion years old, and I am 18. What it the point of my life!?". And no, I hadn't been drinking;-) Science is so big it is awe inspiring and I do hope to maintain that sense of awe, but that doesn't mean that I should just hide under the bed, or take the easy option and say 'its all down to God', and frankly that would be much easier than worrying about why there life on planet earth, the odds of that happening and my importance in the grand scheme of things. Geology is one of those subjects where religion and faith do battle on a daily basis. I find it particularly entertaining reading religious pseudo science websites which 'prove' that the world is only a couple of thousand years old. I do question why we should believe these writers who clearly have little or no scientific schooling, whose theories make little or no sence to the rational thinker (I presented one or two of the ideas to my 6th formers last year as 'fact' and even they could see the huge holes in the arguements) and why we should ignore the decades of research undertaken by people who are experts in ther scientific fields and who, interestingly, have to be open to the idea that they may not be right and may in fact prove themselves wrong. Which brings me onto facts. In science there are no facts. There are things that we consider to be accurate at the time. We cannot prove anything, only disprove. Therfore we have the choice of either saying 'we don't know anything so lets not bother trying to figure anythng else out' or saying 'well, we think this is the case and so IF it is true then that means that this could also be true'. In a way it is frustrating working in a field that is so open to change. Plate Tectonics came along in the 1970's and completely screwed up most of the theories of the people who lectured me at university, but they took this new theory and moved on (though of course there was some dissent at the time). and re-evaluated ther old ideas to see if they could be accommodated in the Plate Tectonics model. This did not question their faith, only their ability to be flexible and work with different models. This contrasts with my grandmother (a woman of religion, but little spirituality and a retired primary school teacher). My mother told her a few years ago that human life originated in Africa (probably because my grandmother was being racist at the time) and she simply could not accept this because "this was not what she was taught at school"! This sums up my problem with many religious people. They are just opting for religion because they are lazy. If you are religious you only have to read one book in your life time, be it the Qur'an or the Bible or whatever else, and then you can be superior in all discussions by quoting bits from your chosen book. You don;t need to understand, or think, just quote (whilst looking irritatingly serene;-)). The rest of us have to keep reading every new paper that gets published to keep up to date with things and even then we know that nothing is certain and that the prevailing theory may change and change again and so when we talk about the origins of life we can't just sit there serenely quoting genisis (knowing that the good book isn't going to be re-written any time soon) we actually try to back up our thoughts with evidence, which may be replaced with new evidence any day. Its a far more precarious way of viewing the world, but I'd say it was a more mature one, based on open mindedness and acceptance of new ideas and not an obsession with trying to prove right the contents of a book which was written by men, for men, to try to explain the world as they saw it, and to maintain the status quo (don't get me onto religion and feminism!). The bible/Qur'an/etc isn't a fax from God and should be treated as an early historical document and not absolute truth. Whilst living in Africa I taught very religious people. When your life is so very precarious that a car crash will most likely result in death, as will Malaria, dehydration or having sex with one person unprotected, its not surprising that people turn to religon for support. Frankly life in this world is so unrewarding all they can hope for is that life in the next will be better. Interesting, then that in this very religious society all that praying (and they do pray day and night) brings so little devine intervention. One of the side effects of religion of course was apathy. Why study? You will pass your exams if God wills it. Why use condoms? You will stay HIV free if God wills it. I would work my fingers to the bone trying to help them to get through their exams and into university where maybe they could get a better life, because I cared and wanted to help, and they would wander over to my house and try to convert me to Seventh Day Adventism, Islam or pentacostalism to save me from going to hell. They were very concerned for my soul and yet being such good religious people this did not stop them lieing, cheating and stealing. The hypocrisy of Africans and religion was the final nail in the coffin for me. I intend to keep plugging on the way I am, doing my best to help people, being caring and kind, and yet not believing in God, because if there is a God surely they are wise enough to understand that I am more deserving of a place in heaven than most of religious people I have met, and if they are a cruel God then I will take my chances in Hell, where I'm sure I will be in good company, Rowena
  7. I have been following this debate from Canada and what I don't understand is, if Terri didn't have any tests performed on her why is it that we were shown (on the CBC news) her brain scan, next to the scan of a healthy person? Frankly there didn't seem to be much of her brain left! I can't help thinking that her death should be a blessing to her parents in the long term. At least now they have the opportunity to grieve for their daughter instead of clinging onto a hope that seems fairly baseless. Rowena
  8. Hi There, Happy Easter or Joyeuses Pâques as we say here:-) I moved to Canada 18 months ago and finally got accepted as a resident last week. At this point I received my teacher certification from the Teacher Certification Board in Fredericton (the provincial capitol of New Brunswick). This would all be wonderful were it not for the fact that they clearly don't understand the British education system and so have applied Canadian rules to my qualifications. In short I have been accepted as a teacher of ARTS (including Chemistry, Science and Geology) - I have a BA from Oxford and whilst I have tried to explain to Fredericton that all Oxford degrees are BA's they simply can't get their heads around this! Then there are 6 levels of teacher certification and I have been allocated a level 4 because I have a three year degree plus a PGCE. All Canadian teachers who followed the same route as me have 4 years degrees (three year degrees don't exist here) plus teaching certification so are allocated a level 5 certificate. This means that they have greater access to promotion and are paid more than me despite being no more qualified. I have contacted Oxford to ask if they can provide me with some proof that a three year Oxford Bachelors is equal to a 4 years bachelors from another university, but of course Frederiction will assume that Oxford are just blowing their own trumpet! So I was wondering if any of you could help me by providing me with a name or website for an independent certification board for the UK who if necessary I could pay to write to Fredericton to politely explain that someone in the UK with an Oxford degree would not be paid less than someone from say, Cardiff with the same degree irrespective of how long it takes to attain the degree because a Bachelors is a Bachelors is a Bachelors! The problem is that in North American all courses are allocated Credits and of course we don't have credits in the UK so I can't prove that I have the same number as anyone else! Any hints or suggestions would be really gratefully appreciated:-) Rowena p.s. certification is a huge issue in New Brunswick right now as they are desperate for immigrants to move here and bring their skills, but then wont take the time to assess these skills properly and pay them a decent wage.
  9. I believe that reasons for the huge public response to the tsunami disaster are two fold. Firstly there is the dramatic nature of the disaster meaning that it received a huge amount of press (compare that to the ongoing situation in Dafur). Secondly the fact that this was a 'one off' event rather than an ongoing political problem. This gives people the impression that by donating money it will actually lead to positive results rather than being lost in a sea of beurocracy/ corruption. Of course the media has provided amazingly little coverage of the ongoing political issues in Banda Aceh and Sri Lanka. The only place that I have read about Dalits being denied aid by Indian officials is on the BBC online. There will of course be corruption, theft of aid etc and the political problems are unlikely to simply disappear overnight, but in the mean time we keep giving because Asia seems infinately more 'fixable' than Africa. Perhaps it is, but this should not mean that Africans should be denied the aid if needed. As for development cash, having worked for a development agency I can assure you that the vast bulk of it is wasted by the majority of big players. Development keeps white people in jobs and maintains dependancy of the underdeveloped world on the developed. Debt relief, the removal or rethinking of World bank restrictions and trade would be far more effective tools in lifting the developing world out of its current situation. Rowena
  10. Living in Africa for 4 years meant that I often found myself pondering the issue of the British Empire. The general consensus amongst the Africans that I discussed it with was that the British were 'Not as bad' as the Belgians or the Portuguese and that they brought schools and roads and 'organisation'. this made me feel slightly less uncomfortable. Ugandans are also quick to point out the most of their African leader post collonial era were actually worse than the British and some even voiced the opinion that they would quite like us to come back! That said, none of these people were old enough to actually remember what life was like during colonial times - all they see are the railways, the roads and the universities. positive relics of a not very positive time. They have however lived through Obote and Amin and their own atrocities and know that African leaders are not faultless. of course they generously fail to mention who kept their corrupt leaders in power. It would make a huge amount of sense for the collonial era and the carving up of Africa to be included in GCSE history. For one thing it might help the students to understand what the Italians were doing in Abyssinia, and why Germany was in any position to 'give' Rwanda to Belgium. I was discussing history teaching with some Burundian friends last week and they remarked on the fact that whislt most Africans know their own histories and that of the USA and UK (or other European nation depending on their history), the North Americans and the British have no idea why Ugandans and Kenyans speak such good English, or why immigrants from West African generally move to France! Rowena
  11. Sounds a little like those weapons of mass destruction, but it didn't stop Britain invading Iraq! Rowena
  12. Yes menus should reflect more of what is available to adults which means that there should be something other than pizza, chips, breaded animal offal and other such disgusting things on offer. And if you are a vegetarian, well there is always chips, or some soggy lettuce.... I eat out in town and always manage to find somewhere that will serve me with soup and a sandwich, or a curry, or falafel... when was the last time you saw any of that on a school menu?! The "Nanny state" already exists in the school canteen and she is an evil nanny who 'protects' schools from providing children with less profitable foods. Rowena p.s. There is a school in Canada (just one!) which employs a professional chef to serve up all sorts of delights to the kids and after the initial rebellions (but I WANT fries) they decided that they actually preferred his food. Eating patterns are established in childhood. these children will in all likelyhood go on to become foodies, whilst their counterparts at other schools will just be fat and dead at 40.
  13. As a scientist Earthquakes to me are simply a natural phenomenan. End of story. However, you may be interested in the idea (almost obsession) of Shamita Das, a senior lecturer in Seismology at the Univeristy of Oxford, who believes that most earthquakes occur on religious holidays, resulting in a higher survival rate (fewer people crowded into office blocks and schools). As an undergradute I never really understood why she thought this happened or whether she simply thought it was a convenient co-incidence. But she was certainly convinced that there was a pattern there. Rowena
  14. An old one, but still very funny...... Al Gore was in London and met the Queen. Gore asked the Queen about her leadership philosophy. The Queen said she found that the best way to govern was to surround herself with intelligent people. “But how do you know they are intelligent? Gore asked. “I ask them testing questions. For example, when Tony Blair became leader of the Labour Party, I telephoned him and asked the following question: “Your mother has a child, your father has a child and this child is not your brother or your sister. Who is it?” “Why it is me,” said Tony Blair, without a pause. “Correct!” said the Queen. Gore returned to America and called George W. Bush: “Mr President, may I ask you a question?” he said. “By all means”, said the President. “Your mother has a child, your father has a child and this child is not your brother or your sister. Who is it?” George Bush was stumped and remained silent for a while before saying, “May I get back to you on that, Al?” He asked all his closest aides before finally ringing Colin Powell, to whom he posed the telling question. Powell, like Blair, replied, without pause: “It’s me.” George Bush rang Gore and said: “I know the answer to your question. It’s Colin Powell.” “Wrong,” said Gore. “It’s Tony Blair.”
  15. Hi Tim, of course there is more to any science subject than just regurgitating facts, but in terms of actual science teaching and learning, often that is pretty much all there is to it. Science teaching in schools does not reflect science. That is the problem. Rowena
  16. Hi Mike, my point exactly, and in high schools in the Uk the multiple choice exam IS the way science is tested and therefor teaching is geared up to that kind of 'knowledge'. For as long as GCSE science exams are multiple choice, what hope do science teachers have? Rowena
  17. The key to becoming a multi-skilled person with a broad spectrum of knowledge, is not to take hundreds of college courses and memorise lots of facts, but to be interested in learning, to know how to figure things out, where to look things up and who to ask when you need an answer to something. It is impossible for the human brain to simply remember vast ammounts of information, especially when they have no particular meaning to you (try memorising the populations of 20 random countries around the world and see how long its sticks), but if you are interested in something and a questions arrises and you find the answer to your question then it will stick around for a long time. Sadly in most science classes in British schools the tendency is for the teacher to provide all of the facts and for the students to absorb them passively. These facts are then quickly forgotten and the student believes that to get answers to anything you must ask the teacher. Hardly a great foundation for life. I think that you can teach a curriculum based on grape growing and the history of flightless birds, and this will be a good foundation for life, provided that the method allows the students to learn actively and not passively. Rowena
  18. On the sciences vs arts front, I, like many, opted for scientific subjects because it was what the 'smart kids' studied. The serious kids who wanted to do something with their lives. With hindsight I would say that there is more touchy feely stuff going on in science teaching than in a typical history or German class. I believe that I learnt more about logic from my arts classes than any of the scientific ones (which at the time were trying to make science more 'fun' and manageable by breaking it down into simple facts. History on the other hand was much more about looking at the bigger picture, linkages, causes and effects and not treating anything in isolation). (I stress that this is referring to secondary (high school) and not college). Rowena
  19. Hello again, I have to say, when I'm talking about the difficutly of studying chemistry versus other science subjects, that I am thinking more of the earlier grades (GCSE and 'A' level). I have absolutely no idea how difficult Biology or Physics are at university level having studied Geology, with Chemistry! And I imagine that all of the sciences are difficult at the level. What I am trying to say is that at earliers levels biology is broken down into nice bite sized facts such as 'A cold is a virus' and ' Viruses cannot be treated with anitobiotics', and so the biggest piece of reasoning a student will have to do is 'can a cold be treated with antibiotics?'. In Physics, you simply have to remember 2 or three formulae per topic and practise applying them in different ways. More complex than Biology, but still achieveable by many. Then take chemistry. You spend several weeks teaching kids about the reactions of different substances and oxygen, such as combustion, and then the exam comes along and they are asked to explain why old copper coins are black. This is much harder to do than either of the above situations because you need to recall a number of facts and then string together a sensible arguement. Most kids fail to score full marks for a question such as this and so consider chemistry to be difficult....and so as they move through school the pressure to perform well in exams pushes them towards subjects that they can perform better at such as Biology - they still have the caché of the science subject, but although most will tell you that they study biology because it is interesting (and of course it is) the underlying reasoning behind studying it is that it is a science that they can pass. Experience tells them this. In response to Nicks questions about whether we should only offer Chemistry to the 'bright' or make it more simple I don't think we should do either. Its important that all students study a subject that involves some reasoning. What use do we have for random science facts later in life??? Reasoning however is a process that we can all use and is a skill that should not be removed from learning just to make things easier. A solution to the chemistry is hard problem? Mix it all up. Students know even at KS3 whether a topic is essentially çhemitry, or physics or biology. We need to teach topics that are a mixture of all of these things, as in real life, so that students stop seeing the sciences as being discrete, which of course, they are not. Rowena
  20. To me Chemistry is the only real scientific subject because it is the only one that involves reasoning and logic as opposed to regurgitating facts (biology) or plugging numbers into formulae (physics). This is of course why kids find it difficult - because its one of the few subjects where they really need to use their brains and THINK! We have the choice of either breaking chemistry down into such bite sized chunks that the students find it palletable, or selling it for what it is - a really interesting challenging subject that you need to work hard at to pass. Rowena
  21. All this talk about Marx and Lenin is very interesting but I think it just boils down to whether the needs of 'I' are more important than the needs of everyone else, and whether 'I' am capable of making sensible decisions in my current environment. Whilst I believe that educating people about the risks involved in certain behaviours is important I also believe that there have to be distinct legal boundaries as well. My reasoning is anecdotal. 1) when at school we all watched a lovely video about why smoking was bad for us. This included the disected black lung and the man with no legs. We were all shocked and agreed that smoking was bad. 10 minutes later the usual suspects were out smoking behind the bushes. 2) in Africa the majority of students can tell you what AIDS is, how is is spread and how to avoid contracting it. However, many still particiapte in risky behaviour because what is taught in the classroom does no apply to their 'real lives'. 3) People here in Eastern Canada all take Young Drivers courses before taking their driving tests. They learn how speed and alcohol are key factors in accidents. However, the majority of the population speed and a significant minority drink and drive. In all of the above cases the people involved have listened to the facts and have chosen to believe what they want to believe - what fits their lifestyle. Last night there was a documentary about the brewing industry which spends a fortune on funding research into why drinking alcohol is good for you. This is then published on their website so that people have 'access to the facts so that they can make the right decisions'. However, they do not include ANY negative factors. Drinking is good for you full stop. This then gets into the mainstream media and when interviewed the majority of people believed that alcohol in moderation was a good thing and only outright alcoholism was bad for you. If they had read the studies by the Centre for Addicition they would have learnt that according to their own (less biased) research the health risks of drinking, even in moderation, outweight the gains. However, even if they had, would they have chosen to listen to this information or that which supports their own lifestyle? Even my own mother quotes studies about the benefits of tea (being an avid tea drinker) when that information relates to green tea and not Tetley! We are selective in what we choose to take on board and respond to. For Andy I get the impression that the occasional cigar or whiskey are not a problem. For me its tea and icecream. (though not at the same time!) for my husband it is speeding. For others it is drinking and driving, smoking heavily or living on caffeine. All of us feel that given all the information we are perfectly in control and doing 'the right thing' and no-one likes to be told what to do, least of all by the government. My grandmother still refuses to wear a seatbelt because 'she is not a baby'. My mother and I would never consider going anywhere without wearing one and get quite panicky when we get into vehicles that lack them in the passenger seats. This change in mentality was not achieved solely by education, but by backing it up with sensible laws which ultimately protect people. Most people wear seatbelts because they don't want to risk a hefty fine, and of course its also dangerous not to. If this had not become law people would have had to choose to wear a seatbelt, which will protect them IF they have an accident, but then they aren't going to have an accident because they are 'good drivers' so why wear one.? In most cases education makes people protect their kids but not themselves. A case in point is in the UK I believe cyclehelmets are still not mandetory, so you will see families going out with the kids protected and the parents helmetless (because obviously being grownups they can magically prevent themselves from getting brain damage) leading the kids to think that when they grow up they don't have to wear them anymore. Here in Canada it is mandatory, so all wear them. and the next generation wont fight about it becasue it will be completely normal. If we were all healthy, sensible, non-risk taking people then maybe we wouldn't need this additional protection but in a world where most people are fat, unhealthy and ultimately selfish I'm not sure we can always trust the individual to do the right thing. The power of 'I am, I want, I will do what I want' still being stronger than 'I should, I ought to, I will do right by others'. Rowena
  22. We have the same battles here in Canada, ranging from the sublime The Smokers in New Brunswick who insist that it is their 'right' to smoke in public - well legally it is no longer thank goodness- whilst the non-smokers hve to sit in silence and breathe their effluent. Whether passive smoking causes cancer or not I think any non smoker will agree that having to smell the smoke, have it sting your eyes and stain your clothes is simply unacceptable when you are trying to enjoy a meal in a restaurant. Smoking has not been banned. Smokers can smoke all the cigars they like in the privacy of their own homes. This to me is the 'Nanny State' at its best. to the ridiculous We have 'Hot-Rod' gatherings in Moncton once a year and this year these hot rods and a bunch of local 'men' decided to drive their cars at high speeds through the middle of town, performing skids and U-turns and narrowly missing gathered crowds of pedestrians who were cheering them on. According to their representatives they had the 'right'to drive as fast as they wanted and the police should butt out! Certainly the crowd seemed to enjoy the show. However, had one of the onlookers been hurt, hell would have broken loose. Once again, the Nanny State is there to protect excitable young people from themselves. Canada is an interesting country in that it has strong socialists tendancies coupled with a certain 'hunter gatherer' mentality. I still find it hard to place side by side 'Medicare' and seals being clubbed to death on the ice. I do think Canada has taken some great steps in the right direction in terms of protecting people from themselves because if the government doesn't step in to say 'cigarettes are bad for you' then all the people have to listen to is the cigarette manufactureres telling them that they are not. Its about redressing the balance. In the past the cigarette manufacturers had the upper hand. Now the Government of New Brunswick does. In a typical school canteen chips are on the menu EVERY DAY of the the week. They are the cheapest foods on offer along with Pizza and so many children eat them EVERY DAY of the week. These children are then going to grow up thinking that these eating habits are normal and that if they want vitamins and minerals all they need to do is pop pills and this will produce another generation of fat kids. Every day on the TV fast food manufacturers tell you how convenient and cheap their foods are and there is no-one saying that if you eat them everyday it they will kill you. The government HAS to step in at times like there because life long habits are formed in childhood when the child does not have all the information at their disposal and wouldn't know what to do with it if they did. In terms of banning books etc etc well take a look at the US. A land of so called freedom where text books are taken from school reading lists or censorred under pressure, not from the Nanny State but right wing pressure groups and corporations. We have to take into account that not everyone is capable of going to univeristy or even attaining 'A' levels and these are the people who believe that advertisments speak the truth. As a kid my grandmother used to sneak feed me Mars Bars because 'they give you energy'. There are plenty of people in the world who believe that they can drive safely after drinking 10 pints of beer (or indeed drive better), that they don't need to wear a seatbelt, that a baby is safer sitting on their mums lap in the front of a car than restrained in a car seat, that your average joe is perfectly capable of owning a gun, that you can drive as fast as you like as long as you are a 'good driver' that a MacDonalds happy meal is healthy for kids, that the big corporations care about the helath of their workers and the communities they are based in (Bhopal), that smoking is no-ones business but their own, (that Iraq was responsible for 9/11) ....I could go on for ever. The role of the 'Nanny State' if to protect people not only from their own ignorance, but from other peoples ignorance. I can't imagine how awful the Canada would be without that kind of protection. Sincerely, Rowena
  23. Smoking in all public places including bus stops is illegal here since September. All I can say about it is WONDERFUL!!! No more going out and coming home with a coat, hair, shoes, everything (!) stinking of fags even thought I've never smoked in my life and none of my close friends or family do. There has been a lot of debate about it in the papers ever since the ban came into effect but most people seem happy about it. Perfume is also banned in the workplace including schools. If only they would legalise gay marriage I do believe we could call ourselves truely progressive:-) Rowena
  24. I think Noam Chomsky is a classic example of someone who is supposed to be anti-American, pro Castro, pro Nazi, pro everything evil..... if you have never read his books or listened to any of his lectures. This man stood up just after 9/11 and pointed out that this kind of crap happens to people all over the world either at the hands of the american millitary or by violence sponsored and condoned by America. The only real shoking thing about it is that it happened on American soil which until this point was considered untouchable. American commits the attrocities, it does not have attrocities commited against it! And so when Mr Chomsky pointed out that far more people have died in equally horrendous circumstances in Turkey etc (with American military aid) he was accused of supporting terrorism, when all he was doing was suggest that if we want to stop terrorism we should stop committing terrorist acts. His is an incredable voice of calm and reason in a sea of panic and fear of Islam and anything foreign and different and yet he is accused of being Anti-American, Anti freedom, pro terrorist, leftist, fascist etc etc because if you sling enough mud some is bound to stick and then people may just not listen to him. If being American mean being someone who believes in truth, decency and freedom then perhaps Mr Chomsky is one of the only true Americans brave enough to have their voice heard. Rowena
  25. In reference to the BBC article about language learning, I was under the impression that both Chomsky and Pinkers line on it was that it is easier for very young children to learn languages than older people because, as children all languages are processed in the language part of the brain, whereas for older learners languages are treated the same way as other information and stored in the part of the brain used for birthdates, recipes and members of Manchester United i.e the already overflowing bit! This also means that we do not apply grammer as naturally and logically to languages acquired later in life whereas younger children will add appropriate grammer even to languages that lack it (such as Pidgin English). The BBC article was simply cut and pasted so I do not necessarily agree with every part of it. Rowena
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