I was in St. Paul, or transiting to and from St. Paul, all day yesterday for the grand #StandUpForScience rally. As you might expect for an event organized by science nerds, it was flawlessly executed: it started exactly at 3pm, had about 10 speakers, and finished precisely at 5pm. The speakers were all brief and to the point. We had several state legislators talk about the importance of science education and the contributions of science to our state’s economy, and several people with direct experience of the impact of Trump’s chaos — one young woman had just finished a post-doc and got a job with a state agency (the forest service, I think) the week after the election, and walked into a demoralized office where no one knew what was going to happen to them. She found out: she was fired 3 weeks after starting, with 2 hours notice.
Some people talked about social and economic justice, in particular, the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC), which I knew nothing about until yesterday. It’s a big incinerator which converts trash to energy, which is nice, but somehow it got located to the center of a district filled with low-income and minority residents. Funny how that happens.
Science and DEI are intertwined — so many first generation scientists were reliant on DEI initiatives to get their careers started. One speaker suggested a good question to ask critics of DEI: What, specifically, are they opposed to? Is it diversity, do they dislike people of color working in science and engineering? Is it equity, the idea of equal pay for equal work, do they think brown people should get less support? Or is it inclusion, the idea that minorities should be able to work shoulder to shoulder with existing, dominant groups? There’s no good answer to those kinds of questions, and they’re all just hiding behind an acronym, afraid to spell out what they actually want.
Another theme of speakers and participants was the raging inequality in this country. Mention the word “corporations” and you heard a chorus of “boos”. A lot of the signs people were waving targeted the wealthy and unfair tax laws, that the Trump regime was robbing science to make the rich richer. Everyone in this crowd hated billionaires in general and Elon Musk in particular. That guy is so desperate for attention and respect and popularity, and he has made himself the #1 enemy and object of contempt by scientists & engineers & teachers & health experts. Chalk that up to yet another tremendous failure by Musk the Incompetent.
It seems the greed of the wealthy in this country has inspired a lot of people to look favorably on communism and wealth redistribution and the social safety net and mutual aid. That’s going to backfire spectacularly on the upper class. This event sounded like a communist rally at times, good for them.
Also, I got to meet many fellow angry supporters of science, including commenter foolishleader who does have a spectacular octopus hat.
I’m looking forward to more Stand Up for Science events!
Today is another day to rally, by the way. So is tomorrow. And the day after.
Glad it went very well, PZ!
Re: Musk’s desperation for popularity. It is funny, in a cynical way, that Musk and his ilk are so desperately trying to force people into loving them, while the only thing they need to do to be loved is be lovable.
PZ, I appreciate your effort. I’m glad you contributed without becoming incarcerated. I really do hope that the tens of thousands attending these worthwhile rallies actually have some effect on redirecting the downward spiral upward. However, from what I see, the rtwingnut xtian miscreants running things just ignore the populace, their voices and their needs.
can we please get a picture of the hat?
“One speaker suggested a good question to ask critics of DEI: What, specifically, are they opposed to?“
My take is if you ask MAGAts they would all say DEI leads to hiring incompetent people instead of competent ones. Whether they are lying, and their real motivation is to stop women and people of color from being hired, or, they really believe that’s what DEI is all about, is hard to say. Probably a mix. So they’re either a-holes or ignorant. Bottom line, I would not expect any rational answers to this question.
Putting a power plant in a residential area seems quite reasonable to me. There’s plenty of waste heat that could be piped around homes, instead of using fossil fuels or even more electricity and in turn generating even more waste heat. The lower bills (instead of a gas boiler or heat pump, you just need a plate-to-plate heat exchanger), and snow-free roads in Winter, should make properties there more desirable.
… equity, the idea of equal pay for equal work…
I prefer the “applied” branch of activism to the “theory” part, but I gather most progressives pack a lot more into that word “equity”. For some it includes “need”, for others “removal of obstacles”, for others concepts too lofty for my low brain to grasp. In any case, “equity” is a goal (mostly) too far from reach for the vagueness of the term to matter much.
bluerizlagirl . @ # 7: Putting a power plant in a residential area seems quite reasonable to me.
IF certain conditions are met. Burning trash (a) produces smoke and ash potentially dangerous to humans and environment; (b) requires a constant flow of transport vehicles, maybe a high-voltage line & other hazards; (c) may make a lot of noise; and (d) might make more sense in an industrial zone.
I know these issues have been worked out successfully in Scandinavia, and maybe elsewhere, but would not trust most US municipalities to do so without intense community pressure.
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blockquote> One speaker suggested a good question to ask critics of DEI: What, specifically, are they opposed to? Is it diversity, do they dislike people of color working in science and engineering? Is it equity, the idea of equal pay for equal work, do they think brown people should get less support? Or is it inclusion, the idea that minorities should be able to work shoulder to shoulder with existing, dominant groups?
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The vast majority of anti-DEI folds will tell you they aren’t against any of these things (even if they are) because they fundamentally do not think this is what DEI is about. The reason most people that are against DEI are against it is because they believe that DEI means hiring unqualified people based on racial “quotas”. This is what they have been told over and over again on fox news and in the right wing social mediasphere. The reality is that there is no point in arguing with them because they don’t agree with the fundamental premise of what DEI actually is, nor can they be convinced of a meaning that isn’t what Fox tells them it is.
Doh, total fail. Must remember to preview….
@ ^ canadiansteve : You reckon you need to preview?! Imagine being in my shoes!!! ;-)
(Okay, bare feet now & usually but a-n-y-h-o-w..) Could be worse..