Yearly Kos: The Science Caucus

I eagerly anticipated the Science Caucus. Would all the big-wig science bloggers be there? What would be the topics of conversation? How do we bloggers save the world, fight creationism, who knows? When I approached the door, DarkSyde, Daily Kos' head science blogger, was greeting those who came through the door. He seemed genuinely pleased to shake everyone's hand and say "hello."

The science caucus was not held in a huge room, so I grabbed a seat in the circle. A few minutes later, the room was packed. Darksyde introduced himself and opened up the floor to discussion, acting as a moderator. For the next hour or so, everyone screamed bloody hell about the infiltration of creationism into the classroom. I have to admit, that it felt good--complaining about one's foes with his compatriots always does. My favorite quote is from an anonymous Atheist fellow:

I don't think I've ever convinced a person that God didn't exist or that Jesus Christ wasn't their personal savior. It's much easier to convince them to vote Democratic.

At this point, when the hubbub had reached its height, DarkSyde interjected that we need to be more constructive in our efforts to fight the right rather than continue to talk about religion.

They [the right] have a lot of channels to get their message out. For us, Democrats and science, this is it--this room. We have all of the top science bloggers here in this room, probably with an audience of a million people. What are we going to do? [slightly paraphrase]

That was a sobering point. The Discovery Institute is a well funded conservative think tank that continually pumps out pseudoscience to further the goals of creationists and opponents of carbon dioxide reduction, etc. The science caucus was an opportunity to collectively fight the right's pseudoscience, and what did we do? We played directly into their hand. The caucus didn't improve much from their, as it was almost over. Other's continued:

This session terrifies me. I didn't expect to talk about religion.
--Jerome a Paris

If this is the state of science in America, it's finished...We need to use the same tactics they use on us, fear and greed. Tell people that if their children are not properly educated, all of the good jobs will go to China.
--London Yank (paraphrase)

Jurors don't know enough to tell when a District Attorney is lying to them,
--Anonymous

We need to become constructive, not make fun of the right all the time. They are winning.
--Chris Mooney (author of The Republican War on Science)

After the session ended people were noticeably depressed--myself included. Two lines of a chat between DarkSyde and an anonymous person sum it up best.

Well that was depressing.
--Anonymous

--Yeah, that was fucked up.
--DarkSyde

For more info on the Science Caucus and Friday's science panel, read DarkSyde's post.