The Rolla debate: conclusions
Let's see if you can guess which subjects came up during our live "town hall" programme from Rolla, Missouri, on Friday.
The state of the US economy? Of course. Energy policy? Definitely. The teaching of creationism in schools? Oh yes. (I admit I was surprised by that one.)
The war in Iraq? Er, no. Not one. About 100 people turned up to be in our audience, and none of them wanted to ask about Iraq.
So what, if anything, does that mean? That Missouri voters don't care about the war? I doubt it. That they think it's probably going OK so it's not something they regard as an election issue? I wonder.
I was impressed by the Missourians who came along on Friday. They asked serious questions, and listened carefully to the answers from two local Congressmen, a political science professor and a local radio journalist. (To be honest, they probably asked better questions than a professional interviewer would have done.)
By the way, if you want to listen to the programme, there's an article about my travels and a link to the programme audio file here.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~32~RS~)
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Robin,
Interesting take and findings on your part. The seriousness you speak of is ridiculed on Justin Webbs site by the posters there.
I am not surprised by the Economy interest, but the creationism teaching seems to be being played to keep our minds off of other things. Was creationism brought up by a visitor or by a professor/other?
I ask this as it (creationism) takes our minds off issues such as immagration and illeagal aliens, the effects and the cost.
Oddly the war is going very well and the participants should be proud that a difference was made for good,.. though it came at a high price and is fragile, a democracy in the Middle East is only the first step.
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Hi Robin,
First I'd like to thank you for coming all the way out to Rolla for World Tonight and giving us a chance to both challenge our elected officials and inform the rest of the world about the issues important to our community.
I figured I'd comment here because I was the student who asked the question about creationism and science education. I only just started as a Missouri Science and Tech graduate student; for the last few years, I've been a science teacher out in California, so the controversy of religious science education has been close to my heart. It certainly doesn't represent any conspiracy of distraction, and I knew it was an issue that wouldn't come up had I not been the one to pose the question (and I do appreciate that you tried to keep our Representatives from weaseling out of answering the core issue).
I wouldn't deign to speak for the whole of a state to which I'm a recent emigre, but I do believe the last question chosen belonging to the gentleman sitting next to me, if we hadn't run out of time, concerned the Iraq war. As a democrat from Berkeley, you can imagine how I feel about the ongoing conflict, but I can be sure that the state of Missouri hasn't forgotten that its residents are still dying in the Middle East.
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How far can you go into the forest? Only half way. Any further and you are coming out :-)
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MA2
good point, how far left can one go without falling off the planet? Half way to Justin Webbs place.
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DougTexan, how far left? All the way to the left coast. How about all the way to Berserkeley California.
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I would say that if anyone wanted to see what the pioneering American spirit was about, where Americans can see the least adulterated vestige of where their ancestors came from and how they saw the world, the place to go would be Alaska. I was there twenty years ago this last week. It's something you won't ever forget if you see it with your own eyes. I don't think there's another place like it on earth. You have to be tough and independent to live there, otherwise you'd better come back to the lower 48. This is where many people live or die by their wits alone. Their next door neighbor may be 25 miles away. It's about as un European a place as there is in America.
Jack London wrote some great stories about Alaska. His book "The Call of the Wild" was his most famous. When I was young, one of my favorite short stories was one he wrote called "To Build a Fire." Both recommended as is his book "White Fang."
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Post 6 -
Alaska sounds interesting. Certainly doesn't sound like the sort of place where the locals do a lot of fancy wine drinking (what would go with Moose..?)
Not sure if there is nowhere else like it on Earth - I'd imagine parts of Canada, Siberia and Patigonia are similar in landscape maybe Tibet and parts of central Asia too.
As for un-european I'd say Europe is a big place try living in the Shetland Islands or northen Finland if you want remote. Europe isn't all cheese and wine, you know.
You're all doing very well !!
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BANGING ON BUT NOT SO BIG
CERN is a wonderful icon for HALF the available science in the area of high energy physics and cosmology.
There is 50+ years of brilliant science – boasting the odd Nobel Laureate – that runs counter to Big Bang, Dark Matter et al.
As the orthodox model stumbles daily, and has to apply ever-more bizarre sticking plaster to its wounds, the Plasma (Electric) Universe with associated, self-consistent physical constructs, goes from strength to strength. It is a massive body of knowledge, that branches into rock art, mythology and mans emergence. A media feast.
BBC – the alternative truth is out there. Your listeners and viewers deserve acquaintance with its wonders.
‘Plasma Universe’ http://www.plasma-universe.com/index.php/Plasma-Universe.com
‘Electric Universe’ http://www.holoscience.com/synopsis.php
‘Electric Gravity’ http://www.holoscience.com/news.php?article=89xdcmfs
‘Hubble v Hubble’ http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2005/arch05/050610arptest.htm
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IN WWII OUR GOVERNMENT LIED TO US.
Governments feel they can lie WHEN AT WAR.
In WWII we bombed our allies (and V-bombs fell on my bit of Surrey apparently, lured there, to save London). In short, our leaders felt moved to kill some of 'us' in the interests of the rest of 'us'.
Newsnight writes: "Tonight, seven years on from Al Qaeda's attacks on America" and in ask: "Are you sure you have that right, and that no one is lying IN THIS WAR?" A growing number of good minds would take issue with you:
http://www.ae911truth.org/flashmov11.htm
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Young Mr. Grace, I'm afraid the Shetland Islands have little in common with Alaska. I'm not sure about Northern Finland. I don't know much about it but how many cruise ships ply its waters in summer? I was standing on the top deck of the ship when I sailed out of the fjiord from Seward. Someone from Switzerland who'd seen much of Northern Europe said it didn't compare to what we were seeing. That area around the Kenai peninsula and the Chugach range between Seward and Portage is the most spectacular scenery I've seen anywhere. Sailing along the coast of Alaska between Seward and Juneau was quite a sight too. It really makes you wonder how people survived that region just over a hundred years ago during the Alaska gold rush.
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Marcus,
I've never been to Alaska but I must admit that it appears to be a spectacularly beautiful place - perhaps one day. I have been to Patagonia and there the landscape is wild and georgous and the mountains are the highest anywhere save the top of the himalayas and the last non reatreating glaciers left in Earth break into icebergs,
You can't cruise to Nothern Finland as it is sandwiched between Sweden, Norway and Russia but the Fiords of Norway are a popular destination for cruises - exactly how they compare to Alaska or Chilie or New Zealand I'm not sure.
My point about the Sheltands and Northen Scandinavia was that even in the crowded continent of Europe there are places remote and where people make lives out of the difficulties and hardships. There are hunters in Sweden who can shoot an Elk - Elk is quite tasty.
I agree it's incredible to think of how people survived and continue to survive in such places.
Off the coasts of Ireland and Scotland islands (rocks really) like the blaskets and st kilda were inhabited until recently and people there survied on seabird eggs gathered from the ledges of razor sharp cliffs with only the atlantic below - amazing.
You're all doing very well !!
(especially those who triumph from adversity)
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One thing you quickly realize about Alaska is how vast and empty it is. It is 570,000 square miles compared to 3,930,000 square miles for all of Europe so it is about one sixth the size of Europe. The EU is 1,707,000 square miles so Alaska is about a third its size. But where the EU has about 500 million people, Alaska has about 670,000 people or about one eight hundredth as many. People are for the most part independent, self reliant, informal. It's just the nature of what it takes to survive in that kind of place. I'm sure they don't want any government ever telling them what they can and can't do. Sarah Palin embodies that kind of perspective and spirit. Yet in many ways, she is the typical American which is why Obama's supporters fear her so much. There is nothing elitist about her. Americans and American women in particular can identify with her easily. She is one of them. If the day ever comes when it is necessary, there is every reason to beleive that she would be up to the job of assuming the Presidency IMO.
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Marcus,
I agree that the difficulties of living on remote areas can breed self-reliance and independence which can be important leadership skills. The other side is that it can lead to insular thinking. I don't yet know where Sarah Palin fits on that scale. Whether she is ready to lead I don't yet know. It would seem that an attempt is being made to craft an image of her as the personification of mythic America. That would be a brand difficult to campaign against.
You're all doing very well !!
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I remember when Alaska became a state. I was only about 10 years old. When people who were as old then as I am now were 10 years old themselves, Arizona had not yet become a state. Neither had New Mexico and Oklahoma had just joined the Union. Arizona (next thread where Robin is now) is another very harsh place to survive in. Much of it is desert. It gets to 115 F in the shade. That's 46 C. It's been as high as 125 F (52C) Its got lots of rattlesnakes, tarantula spiders, scorpions, gila monsters (poisonous lizards) The Grand Canyon, one of the seven natural wonders of the world is a must see. It's economy is larger than Ireland's Finland's and New Zealand's. About 6 million people live there. Senator Barry Goldwater was typical of the independent spirit of the place. Arizonans have much in common with Alaskans in that regard but what a difference in extremes of temperature.
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