Why'd You Make me Dissect a Worm?!?

Written on the occasion of the DT administration "pausing" the CDC's reports and health communications.

Converted to grayscale from original, by SchoolPRPro on Pixabay

Dear Independent Fundamental Baptists and evangelicals who raised me,

If science is not to be trusted, then what was with requiring me to take science classes in your Christian schools? For that matter, why offer science classes—and majors, even—at all? Did you not worry that you were corrupting the impressionable young people in your classrooms by filling their heads with all that science talk? Much less (gasp) sending them out into "the world," to become...ya know, scientists?

If COVID doesn't really exist and the pandemic is a hoax, then why did I spend hours of my life that I'll never get back learning about the cell (that's what we call the building block of all living organisms, in case you've forgotten) in the required Biology 101? Why the hell did my classmates and I dissect a worm, for crying out loud?

(If you're more upset about my off-brand use of the word "hell" in the previous paragraph than you are about hypocrisy within your own ranks, if not within your own self, then, dude...you have entirely lost the plot. Feel free to remind yourself of how Jesus felt about hypocrisy. You know, "whitewashed tombs," "brood of vipers," et al. Yeah, he wasn't a fan.)

If face masks don't reduce the transmission of communicable diseases, then why did we learn about what happens when you place cells in a petri dish? 

If scientists are godless agents of Satan, then what is one to make of all the Christian scientists, like the ones who taught those classes? I mean, one of them told us that Johannes Kepler said that to study astronomy was to "think God's thoughts after him." Would that teacher get fired for repeating that quote in one of your classrooms today?

Or—and I'm (not) going out on a limb here...are you just cherry picking the science you "like" and rejecting the science that's, shall we say, inconvenient? 

Perhaps this should never have surprised me. It's how you treat the Bible, after all.

Why I'm Quitting Politics (Sort Of)

Cropped from original

In 2016 I worked my ass off for Hillary (mostly phone banking and canvassing), in 2020 I did what I was able to for Joe (text banking), and in 2024 I did what I was able to for Kamala (text banking, postcard writing, and a bit of phone banking). 

But on November 6 of this year, I realized something I probably should have realized a long time ago. What follows is a slightly edited version of something I posted in the Slack for Vote Save America, the organization I volunteered through during this election:

While our societal problems clearly show up in our politics, as of today I no longer believe...that terrible political outcomes are solved by different or better politics, at least not anymore in this country. Hillary and Kamala both had, in my humble opinion, vastly better politics—better policies, better campaigns, better enthusiasm, etc....and in the end, none of that mattered.

Now, let me be clear: What we (humans, Americans) do in politics matters for sure. What we (VSA) did in this race mattered, and we should all take pride that we fought like hell to try to effect what we believed would be the right outcome.

But it's like treating the symptom and not treating the disease causing the symptom. I mean, how many times have "we" said...hell, how many times have l said that Tump's ascendancy was a symptom? To use another analogy, if the masses hadn't liked what he was selling, he'd never have gained a large enough following to make a real difference. 

On what his rise is a symptom of exactly, much has already been written. And I think we all could articulate some of those reasons. (And I don't just mean, for example, racism! But also: certain groups being ignored by one or both parties/by the government as a whole, being lied to all the time by the right-wing media universe, the system being corrupted by dark money/gerrymandering/lobbying, etc., etc.)

But the kind of politics we end up with rises out of the kind of culture we have, so...there are layers underneath even all of the above. What about human dignity, respect, kindness, empathy, compassion, the greater good? Those concepts aren't just pretty words to me. They're in my heart. I care about people...or I wouldn't be here.

Humans are neurobiologically hard-wired for connection (source: Brené Brown), meaning humans need other humans to survive and to thrive. (And as a VSA friend shared, "David Graeber & David Wengrow's The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity basically upends the 'survival of the fittest' [which in itself is a gross reduction of what Darwin was saying] idea of human history to one that, essentially, says the only ways humans were able to survive and thrive was through cooperation & collaboration more than competition. So aside from Brené Brown citing our hard-wired-ness for connection, add also the first 2 Cs I listed ^ to innate human characteristics.")

So when Kamala says, "The vast majority of us have more in common than what separates us," I think...we actually all do. It's a fact of being human. And a hyper focus by some on the differences do not make those differences any larger than they really are. 

All of that means we have to figure out how to get along (better) or...face an existential threat.

Which leads me to this: I've decided that for the foreseeable future, I can't do political volunteering anymore. At least not of the trying-to-persuade-other-voters variety. 

This does not mean I won't still be trying to make the world a better place; it's just that I believe I need to start going about it in different ways. I don't know what that'll look like yet. I just know...it'll be something deeper.