It's been a crazy busy couple of days
here at Cornell. My head is near to bursting with all the information
it's absorbed, and it ain't over yet.
On Thursday, I'll be co-moderating an
Ask Me Anything discussion on GMOs that will be live-streamed from
the Alliance for Science website.
Panelists include six academic
scientists: Margaret Smith (Cornell University) – field
crops;
Kevin Folta (University of Florida) – fruits and veggies;
Steven Strauss (Oregon State University) – trees; Tony Shelton
(Cornell University) – insects; Alison Van Eenennaam (University of
California, Davis) – livestock & dairy, and Walter De Jong
(Cornell University) – tubers.
As I previously reported, opposition
from anti-GMO activists prompted a venue shift to the Unitarian
Church In Ithaca, which might be a good thing, considering some of the threats
that have been issued against Dr. Folta.
It seems ludicrous that providing a
forum for scientists to openly answer questions about GMOs posed by
the general public should stir up such outrage and unrest — and in
a college town, no less. Hopefully folks will keep their cool since
everyone will be on video.
The Q&A should get under way at about 6:45
EDT, which makes it 12:45 p.m. Hawaii time. It's scheduled to continue until about 8
p.m. EDT, or 2 p.m. HST. Check out the live-stream here and submit your questions
via Twitter at #AMAgmo.
Posts
5 comments:
"Anti-GMO" is part of a new religion - essentially the religion of anti-unnatural. Anti-GMO also takes on the aspect of anti-corporatism, by making Monsanto out to be the epitome of evil in order to rope in people who weren't previously anti-unnatural in a similar way that early Christians adapted Pagan holidays in order to rope in Pagans - because wtf to trees and bunnies have to do with Jesus? The European pagans didn't know either, but suddenly they were being told they worship Jesus because trees and bunnies, or something.
They believe that anything that doesn't seem natural is evil. Of course, the measure of naturalness is 100% emotional and has no basis in reality, but GMOs seem to them to be the most unnatural thing in existence, thus it is their Satan, while other unnaturally feeling things are like "chemicals" are their demons. Never mind they make their threats via email and post their tirades to Facebook and Twitter from their iPhones, but hypocrisy is rarely absent from religious fundamentalists.
Okay, so what that really means is you're not going to convince the fundamentalists of the reality of GMOs any more than you're going to convince a Christian that Jesus isn't divine, or a Jew that he is. There will always be excuses and denial. The Dialog generally goes something like this: GMOs have never been shown to be safe! Yes they have, here's thousands of studies as evidence. Yeah, but they're all industry funded! No, they're not, while there are many that are a majority of them aren't. But Monsatan!!1!!one!!!eleven!!!! And OMG cancer!!!
So what do you call somebody who declares war on things that go against their religion? Jihadists. What do you call a system of laws based on a religion? Sharia law. What do you call people who use fear and threaten violence against people who go against their religion? Terrorists. So, Dr. Folta is dealing with a bunch of Jihadist terrorists who want to institute sharia law.
11:35 Thank you. The enviro movement has been replacing religion in may people's lives.
The need to feel connected, Faith, fear, retribution and salvation.
They genuflect to politicians and Kardashian types. Caitlyn Jenner is their their heroes. Anyone who agrees is granted absolution whilst the deniers are corrupt.
Hail Gary, Full of Face, the Lard is with thee, blessed art thou amongst a few wrong men, unblessed is the fruit of thy labor. Lie to the schools, lie to the people and allow thine self to be highest among your people. Give us our daily gluten free bread, forgive my tax debts, as we have not forgiven given our detractors, Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from reason, Allow us to trespass on others but do not allow others to trespass on us. We say this mantra in the name of all the Fistees, for thine is the hyperbole, and the scam and I am the Glory Hog, for ever and ever...Namaste
Thank you Joan!
Haven't seen any protests, rallies, threats, etc. against the innumerable nonsense lectures/forums put on by Shiva, Seneff, Huber, Robins, Smith, and Lukens. Maybe there should be.
It's interesting that these "Anti's" didn't have a problem with the sugar industry. the only way Hawaii kept the sugar industry going as long as it did in the fact of steadily rising costs was the steady supply of new cane varieties developed by the Hawaii Sugar Planters Association lab scientists who used genetic engineering to create these new more productive varieties. What's really funny is that when the Anti's couldn't find any evidence that GMO foods were any more harmful than natural foods (yes, natural foods will kill you to via obesity, diabetes, etc.), they had to attack the use of pesticides. What's funny is that the sugar industry used FAR more pesticides per acre than the seed companies. It didn't hurt anyone and there was no complaining and faked claims that it was hurting people. Ya gotta love these idiot anti's for their complete idiocy and creative falsehoods. One must admit that they are entertaining.
Most of our grandparents came to Kauai to work in the Sugar Plantations. Seen the contract they signed with the Plantation. They worked the fields rain or shine. They never had sick leave in those days. You had to pull your own load every day. It was total Ohana. They had to "produce" cane quantities to meet their contracts. They couldn't grumble, they signed the contract. No one dared to criticize the Plantation. No one could afford to lose there job. That was then. Now, we are fortunate to have welfare and .... One can criticize and talk shit without consequences. No one worked harder than our grandparents that came off the boat. They would give the people making trouble a few slaps on the back of your head. If you did not get the message, you would get a few more slaps(for free). Life was simple then.
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