Southern Methodist University SMU Scholar Hilltopics University Honors Program 4-2-2007 Hilltopics: Volume 3, Issue 20 Hilltopics Staff Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.smu.edu/hilltopics Recommended Citation Hilltopics Staff, "Hilltopics: Volume 3, Issue 20" (2007). Hilltopics. 66. https://scholar.smu.edu/hilltopics/66 This document is brought to you for free and open access by the University Honors Program at SMU Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hilltopics by an authorized administrator of SMU Scholar. For more information, please visit http://digitalrepository.smu.edu. always 100% smu-written volume three, issue twenty www.smu.edu/honors/hilltopics week of april 2, 2007 Are politics polluting the global warming debate? by Kyle Snyder The recent hysteria created by new stud- fuel energy has played in bringing the greatest ies on global warming and Al Goreʼs docu- amount of prosperity to the greatest possible mentary “An Inconvenient Truth” has led number of people. While we must continue to many, including myself, to question the im- develop new sources of energy for the future, pact of their personal lives on the environ- we also must be mindful of our present en- Internet: Douglas Hill ment. While I will not take this opportunity to ergy demands, most of which come from fos- examines political deny that the earthʼs climate may be getting sil fuels. The transition away from fossil fuel “bias” on the internet, warmer, I question the broader role that the energy will certainly not be an easy one, so page 2. global warming movement will have in our governments should be planning to make this lives. Beyond the issues that deal purely with transition as smooth as possible rather than A word to the wise: Clare respecting our environment, this movement worry about a vague climate catastrophe. Taylor has a gram- has become a political agenda that seeks to What Al Gore and those who subscribe to matical temper tan- broaden the scope of government at the ex- his agenda will have everyone believe is that trum, page 3. pense of personal freedom, and for that rea- the apocalypse is upon us unless we grind the son I will not subscribe to any of it. worldʼs factories and industrial production to Responses: Hilltop- From a personal perspective, I am very a halt. He and his followers will then retreat ics receives more much in favor of reducing pollution and en- to their “eco-friendly” mansions and continue feedback regarding couraging individuals to take responsibil- to consume large amounts of electricity (pre- diversity on campus, ity for sound environmental stewardship. I sumably neutralized by carbon offsets) while page 4. make every effort to conserve electricity the rest of us will be left to fend for ourselves. at home, I recycle whenever possible, and Centuries ago, some churches used to accept Be Heard: Hilltopics is though it isnʼt a hybrid, my Honda Accord is payment from lay people as a right always looking for among the most fuel-efficient vehicles on the to sin in ad- vance, and there good submissions on road today. Looking at the situation from a have been some virtually any topic. broader perspective, the universally accept- humorous compari- Email your ideas, ed truth is that the greater a nationʼs wealth, sons made to feedback, or articles the more likely that nationʼs government will carbon to hilltopics@hotmail. be to enact environmentally friendly poli- to be continued com. cies and regulations. Americaʼs enormous on page 3 industrial power and financial wealth have allowed us to do just that. Even though we Like Money? may be heavy consumers of natural resourc- Hilltopics is sponsor- es, we enjoy clean air and clean water not ing an essay contest, found in developing nations such as China and weʼre offering and India. In fact, Chinaʼs carbon emissions over $1,000 in prizes. will surpass those of the United States if their More info on page 3. current rates of economic growth continue. While the Kyoto Protocol is not the cen- tral focus of this article, those who criticize the United States for not signing on to this agreement fail to recognize that these devel- oping industrial nations will be exempt from its regulations. People the world over need energy like we need food, clothing, shelter, and oxygen. We cannot ignore energy as one of our basic needs, nor can we deny the role that fossil page 2 week of april 2, 2007 Online enclyclopedia wars: A ridiculous response to the “bias” of Wikipedia by Douglas Hill Letʼs play a game. Iʼll give you two quotes, each from a lar ideas to accuse any and every media outlet that disagrees different online, user-created encyclopedia, and you tell me with them of liberal bias, so Conservapedia isnʼt really a which sounds like it was written by someone more interested novel idea. What is so troubling about it is the way it tries in politics than fact. to blend ideology with factual statement. Instead of saying From the “Scopes Trial” entry: “Christians believe Jesus redeemed humanity of sin by sacri- Quote 1: “The trial in 1925 of John Scopes for teaching ficing his life,” Conservapedia states the miracle of crucifix- evolution in Tennessee was a defeat of Darwinism. The ion and resurrection as fact: “Jesus voluntarily accepted his ACLU and liberal trial lawyer Clarence Darrow brought fate and delivered over his spirit on the cross for our sins.” the Scopes case in the hopes of winning a public rela- Later in the “Jesus Christ” article the author writes: “Many of tions and legal victory, but in fact William Jennings Bryan, the descriptions in the Gospels have been proven true with the evangelical Christian who had been Secretary of State modern archaeology.” The only example given, however, is in the Wilson Administration, decisively beat them.” archaeological evidence of the existence of Pontius Pilate, Quote 2: “The Scopes Trial ( Scopes v. State, 152 Tenn. 424, the Roman who allowed Jesus to be killed. 278 S.W. 57 (Tenn. 1925), often called the Scopes Mon- Furthermore, the entire notion of Conservapedia is inher- key Trial) pitted lawyers ently hypocritical. If Wiki- William Jennings Bry- pedia is liberal propaganda an and Clarence Dar- presented as if it were fact, row against each other the solution is not to create (the latter representing conservative propaganda teacher John Thomas and present it as fact. Scopes) in an American The authors and found- legal case that tested a ers of the Conservapedia law passed on March 13 simply have their hearts in ,1925, which forbade the wrong place. The point the teaching, in any of online encyclopedias is state-funded educa- to create an easily acces- tional establishment in sible, reasonably accurate, Tennessee, of ʻany the- and relatively comprehen- ory that denies the story sive database of human of the Divine Creation of knowledge. The point of man as taught in the Bi- the Conservapedia is to ble, and to teach instead promote political and reli- that man has descended gious ideology. Surely any- from a lower order of animals.ʼ This is often interpreted one can see that creating an ostensibly informative website as meaning that the law forbade the teaching of any as- is a wrong-headed and misleading way of promoting such pect of the theory of evolution .” an ideology. Political views are, obviously, opinions; to mas- I shouldnʼt have to tell you that the more biased quote ap- querade them as fact is dishonest and ineffective. pears to be Quote 1. This is just one example, but it demon- There is no doubt that Wikipedia should be taken with a strates whatʼs wrong with “Conservapedia” (www.conserva- grain of salt. Anyone, from Stephen Hawking to Bam Mar- pedia.com). This new, unabashedly right-wing, open-source gera, can edit it, and hardly any articles are free of errors. Do encyclopedia is designed to compete with Wikipedia, the people with radical views sometimes vandalize the Wikipe- popular site which the creators of Conservapedia consider dia with slander and even downright propaganda? Yes. Are laden with “confirmed incidents of liberal bias.” facts sometimes omitted or deleted because users find them This has to be a joke, right? Wikipedia is, as its name offensive or politically incorrect? Certainly. But Wikipedia suggests, a wiki site, meaning that it allows its users to edit, is honest. Everyone knows itʼs not an academic source, and create, or delete content. Wikipediaʼs definition of “user” is one would be a fool to accept it as the final word on any- broad: it means every single person who uses it, which is thing. roughly a zillion people a day. If Wikipedia is both popu- Gee, it sure would be nice if Wikipedia allowed users who larly created and biased, that seems to imply that the radi- find certain content objectionable or inaccurate to edit that cal brand of conservatism espoused by the Conservapedia is content. Oh, wait…they do. If you donʼt like Wikipedia, edit unpopular, rather than that there is some vast left-wing in- it. ternet conspiracy trying to misinform the public by acknowl- Douglas Hill is a senior international studies major. edging things like “evolution is science.” It has long been a practice of conservatives with unpopu- week of april 2, 2007 page 3 Global warming hysteria may be misguided, and over-reaction can be costly continued from page 1 off sets for todayʼs environmental movement. when thinking about where the global warming debate may While politics and environmental issues have long been lead us. Sure, the earth may be getting warmer, but who was intertwined, Gore has turned this movement into a purely the last person you talked to who said they looked forward political agenda seeking to undermine the freedom of nations to subzero temperatures in winter? If people in more tropical and individuals to make their own decisions at the expense climates have to apply a few extra layers of sunscreen, their of more worldwide bureaucratic central planning.