5/6/2005
Sophist of the Day
Ever since the webby-award winning Al "Ozone Guy" Gore invented the fabulous internets, they have been used by various right-wing groups to twist, caricature, and distort events to make the case for their movement.
Far from advocating a self-correcting blogosphere, the right sees sophism as a legitimate tactic. It is, indeed, the attitude at the base of what's in opposition to "reality-based" reporting.
While often I'm tempted to throw up my arms and say: what's the use? Like cockroaches, you can never stamp them all out. This time Mona Charen is prevaricating on a topic near and dear to my heart: Sex Ed in Montgomery County, MD (emphasis mine):
At one time, the new curriculum was going to feature information on flavored condoms. There's something that will help the trade deficit! The cheery young lady who protects the cucumber also advises her audience of 14- and 15 year-olds that abstinence is the surest way to prevent pregnancy, but, "Buying condoms isn't as scary as you might think."The SIECUS site puts it a little differently:
Read that, and then try to take seriously the sex educators' claim that they are merely providing information for teens -- not encouraging early sexuality. It's impossible to know how much of an effect sex ed has on kids' decisions, but it is interesting that even SIECUS acknowledged back in the '90s that sex ed had not succeeded in reducing teen pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases at all.
The pregnancy rate for teenagers 15 to 19 years of age fell 19 percent from 116 per 1,000 in 1991 to 94.3 in 1997, reversing an 11 percent rise from 1986 to 1991.For using data from the second half of a sentence while ignoring the first half the staff at Alt Hippo is proud to name Mona Charen the Sophist of the Day.
Update: It appears the Pandagonians are already on the case.
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