Tag Archives: mining

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

This is the final panel of one of my favorite Calvin & Hobbes strips, though as you can see it works just fine on its own as well. Ignorance is an issue. It always has been, and it probably always will be. The issue is that today it seems that misunderstandings about the nature of tolerance and free speech, as well as the prevalence of Postmodernism, have really given it a haven the likes of which hasn’t existed before. But we’re not here to dissect just where ignorance is coming from in modern culture, we’re here to talk about some of the absolutely dangerous myths that it’s producing and why they are just plan wrong.

I. “Vaccines Cause Autism”

Chances are pretty high that you’re already familiar with this one, and while most folks are fully aware of just how untrue this myth is, it remains nevertheless one of the most dangerous ones out there today. I’m not just talking about the preventable deaths of thousands of people (which is justification, of course, in and of itself) but about the potential damage it can cause. You’re not just exposing yourself to infection, you’re allowing yourself to serve as a potential carrier to infect others.

And of course, this is exactly what’s happening now.

See NPR’s article on the subject here.

Look, I could spend all day rehashing article after article after scientific study demonstrating that no, vaccines do not cause autism, and no, the substances which make up most vaccines are more prevalent in plenty of other substances- but let us, just for a moment, entertain this superstition as being real.

So what if vaccines can cause autism (which they don’t)? Continue reading

A Culture War Report: New Prosperity Mine

For the month of July I was living with my in-laws in Williams Lake. So on Monday, July 22nd, I was able to be present at the “first day of public hearings into Taseko’s proposed $1-billion open pit gold and copper mine near Williams Lake, B.C.”

I was working until about one o’clock that day but my mother-in-law, who is a teacher here in Williams Lake, first went downtown around lunchtime at which point two very separate information centers were happening.

Join us and have hot dogs galore!

At one camp, the Taseko mine representatives were serving burnt hot dogs to visitors. There wasn’t much of a crowd, but the vice president of the mine was offering her students jobs if the mine was allowed to come in.

Meanwhile, at the park nearby the Tsilhqot’in nation had prepared a lunchtime feast. There was music and dancing. Most of her friends were at the park. In fact, most of the crowd seemed to be at the park.

Continue reading