|
|
| www.1001TopWords.com |
|
|
When I Run Out of Ideas
I do on occasion run out of ideas for my column writing. I do this after finishing a huge writing project like a book. I am just plain "written out" and am fresh out of things to say. When this happens, I turn to the news and am rarely disappointed. This morning, I read a story by Associated Press writer, Carl Hartman, entitled, Smithsonian Finds Scopes Trial Photos. This seemed innocuous. The story, as well as the photos, were... interesting. What got my "Snit-O-Meter" going was how this reporter, like probably everyone on the face of the earth would report, reported the Scopes Trial as a genuine and bona fide criminal trial that took place. Would it surprise you to learn that it was not so? Let me first site two sources you simply must read. The first is an article by Carol Iannone.[1] The second is small book by Phillip E. Johnson, a law graduate of Harvard and The University of Chicago. He was also a law clerk for Chief Justice Earl Warren and taught law for thirty years at University of California at Berkley. In Johnson's book, Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds[2], he says: "The Scopes Trial was not a serious prosecution but a symbolic confrontation engineered to put the town of Dayton, Tennessee on the map. The Tennessee legislature had funded a new science education program and, to reassure the public that science would not be used to discredit religion, had included as a symbolic measure a clause forbidding the teaching of evolution. The governor, who signed the bill, realizing that any prosecution would be an embarrassment, predicted that the law would not be enforced. The American Civil Liberties Union wanted a test case, however, and advertised for a teacher willing to be a nominal defendant in a staged prosecution."[3] This man never had a chance in hell of going to jail or paying a fine for anything. The Scopes Trial was a hoax. Now I encourage you to seek out these sources and read them. The small book by Johnson can be purchased cheaply at most bookstores and at Amazon.com. Get it and read it! But my point in writing about this is NOT to unravel the hoax of the Scopes Trial but to pose an issue that I often bring up in my writings and in my newest, yet-to-be-released book, America's Anti-Mexican Xenophobia (I apologize for that shameless plug for my book-not really! BUY IT!). It is just beyond the pale that this Associated Press writer would accept, minus the application of a finely tuned "Phony-Baloney Detector", without question that the Scope's Trial was a genuine criminal prosecution. I might add the American public as a whole and most scientists as well to that list. How is it the Scope's Trial, as well as any other number of ideologically motivated hoaxes (The Gay Agenda movement?) has been accepted and ingrained into the minds of the American people as incontrovertible fact? Harvard Genetics Professor Richard Lewontin writes of a possible reason (one which I accept as valid): "We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a priori commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counterintuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door. The eminent Kant scholar Lewis Beck used to say that anyone who could believe in God could believe in anything. To appeal to an omnipotent deity is to allow that at any moment the regularities of nature may be ruptured, that miracles may happen."[4] Professor Lewontin's quote is probably the most salient explanation for why the Evolution hypothesis or the "I was born that way" Gay Agenda hypothesis seems so certain to elitist insiders and so uncertain to those outside the elite groups. It is the a priori commitment to an ideology first, then to setting about to "prove" their ideology with evidence. These groups are compelled by their ideological a priori commitment to go about creating methodologies of investigation, to produce their desired outcomes, based not on Critical Thinking Skills (Phony-Baloney Detection) but on ideology. This is why it is so important NOT to live your life according to untested assumptions! You have to develop a finely tuned and razor sharp Phony-Baloney Detection kit that you will pull out to evaluate everything you hear and read-including this author's writings! Thinking critically is hard work. It takes time and it takes commitment. Nevertheless, please do not doom yourself to living an "a priori" commitment to an ideology first kind of life. Test! Test! Test! Get busy developing that phony-baloney detection kit today! In addition, make sure you buy all my books! [1] http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9702/articles/iannone.html [2] Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds; by Phillip E. Johnson; Intervarsity Press; copyright @1997 [3] Ibid [4] The Unraveling of Scientific Materialism; by Phillip E. Johnson; http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9711/articles/johnson.html Freelance writer, Syndicated Columnist, and book author, Doug Bower, has written a compelling new book titled, AMERICA'S ANTI-MEXICAN XENOPHOBIA. Have you wondered if the Minuteman Project is really on the "up and up"? Have you wondered if they represent all that is good and right with America-paragons of patriotic virtue? Doug Bower may have the answers you've been looking for. Check out his new book:http://www.lulu.com/mexicanliving
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
In Praise of Personal Pronouns Rudolph Flesch, a pioneering advocate of readability, put great stock in the liveliness of the written word. Business Writing Tip: Question & Answer Format Traditionally, business writing uses the "one thing after another" format, which usually means a plain recitation of the facts, circumstances, or whatever else needs to be said. Writing Without Style Style manuals are all well and good, and in fact, highly desirable for newspapers. The average reading level of newspaper readers is the sixth grade. Over the years it became imperative that newspaper writing be simple, consistent, and use basic punctuation, even when that violated some elementary rules. The end result has been that borderline idiots may now understand today's papers. And What Do You Do? ... How To Know When Youre a Writer! It's the funniest thing. When someone asks me what I do for a living, I tell them, "I'm a writer." The standard response is, "No, really, what do you do?" Somehow, I always flounder in the conversation because I never expect that type of response. Top Ten Ways to Write a Book That Sells Is there a book inside of you? Yes? Then why don't you write it? Or, if you've already written a book, wouldn't you like to sell more? So many of you have a great idea for a book, even a dynamite title, but much more is needed to write a book that sells. Here's the top ten ways to write a book that sells: Starting a Local Writers Group My husband is no poet, so when I offer my carefully pruned poetry for him to review, I get the usual and unsatisfying reply: "That' nice sweetie." Furthermore, he could care less about whom the Poet Laureate is and why I love his smoke pit conversation type poems. I could look elsewhere in my house for literary discourse, but I'd be met by conversations that might go a little like this, "'A' is for apple. Say 'aaaaaah'" Generating Nonfiction Book Titles Without a Hassle The process of developing a working title for your nonfiction book can be a hassle sometimes. You first have to brainstorm a few titles, and if the results aren't to your liking, you are practically forced to brainstorm more possible titles --- or do you? Letter Writing Journaling When you read a letter from someone, we are immediatelytransferred into their world, experience, and physicalreality. You can capture the same feeling by writingletters to yourself or about other people in your journal.Letter writing is the easiest form to use in journaling. Onoccasion, you might have already dabbled in writing lettersin your journal. The Top Five Writing Mistakes Professionals Make Yes, you know your subject. You also need to think about entertaining your audience, and making your book or other writing easy to read. If your writing lacks organization and compelling, vital sentences that convince your readers to keep reading, they will leave your book or Web site immediately. There goes your "word-of-mouth" promotion. Writing For the Joy of It As a child, I loved to write. I can't remember ever not writing. Writing for the Internet -- How To Give the Readers What They Want In this article you will find tips on: How to intrigue your readers from the very start-the most important part of your piece isn't the content, Once they're hooked-reel them in, How to keep them reading through the entire piece instead of scanning for information, Break it up!-How to keep their attention span from reaching its limits, and How to keep your readers from becoming distracted while reading your well crafted articles. Nobody Likes A Rambler We all know people who ramble. They include every boring and insignificant detail, speak in five-minute-long sentences and take forever to get to the point. When they finally reach the end of their story, most people have either walked away or lost interest. Formats for Writing Life Narratives Q and A. Should You Hire a Ghostwriter? Have you heard the term 'ghostwriter' and wondered what they do or who they work with? Although it sounds mysterious, ghostwriting is actually a very simple agreement where an individual or company hires a writer to create a work that will be owned outright by the buyer. The buyer is not required to give credit to the writer and is even allowed to claim authorship. An Introduction to Self Publishing Material Any article, report or book which is bought or sold with reproduction rights is generally referred to as self-publishing material. Most commonly, this material consists of reports or articles varying in length from 1 to 20 or more pages. This material usually has a self-cover. In a self-cover, the same weight of paper is used as in the text. Most books, on the other hand, have covers which are of a heavier weight than the text of the book. Writing is a Discipline If a writer considers writing to be a task, he/she is doomed to failure. Since it cannot be a task, then what is it? It is a discipline. What does that mean? Freelance or Staff There is no doubt that a staff writer enjoys advantages not availed by the freelancer. However, there are benefits available to the freelancer that a staff writer can never expect. How Are You Plotting? Creative Writing Tips ? Screenwriting ? The Lone Wolf Story Structure Template Story Structure Templates are the fastest way to write screenplays. One of the most well known and often used templates, which goes beyond three and four act structure, is the Hero's Journey. Arguably, all stories are a variation of this template and the Lone Wolf is one of the most successful of those variations. Put a Spin on Your Idea! Eight or nine times out of ten, picking up and leafing through a magazine's or book's table of contents, you will find at least one or more articles or chapters that will catch your attention immediately. Never mind that that article or chapter's subject had been written about many times before. The one that caught YOUR attention stood out, most likely, because it put the topic in a new perspective.
|
| © Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |
