Every astronomer knows this poem, not with any special fondness:
WHEN I heard the learn’d astronomer;
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;
When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them;
When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.
Now, I really like Walt Whitman, but this was not his finest moment. These days, the don’t-bother-me-with-explanations torch is carried by the Insane Clown Posse — two middle-aged white guys, Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope, who put on makeup and rap approvingly about violence and misogyny. (Sorry for the comparison, Walt, but you brought it on yourself.) They received a lot of scorn from scientists for their recent song Miracles, which featured the immortal lines
Fuckin’ magnets, how do they work?
And I don’t wanna talk to a scientist
Y’all motherfuckers lying and
getting me pissed.
Now there is a scary and illuminating interview with the duo by Jon Ronson in the Guardian, where they double down on their dislike of explanation and understanding. (Via Ezra Klein.) It’s all good, but here’s an especially clarifying moment:
“I did think,” I admit, “that fog constitutes quite a low threshold for miracles.”
“Fog?” Violent J says, surprised.
“Well,” I clarify, “I’ve lived around fog my whole life, so maybe I’m blasé.”
“Fog, to me, is awesome,” he replies. “Do you know why? Because I look at my five-year-old son and I’m explaining to him what fog is and he thinks it’s incredible.”
“Ah!” I gesticulate. “If you’re explaining to your five-year-old son what fog is, then why do you not want to meet scientists? Because they’re just like you, explaining things to people…”
“Well,” Violent J says, “science is… we don’t really… that’s like…” He pauses. Then he waves his hands as if to say, “OK, an analogy”: “If you’re trying to fuck a girl, but her mom’s home, fuck her mom! You understand? You want to fuck the girl, but her mom’s home? Fuck the mom. See?”
If you’re confused, Violent J doesn’t actually want to have sex with his paramour’s mother. He is simply advocating not changing your behavior just because a parent is in the house. One word serving many purposes.
Oh yes, and they are evangelical Christians. There are many different senses in which science and religion might come into conflict — personally I care about “religion makes claims about how the world works that aren’t true,” but there are certainly others. Here is one of them. As Shaggy puts it: “But since then, scientists go, ‘I’ve got an explanation for that.’ It’s like, fuck you! I like to believe it was something out of this world.”
I don’t think religion is causing these lovable mop-tops to rebel against the power of scientific explanation; that’s too cheap an explanation. Rather, there is an underlying attitude that both pushes them away from science, and toward religion: a strong preference in favor of believing a certain set of things about the world, well before any evidence is in. First we decide that rainbows and magnets and Stonehenge are miraculous and mysterious things that cannot be accounted for by ordinary, understandable processes; then we reject science and turn to religious beliefs because that’s what flatters our preconceptions. It’s hard to know how to reach people like that. I’m thinking Phil Plait and Brian Cox should put on clown makeup and start rapping about Maxwell’s equations.
He didn’t mean not to change you’re behaviour because of the mom. It was like “Screw you mom!” “Screw you scientists!” You’re taking the magic outta this moment. You’re ruining things. Different scenario, same jist. Let me enjoy this amazing thing, this miracle, don’t ruin it for me by explaining HOW it works. Just that it is there is enough.
Sean: “Oh yes, and they are evangelical Christians”
There’s a sucker born every minute. *rolls eyes*
Perhaps the blogging hiatus wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
I am getting old and utterly unhip. Yet even I know that ICP are beneath contempt. As are their typical fans, who, mercifully, are not yet frighteningly numerous. André 3000 starts spewing this manure, then I get worried. These guys? A three-year-old who won’t stop saying “poopie” is more newsworthy.
Holy crap it took me until now to realize that he was using the word “fuck” in two different ways in that quote. Damn, that was REALLY confusing when I first read this interview… and now it is all clear!
Those who think it is ridiculous that ICP claim to be evangelical Christians:
They haven’t denied it. Any Jewish or Muslim believer certainly would have by now. What religion do you suppose they follow? Baha’i? My money is on Christianity, and, yes, the evangelical variety. They are, after all, *evangelizing*.
This article is a waste of bytes. Some of just don’t care what the inane Insane Clown Posse and their ignornat view of science. I think you need to find another field to work in Sean as you do not have the sense of logic it takes to write a scirntific blog-and I am sure that many readers agree.
Fuckin’ entertainment industry, how do they work?
And I don’t wanna talk to a clown
Y’all motherfuckers lying and
getting me pissed.
* In fact I’m not really pissed at them. (Insane Clown what? I have a gazillion better celebrities to hate about.) Consider it my artistic license.
i love how all of you think that you are better than us cuz you cant imagine that a group like icp has an actual fan base that doesnt care about what you guys think if you guys think that they are so bad and uncool then leave us alone we never asked to be on your radar or to get any press from any of you so just leave all of us alone leave the fam and the clowns and psychopathic records alone just get off our nuts and just go back to your fucking poetry readings and your fucking college coffee house and talk about your take on the meaning of life and let us have our fucking fun and just listen to a group just for the sake of listening to them so peace the fuck out
mmwcfl
down with the clown since 97
To all you people who seem to have nothing better to do other then talkin’ shit. Let me spell it out for you, to help better your perceptions. Science has become as much of a religion as Catholicism or Christianity. Look at Scientology for instance, it is a religion based around SCIENCE, and the belief that “science explains everything…” and dont tell me their arn’t fanatics out there who preach these rites, Because you know as well as I, that thats a lie. their no better or worse than our fellow Insane Clown Posse. Neither, you, or I, are any better or worse. People try to explain many things, certain things; we’ve come to accept as fact. Others have much room for deliberation! People have their theory’s… and that’s all they’ll be THEORYS. Not facts…
Now, you people need to focus on more important topics… stay out of the Juggalo world. because WE DONT WANT YOU THERE. So Kindly… fuck off. Unless you’d like to understand the people, rather then take from it what you want, and exploit it for your own personal gain.
Oh, and they dont outwrite claim to be anything… they believe in god. Many religions believe in god. Does that make them a christian? why are people so-g0d-damn stupid…
Ignorant?! Ha, I wish I could be half as ignorant as most of you, maybe then I could go on with my miserable life laughing at others while they attempt to live their lives to the best of their abilitys…
They’ve done somethin’ you can barely grasp.
Alls I have to say is that if you have nothing better to do then go to a website, read an article with something in the title that you apparently don’t like and turn around and waste your time posting your opinion on it is beside me. Aren’t you all going to feel stupid when the aliens come tell us about how they have been manipulating man kind since the beginning of time and the world is based on their creations and inventions. Kinda funny how fucked up shit can get when half of what you “know” is based on assumptions.
oh and whoop whoop (bitches)