Skepticism’s Broader Mission

I think many people would agree with me that one of the top ten most interesting panels at TAM9 (http://www.amazingmeeting.com) was the “Diversity In Skepticism” panel. To paraphrase the primary opinion of many of the panelists: “we can do more than vaccines, creationism, and woo.” There was much more to the conversation, and it focused more about adding social injustice issues to the skepticism tent, but the broader point was what I latched onto. We skeptics can still stay true to the movement’s “critical thinking” message and maybe broaden our scope to help more people and, in general, do better.

One of the local topics that we didn’t get to on our podcast last week was an article I found on San Antonio’s KEN5 news station website (http://www.kens5.com/news/Texas-leads-in-the-nation-in-hot-car-child-deaths-125908354.html). It described how Texas has, for the last year and a half at least, been leading the nation in child-in-hot-car deaths. In 2010 thirteen of the forty-nine child deaths from hot car heat stroke were in Texas. As of July 2011, Texas accounts for six of the twenty hot car deaths in the US. That’s a thankfully small number compared to our national population of 310 million, but the way I read the article was that we’re on track to have the same amount of annual hot-car deaths in the U.S. and in Texas. The rational community had a great institutional victory for children’s education in Texas last week (http://ncse.com/news/2011/07/victory-evolution-texas-006802), but is that all we can do? Where are the op-eds in papers and people from skeptic groups testifying at board meetings about this “I’ll just leave my child in the car for a minute” nonsense? We can do better.

Also in the news lately is the media controversy over Raquel Nelson of Marietta, Ga (http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43878939/ns/today-today_people/t/mom-faces-jail-after-son-died-jaywalking-her/) . She was jaywalking with her three children after getting off a bus and her four year old boy got hit by a car. Most of the news articles and blogs I see are discussing the issue focus on the fact that the driver only got a 6 month hit-and-run conviction whereas the mother got 36 months for second-degree vehicular homicide, reckless conduct, and failure to use a crosswalk. Let’s consider the basic facts of the actual incident: She was trying to cross in the middle of a four lane road…with three children in tow. For a minute set aside the legal system side of the story: why were these children in mortal danger? Mz. Nelson herself said “I know that nobody gets up that day and says, ‘I’m going to kill a 4-year-old.’” The driver was an idiot for driving away from the accident, yes, but the accident wasn’t anything he chose to do. The mother, on the other hand, made the conscious choice to cross in the middle of traffic rather than walk to the “nearest crosswalk from the bus stop [that] was nearly three-tenths of a mile away.” Where are the advocates for critical thinking who could be calling for parents to stop jaywalking and putting their children in danger? We can do better.

The skeptical movement has made a great start in getting the message out to parents that vaccines are important and safe for your children. (http://hugmeimvaccinated.org/ ) This is a perfect message for our movement: science based medicine, consumer protection, and saving children. Vaccines have become a contentious issue, but in conversations I’ve had in meet-ups and at conventions most of us in the skeptical movement can at least understand that most of the average “antivax” parents might be mis-educated, but that they’re still trying to do what they think is the best for their children. The problem is a minority group of people out there that are the ones actively spouting nonsense. We need to fight this fight, but we can do more.

Let’s look at this last point another way: There aren’t any organizations out there kicking skeptics out of “leave your baby in the car” conferences (http://skepchick.org/2011/05/autism-one-conference-skeptics-will-be-prosecuted-to-the-fullest-extent-of-the-law/). There aren’t any celebrities telling us to trust your mommy instincts, that the crosswalk industry is just trying to get our money, and that regardless of the science we should “space out” where and when we cross roads. Compared to the antivaxers I actually think that the people who “just leave the baby in the car for 10 minutes to pop into the store” or “just cross here because the next crosswalk is some blocks down” are, in my opinion, a much less sympathetic crowd to me. (All opinions are my own, not my podcast team’s.) I think that we skeptics can, and should, raise our voices on these basic child-safety issues. It will make just as much of a difference in saving lives and has the added benefit that no one can accuse us of being in the pocket of “big auto” or “the crossing guard mafia.” There is no “us versus them” in this battle. Getting involved in these broader parenting issues would be an easy win.

In Neil deGrasse Tyson’s TAM9 Keynote address {Yes, I’m still going on-and-on-and-on about TAM (http://skepticwire.blogspot.com/2011/07/episode-015-extra-tam-9-overview.html) . Get used to it.}, he recounted the story that in 2006 when a New Jersey teacher was spouting creationist, Noah’s Ark nonsense Tyson tried to remind everyone of the broader issue that “This case is not about the need to separate church and state; it's about the need to separate ignorant, scientifically illiterate people from the ranks of teachers.” Let’s allow our rational spotlight to cover these broader issues too. We can get the “reality based” message out and get people on our side for the harder battles.

I suggest that we all take a break from posting Tim Minchin videos on facebook and post links to the articles about these more general stories. Helps others not see you as a one-trick-skepticism-or-atheism pony. At your next skeptics in the pub start the night by writing letters to the editor calling for critical thinking every time a child dies in such a preventable manner. Sharing these stories will move people and will get them on our side. Diversifying our call for rationality creates a feedback loop that brings in a more diverse group and then adds to the variety of issues that we can tackle. Even as we make our skeptical tent bigger the message of “think before you act” will stay our main message. We can do more, and we can do better.