Why I'm not spoofing Jenks, part 2

In a radio interview last year, prime minister to be David Cameron made an on-air “gaffe” when asked about whether he was on Twitter. He said,

The trouble with twitter, the instantness of it is, is, I think that too many twits might make a twat

Of course the apologies followed, with the wafer-thin excuse that he didn’t know what the word “twat” actually meant. I guess an Etonian education isn’t what I think it is. Anyway, in case anyone has been living in a cave called denial for the last few weeks, DC went on to become prime minister.

Twitter is a great way to share information, but can give a distorted view of reality in the wider world. Surrounded by like-minded “twats”, it’s easy to think that everyone else shares the same world view. Taking a straw poll of my Twitter or Facebook friends would have led me to believe that the Liberal Democrats would win the election with a good 90% of the vote.

As science bloggers, it’s important to remember that the network of contacts and readers we build up are not necessarily representative of the population at large. Simon Jenkins, while his articles are often daft, represents at least part of the general body of opinion. Attacking the individual, through so called satire will do nothing to counter that opinion.

Forming a clique and chanting “evidence” is not enough to bolster the standing of science in the public eye. Nor is an unmoderated personal campaign against an individual going to be effective beyond the self-congratulatory circle of the like-minded.

Still, it has served as a reminder to me as to why I want to write about science, and that is passion for the subject rather than negative ramblings.

So, here’s a video of a phenomenon I think is pretty awesome, involving a cornflour and water mixture shaken at different frequencies by a loudspeaker.

It’s a cool video, but the voiceover reminds me of this classic character from The Fast Show

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Tags: David Cameron, science, simon jenkins, Spoof Jenkins, Twitter

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