The cultural scene

A few posts worth reading:

• A rant by Frank Schaeffer: The Hysteria Surrounding the Ebola “Issue” is the Perfect Lens to Look at BOTH Secular and Religious Dumb and Dumber America Through.

Some choice quotes:

In evangelical home schools by the millions science is treated as toxic. Meanwhile in the secular public schools education has been mugged by corporate utilitarianism.

and

If the British had reacted to Hitler’s bombing of London the way we overacted to 9/11 the entire city of London would be one vast memorial…

• A Washington Post report: Ebola nurse Kaci Hickox: ‘Flaming’ liberals love her. ‘Bully’ conservatives hate her.

You can count me as siding with Kaci Hickox on this.

• Jerry Coyne comments on the decline of the New York Times.

I’m not sure that I agree with Coyne’s diagnosis, though I agree that there is a decline.

I frequently receive email from the NY Times, asking me to subscribe.  But I probably read less than one article per day, on average, so I’m not inclined to answer their ads.  I get much of my news from NPR, and I do contribute to my local NPR station.  If the NY Times, the Washington Post and several other newspapers could get together in a consortium, and offer a subscription that would give on-line browsing access to all of those papers, I might sign up for that.  I won’t subscribe to the NY Times only, because I don’t like the idea of a single source.