Engineering Majors Shouldn't Talk Politics...

When two opposite points of view are expressed with equal intensity, the truth does not necessarily lie exactly halfway between them. It is possible for one side to be simply wrong.~ Richard Dawkins

I had a teacher today, a military science teacher, who wanted to talk about the law of war. He wanted to talk about the issues surrounding torture and the rules of war derived from common practice and the geneva conventions. It was one of those conversations we often have here where we weigh the moral and ethical implications of our actions in real word scenarios and ask "what would you do?" This time, however, the teacher didn't really seem to have as firm a grasp on some things as I'd like for him to.

You see, he seems to fall into that current category of false thinking that many "creation science" people believe in of "teach the controversy" wherein all one must do is show that there is another side to an argument, no matter how valid that side is, and then both must be considered as equals. He would continually say really outrageous things like, "Water boarding is no longer legal, but does that mean we shouldn't do it?" followed by "there's a lot of debate about that." I wanted to yell, or stand up and say something, but there's no convincing people like him. By virtue of the fact that there's "debate" (ie that some people, who the courts and the legislature and the geneva conventions have shot down, still want to do it, there is "debate") and, therefore, we must consider their side.

It's a complete and total misunderstanding and bastardization of an academic approach to things where you present both sides and weight the arguments on their merits. This is true and neccessary to gain an education, but, by dressing up demonstratably false positions as "one side" to an argument and then claiming that argument is equal to the opposing side (again, think "creation science") you miss the point completely.