• Mar 13th, 2014 at 3:49 PM (CST)
• By PD
• Categories:

I apologize for the inelegant title of this article; it is analogus to the poor intellectual caliber of contemporary reporting of online journals and news outlets. The standards for quality in print, as well as the standards for scientific knowledge continue to erode, I'm sorry to report.

A flawless example of the flawed standard of writing in publications can be seen in a recent nature article "Diver surrounded by millions of jellyfish in Jellyfish Lake," seen on GrindTV's website. The byline reads, "Nadia Aly overwhelmed by 'shear amount' of the gelatinous sea creatures".

Do you see the error? The word "shear" was mistakenly used in place of "sheer." The word "shear" means to cut or truncate, whereas the word "sheer" means utter, complete or total. Now, that is not the worst instance of wrong word usage I've seen, but I'm finding such grade school level mistakes daily in both public and private communication. It is obvious that not only authors are relying too much upon spell check software, but even editors are sloughing their responsibility to know proper usage. The problem is, the ignorance level has become so great that even those in charge of correct usage of language have become inept. 

An acquaintance the other day commented that he took an online gradeschool quiz  from the late 1800's posted to the internet. He struggled through questions which called for sheer memorization (Note the proper use of the word "sheer.") of facts by the students to whom the test was originally administered. Memorization has gone away in the modern world, and it seems so also has a great deal of competency in communication! Another generation of this and the West will have functional illiterates rising through the educational system.

But that is not the worst the article offers, for indeed, an intellectually stultifying science is promoted, complements of the prevailing Neo-Darwinian scientific worldview. The article suggests that, "As the jellyfish evolved in the algae-rich lake, they lost their sting..." Anyone who is informed on the topic knows that the absence of a trait is no evidence for evolution. Loss of genetic information has never shown a supposed upward march toward more complex, more information-rich species.

But the best part is the assertion, "... the jellyfish have lost their sting over time with the absence of many predators." Oh, really? Be reminded that only genetic mutations can cause change in a creature, not environmental conditions, such as how many predators there are, or the temperature or salinity of the water. The number of predators has zero influence upon the morphology of an animal. This should be seventh grade science, but such misnomers are daily trotted out by media outlets around the world. 

One simply has to be on guard against the influence of dumbed down media, or else it will make you dumb, too!