Wi-Fi hysteria is one of those issues that really grinds me.
There must be a checklist that pseudoscience journalists (because no one pays for real science journalists anymore) have when discussing the issue:
- Quote parents with irrational fears
- Interview Magda Havas, lead Wi-Fi fear monger
- Provide a token quote from real scientist to provide balance
- Cite the WHO’s reclassification of electromagnetic radiation as “possibly carcinogenic”
- School administrators who don’t understand science and preach the precautionary principle
An article in todays Vancouver Sun hits all of these marks.
But I’m not posting today to complain about bad science journalism, that’s a dime a dozen. Today, I want to highlight the irony at the end of the article.
At Wayside Academy in Peterborough, Ont., the decision to shut off the school’s Wi-Fi was an easy one.
“Whether it’s safe or not safe, there are people on both sides. We didn’t want to get in the middle of that argument,” said Adam Parker, the principal of the small Catholic middle school.
Fantastic on so many levels.
First, we have a theist who has apparently taken a post-modernist approach to science. There are “people on both sides” of the argument over the existence of god or whether religions should be running schools but we don’t see Parker abstaining from those positions.
Second, he fails to realize that the best thing the Catholic Church could do to protect children would be to actually put an end to the systematic child rape and abuse throughout their organization. Shut down the indoctrination schools, fire the priests, and try the Pope. Wireless internet is no threat to students compared to the Church.