Katz Fired From Oil Spill Team. Too 'Controversial', page 1

In further censorship of the reckless BP's oil disaster,

Steven Chu has fired Jonathan I. Katz
An independent, articulate intellect who doesn't arbitrarily self-censor.

Katz Fired From Oil-Spill Team Due to ‘Controversial Writings’
By Katarzyna Klimasinska and Jessica Resnick-Ault

May 18 (Bloomberg) -- Jonathan I. Katz, a physics professor at Washington University in St. Louis., said he was fired from the team of scientists chosen by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu to help BP Plc control the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

“Some of Professor Katz’s controversial writings have become a distraction from the critical work of addressing the oil spill,” Stephanie Mueller, a spokeswoman for the Energy Department, said in an e-mail today. “Professor Katz will no longer be involved in the department’s efforts.”

Chu brought Katz to Houston last week along with four other experts, Richard L. Garwin, a physicist and IBM Fellow Emeritus, George Cooper, a civil-engineering professor at the University of California at Berkeley, Alexander Slocum, a professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, and Tom Hunter, president of Sandia Corp., which manages research for the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration.

While Katz’s early work focused on astrophysics, he now consults on a variety of physics puzzles, he said. Katz wrote articles on his personal website, including, “What Is Political Correctness,” “In Defense of Homophobia” and “Why Terrorism Is Important.”

“I don’t self-censor myself,” Katz, 59, said in a phone interview today. “There’s no doubt there are things on my webpage that’ve been there for many years that are fairly controversial.”

www.bloomberg.com...

His writings are & can be controversial.

But i see him trying to find a rational path of his own thought process,

And for a physicist or an engineer that can only be a good thing,

& in the world of yes-men, & consensus even at the expense of sound logic & fact

he absolutely SHOULD be included in the oil spill situation as an actual credible independent & USEFUL intellect.

I absolutely don't agree with all of his points, but he does work to find a rational structure to his points,
which is vastly a better occupation than simple mindless kneejerkism.

Here they are to read for yourselves:
Why Terrorism is Important, by Jonathan I. Katz
wuphys.wustl.edu...
In Defense of Homophobia
wuphys.wustl.edu...
What is Political Correctness
wuphys.wustl.edu...

[sorry everyone i can't resist some minor critiquing]
As for terrorism he does neglect just how convenient an excuse it is for existing governments to usurp rights & powers,
i would counter with his own points that statistically it isn't that significant
and that 'honor' is a very dangerous medicine, who's cure may be vastly worse than the original disease.

The trouble with political correctness is that is is cavalier,
just as old religious bigotry is cavalier,
as ideological certitude is also cavalier.
They all toss aside any kind of alternatives to their mindless devotions,
instead of taking the best points of each & perhaps seeking out other new ideas to craft a potentially wonderful hybrid construct,
You find the most energy efficient, least painful, small to medium reordering of things to get you in a better place towards your well thought better vision.
but only with careful deconstruction & reconstruction & NEVER wholesale mass destruction, with only the asserted hope that your new thing will be better, provided you can even get it built in any short order.
Just look at the way biology does it. It usually keeps most all the old systems while adding on the new.
It may be messy, but it is SO much more ROBUST, it has a built in insurance of the old systems to fall back on.
You don't get caught with your pants all the way down.