Compare this blog entry:
For those who have been screaming off their heads about the so-called “Islamization” imposition (I call it a resurgence) on the country in the last few decades, they certainly would not be able to deny that because of Islam, Malaysia has seen much scientific progress and currently as it stands, are among the top seven most scientifically productive Islamic nations in the world today, according to this blog post.
Granted that we still have a far way to go where science is concerned and I am not going to just sit back and be satisfied with what we have. But compared to the state the nation was in when secularism was thriving in the late 50s and 60s (also having failed this country time and time again but that is besides the point), the Islamic resurgence has given us the much need scientific progress that we have been striving for. To deny otherwise is to shut out evidence of the research that we see before our very eyes. Its too bad that those who advocate for the secularism project to remain alive are most certainly behind current times. [Malaysia among top scientifically productive Islamic nations. He That Shall Not Be Named. October 6 2007]
…with this article that the previous blog entry eventually refers to:
Religious fundamentalism is always bad news for science. But what explains its meteoric rise in Islam over the past half century? In the mid-1950s all Muslim leaders were secular, and secularism in Islam was growing. What changed? Here the West must accept its share of responsibility for reversing the trend. Iran under Mohammed Mossadeq, Indonesia under Ahmed Sukarno, and Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser are examples of secular but nationalist governments that wanted to protect their national wealth. Western imperial greed, however, subverted and overthrew them. At the same time, conservative oil-rich Arab states—such as Saudi Arabia—that exported extreme versions of Islam were US clients. The fundamentalist Hamas organization was helped by Israel in its fight against the secular Palestine Liberation Organization as part of a deliberate Israeli strategy in the 1980s. Perhaps most important, following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the US Central Intelligence Agency armed the fiercest and most ideologically charged Islamic fighters and brought them from distant Muslim countries into Afghanistan, thus helping to create an extensive globalized jihad network. Today, as secularism continues to retreat, Islamic fundamentalism fills the vacuum. [Science and the Islamic world—The quest for rapprochement. Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy. Physics Today . August 2007]
Why does He That Shall Not Be Named draw different conclusion from the original article and gives the picture as if the article offers the same conclusion as his?
He That Shall Not Be Named should stop and think, and read before he speaks, lest he would make a fool out of himself, which he has so profoundly. Unless, it was his intention to mislead in the first place.
He probably just read the table (and made awful mistake of correlating and then committing the fallacy of correlation is causation) without reading the article.
One reply on “[1404] Of intentional misinterpretation?”
Well, that is yet another spin of the facts. The usual : the water are half full vs half empty thingy.
When Slashdot post the topic Science In Islamic Countries, it attract thousands of comment, from various angles.
As “kaypochi” I wonder how country like South Korea and Singapore make on the list.