The German Language does not have the equivalent of the American word for “Science.” Drumroll... It has at least two.

The general term is Wissenschaft, which means “Knowledge.” Then you can break that down, as is usually done, between Naturwissenschaft (which would correspond roughly to what Americans call Empirical Science) and Geisteswissenschaft, which corresponds to those areas of research Americans call silly or irrelevant, like the Humanities.

It's an ironic but encouraging sign that in Vienna the March for Science was set to meet at Sigmund Freud Park. Freud, of course, has been dismissed by proponents of Real Science as not scientific at all. As a matter of fact the March had a wide set of sponsors throughout the Viennese intellectual and cultural community, and artistic creativity was highly encouraged—this one at least was not supposed to be just about folks in white lab coats.

Regrettably the message didn't seem to get through. Neither for that matter did some marchers, because much of the access to the Park was blocked off by stanchions, supposedly to let the yuppies run around or something.

No matter. The Impartial Jury for the Prestigious Pennies Awards in Protest Signage has met; and the winners are—no, the other envelope!

 

The Get-to-the-PointPrize:

 

The Wonky Powerpoint Prize:

 

The Reasoned and Dispassionate Argument Prize:

 

 

The At-Least-Someone-has-a-Sense-of-Humor-Spaguetti-Monster-Award:

 

That's all folks!

And remember:

THE PENNIES: MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD!

 

Hoipolloi Cassidy

April 22, 2017