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Martin,
Preparing staff to bravely and politely address questions or even attacks -
as you did with the AIDS exhibitions - just seems like sound educational
and communication practice, and I hope others are doing it.  But I think we
need to be careful about how we frame this problem for ourselves - to
distinguish between the content of an exhibition (which, like the AIDS
exhibition, should represent the best science) and possible reactions from
segments of the public.

The idea that some areas of scientific consensus are "controversial" has
been promulgated by political and corporate interests with the intention of
discrediting "inconvenient truths." I'm now reading the book Merchants of
Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway (www.merchantsofdoubt.org/) and
recommend it for insight into a series of deliberate campaigns to raise
doubt about solid science, from tobacco to climate change.
Wendy
_________________________
Wendy Pollock
Evanston, Illinois
truthabouttrees.org

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