Lindsay Patterson

Early on in my creative writing education, I learned that there are only four types of human conflict:

-Man versus Man
-Man versus Society
-Man versus Self
-Man versus Beast/ Nature

This was all easy and convenient, until I started writing about science. Science, it seems, is always in conflict, or causing conflict, or analyzing types of conflict. Such is its conflicting nature. Only a brief scan over this morning’s science news and blogs shows that the world’s current conflicts are not so simple.

For example:

Iraq versus solar funding
Conflict-in-a-graph. You don’t have to scroll very far down to get an idea of which side is winning.

Cyclone Sidr versus Bangladesh
You wouldn’t know it by reading the US news, but a major storm is hitting Bangladesh. Hurricane fanatic Chris Mooney reports today that there are already 300 fishing boats and 1000 people missing in the storm.

City versus urban chickens
Are you pro-chicken? A small Western city squabbles over a growing population of urban chickens, with a number of issues at hand (dirty animals versus sustainable food). See the faces of the debate, in this fantastic multimedia video from New West. Watch for the death-defying skateboarder-chicken trick.

Birders versus cat fanciers
This is where it gets complicated. What began as a simple beast (cat) versus beast (bird) turned into a (bird-loving) man (with a gun) versus beast (stray, bird-killing cat), turned into man (arrested for shooting and killing said bird-killing cat) versus society (animal cruelty laws), plus a whole bunch of outraged cat fanciers and defensive bird watchers. What I wouldn’t give to see the dramatic stare-down across the courtroom aisles.