…. Smith, that is. It’s Dick Smith’s 66th birthday and so this site wishes a happy birthday to Mr. Smith with hopes that there will be many many more.

Dick Smith, for those who don’t know, is an Australian businessman and aviator. He’s best known for Dick Smith Foods and Dick Smith Electronics. He’s also apparently quite confident, because not only does he put his face on everything, but he doesn’t seem to mind using the name “Dick” even-though it makes people giggle. Sure, he could call himself Rich Smith or even Rick Smith, but he’s Dick Smith and he had that name first!

So why am I wishing a happy birthday to an Australian businessman?   I’m not even Australian, after all.

It’s because Dick Smith went out of his way and beyond any call of duty to donate money to buy ad space and help in the fight against the AVN and the harm they cause to public health.

That is something that deserves more thanks than I can probably express. Dick Smith didn’t step forward and pony up the cash to help out because he had to or because he had a stake in it any more than anyone else. He’s not a pharmaceutical exec and not even a doctor. He did it because he didn’t like children dying of preventable disease and he wanted to do something about it and had the funds to do so.

For that I know that many of us in the anti-bad science movement and the skeptical activism community are eternally grateful. It’s helped as a big hit to one of the most prolific national anti-vaccine movements. I can only hope that the effort the Aussies have put into crushing this monstrous and dishonest group will be an inspiration to more around the world to fight against quackery and misinformation. In the internet age, these groups don’t do damage to just their own country, but can do damage worldwide. The successful efforts to root out the AVN have not only been a victory for Australia, but a victory for science, medicine and humanity.

No person of means is required to step up and contribute to this kind of effort, so when they do, they deserve gratitude for what is really a gift to the greater good.

Happy Birthday Dick Smith!

If there’s one thing this world really needs, it’s more Dicks!

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 18th, 2010 at 3:16 am and is filed under Announcements, Culture, Good Science, Quackery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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