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The trouble with attempting to debate this type of bollocks is that it's hard to know where to start. It's layer upon layer of falsehoods (eg water can't cut cliffs), misinformation (yes the valley does narrow downstream but that doesn't mean eroded material can't be transported out of the area) and false comparisons (pisolitic laterite cf Martian 'blueberries') all glued together with logical non sequiturs (it's not water so it must be plasma). It's like unscrambling eggs.
On the subject of scientific literacy I'd like to offer some more cheerful commentary. A now-retired academic (geologist) commented a couple of years ago that he felt that the average standard of science students had fallen over the decades. Part of this is certainly because uni is far less elitist than it was - far more students - and maybe also a fall in the standard of secondary education. However he felt that the top students are as good as ever, probably better. I sat in on some Honours students' seminars yesterday and was really quite impressed, in fact in one case blown away (that woman will go far). I reckon the standard is better than it was a decade ago. So it's not all doom and gloom.
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